Why Are Only Wealthy Industrialists Visitors To The Space Station???

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monadnock

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Why is the only ticket into space and the ISS open only to wealthy industrialists aboard Russian rockets?

That was no the original intent of NASA as evidenced by the first selection of teacher Christa McCauliffe. Where are the journalists, artists and other professions who could give humanity perspective on life in space?

Frankly, I'm disgusted!
 
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monadnock said:
TT

Why is the only ticket into space and the ISS open only to wealthy industrialists aboard Russian rockets?

That was no the original intent of NASA as evidenced by the first selection of teacher Christa McCauliffe. Where are the journalists, artists and other professions who could give humanity perspective on life in space?

Frankly, I'm disgusted!
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Because Teachers ask annoying questions during NASA flights. Like, "What does this red button do?" This gets NASA shuttles blown up into many small pieces. And shuttles cost lots of money. So, NASA has quit sending up teachers, and has started sending up rich people, who know how to sit quietly and not blow up shuttles. That's how they got rich in the first place, by not blowing themselves, and their neighbors, to kingdom-come.

It isn't about money, it is about keeping idiots from blowing themselves up. And so far only wealthy industrialists have proven to possess this capacity.
 
monadnock said:
Why is the only ticket into space and the ISS open only to wealthy industrialists aboard Russian rockets?
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Because the Russian Federal Space Agency needs cash, and has embraced the free market wrt space travel much more quickly than the USA, and space travel is very expensive at the moment.

That was no the original intent of NASA
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NASA are not involved in space tourism business, it is solely a Russian enterprise at the moment.

as evidenced by the first selection of teacher Christa McCauliffe. Where are the journalists, artists and other professions who could give humanity perspective on life in space?
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McAuliffe was trained for a whole year to become a payload specialist. She wasn't a tourist, she was part of a Public Relations exercise, a 'fast track' to space for regular Americans, to make the rest of the tax paying public more involved with the program. Why would you want to launch an artist into space (unless you intend to leave them there that is)?

Frankly, I'm disgusted!
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With what? The fact that NASA daren't risk the lives of more civilians on a outdated and dangerous launch vehicle? Or that you can't afford the price of a launch with the Russians?
 
travel to space station

I'm disgusted that NASA has not followed the original intent of taking other professions such as journalists to the ISS and that the only ticket to space is available only to wealthy industrialists.
 
Space travel costs money.

As easy as that, four words.
There is much greater return value in sending a scientist up there than a journalist.
Of course one could argue that an artist might compose some grand space symphony, but for that is imagination and we don't pay artists to have vacations anywhere. Of course anyone may sponsor an artist's trip to space.

So I don't see why you would blame a scientific agency for not doing cultural or social work, that's not their mandate.
 
because when teachers die...and NASA is behind it.

Christa McAuliffe ended it all. death of a teacher in 1986 was enough to halt the innocent lives to be taken.
 
Well the astronauts are already the the love bitches in space because far from enginearing and technical expertise it takes political connections to get you into space so it's obvious that if you wont sent competent men into space then you might as well sent rich incompetent men to space
 
orcot said:
Well the astronauts are already the the love bitches in space because far from enginearing and technical expertise it takes political connections to get you into space so it's obvious that if you wont sent competent men into space then you might as well sent rich incompetent men to space
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these "rich incomptenet men" are rich in the first place because they, just as the astronauts went beyond the ordinary men, they acquired power with which they have the ability to manipulate large masses...
 
monadnock said:
I'm disgusted that NASA has not followed the original intent of taking other professions such as journalists to the ISS and that the only ticket to space is available only to wealthy industrialists.
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NASA never intended to take journalists to the ISS. The program to fast track regular Americans was over, thanks to the Challenger disaster, well before construction of the ISS commenced.

You are probably confusing the planned 'Space Station Freedom' which was never built, with the ISS.

If you are jealous of the wealthy industrialists, it's simple, learn to fly or get get a PhD and try out to be an astronaut. If you haven't got what it takes to get into space, don't bitch about those that do. The industrialists have made money using different talents to astronauts, but share the same dream. NASA is not going to invite you to go to the ISS, you are going to have to work for it.
 
Avatar said:
Space travel costs money.

As easy as that, four words.
There is much greater return value in sending a scientist up there than a journalist.
Of course one could argue that an artist might compose some grand space symphony, but for that is imagination and we don't pay artists to have vacations anywhere. Of course anyone may sponsor an artist's trip to space.

