Nightcrawler
Admiral
Sadistic Maverick
Me, blue? Impossible...
Posts: 1,062
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Post by Nightcrawler on Jun 17, 2004 0:36:34 GMT -5
It's that first step that's a doozy though...
Cure the problems at home first, or else we'll take them along with us when we manage to get out there. The only problem with this is exactly that: curing humanity's ails.
It's unlikely that humanity will end up destroying it's self, but it's still possible, just no where near as probable was it had been in the past. For a bit though, humanity's days seemed numbered...
One way to solve things is by competition. Russians were the first in orbit, Americans were the first to the moon, then the Russians put up a long term spacestation that survived past it's expected life span.
SkyLab failed, Mir successed past anyone's expectations, and it's because of competition. If it's healthy competition, then it will cause humans to go far. If it's not, then it could be another example of stockpiling weapons in case someone looses their cool.
If america can do