So I don't see why you would blame a scientific agency for not doing cultural or social work, that's not their mandate.
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But wealthy industrialists are basically doing extreme bungi jumping and will not give back much to the world. They are hardly scientists. A journalist, describing the experience more clearly and in ways that everybody could relate to could affect things in ways that are hard to predict, but not, therefore, worthless. Unfortunately with the current NEWTONIAN cost benefit analysis (coupled with fascism) all those activities that make positive changes via causal changes hard to track will get pushed to the side.
Not that we should be especially angry at space agencies for joining this habit.
Allowing the very rich to get their rocks off - surely we can think of that as a pun somehow - is disgusting but understandable (from the agency accountants' perspective). We can hate it, but the roots of the problem lie elsewhere.
What really worries me is that the rich and powerful see space exploration as an alternative to dealing with environmental issues. Trash the planet and then move on to others.
 
But wealthy industrialists are basically doing extreme bungi jumping and will not give back much to the world.
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Yes, but they are paying for their trip. Journalists don't.
The government (Russian or American) doesn't pay for tourism.
 
Grantywanty said:
But wealthy industrialists are basically doing extreme bungi jumping and will not give back much to the world. They are hardly scientists.
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Are you talking shit deliberately?

Mark Shuttleworth, Business Science Degree, and is responsible for funding the development of Ubuntu (User friendly Linux distro) and is also involved in the non profit Shuttleworth Foundation.

Anousheh Ansari, Masters degree, and her family sponsored the frikking X-Prize.

Dennis Tito, Masters degree in Science, and performed scientific experiments while on his trip.

Greg Olsen, has a PhD, and also conducted experiments while in flight.

Charles Simonyi, PhD, software engineer, and creator of the $50 million Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences.

So, scientists AND philanthropists and you should read before your write you jealous little nobody.
 
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Anousheh Ansari is a rich incompetent man? There was me thinking she had a masters degree, spoke several languages, and was a successful businessWOMAN.
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You take incompetence to harsly afthall all astronauts achieved to go into space something that extraordenairy in itself.
But unfortunaly even she's somewhat incompetent aftherall their no busnisses in space so being a succesfull busnisswoman doesn't mean verry much in space. I always have respect for people who speak many langueges because this generaly means their interesting but in the end I like my plumer to fix the toilet and not fidle with a patent that could make cars safer and cheaper. (Call me narrow minded if you like)

She's defenitly okay for a tourist and most proberly a lot smarter then me and I don't think I'm insulting here by calling her a incompetent astronaut.
 
orcot said:
You take incompetence to harsly afthall all astronauts achieved to go into space something that extraordenairy in itself.
But unfortunaly even she's somewhat incompetent aftherall their no busnisses in space so being a succesfull busnisswoman doesn't mean verry much in space. I always have respect for people who speak many langueges because this generaly means their interesting but in the end I like my plumer to fix the toilet and not fidle with a patent that could make cars safer and cheaper. (Call me narrow minded if you like)

She's defenitly okay for a tourist and most proberly a lot smarter then me and I don't think I'm insulting here by calling her a incompetent astronaut.
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One minute you are slagging these people off for being rich and accusing them of being incompetent, then I point out that every single last one of them is at least a graduate, and you start off on a tangent calling them 'incompetent astronauts'? They flew successful missions and two carried out experiments. That makes them successful astronauts. They all did what they went to achieve. When you do better, you can start throwing names. You can start when you a billionaire.

No business in space? People will read her biography because of this, it has increased her personal standing and her profile, and given her media exposure. It was great advertising! You don't see any potential link up between Anousheh Ansari, the X-Prize, and Burt Rutan? No business in space, get real! So yes, you are being insulting, she's more of an astronaut than you will ever be!
 
phlogistician said:
NASA never intended to take journalists to the ISS. The program to fast track regular Americans was over, thanks to the Challenger disaster, well before construction of the ISS commenced.

You are probably confusing the planned 'Space Station Freedom' which was never built, with the ISS.

If you are jealous of the wealthy industrialists, it's simple, learn to fly or get get a PhD and try out to be an astronaut. If you haven't got what it takes to get into space, don't bitch about those that do. The industrialists have made money using different talents to astronauts, but share the same dream. NASA is not going to invite you to go to the ISS, you are going to have to work for it.
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I aready have several degrees and am not personally interested in going. I do think, however, that mankind would be well served by others, such as journalists, artists and educators who are capable of different perspectives than businessmen.
 
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Further, this is a rhetorical question. I am fully cognizant of the purchasing power of the dollar and the financially strapped Russian space agency.
 
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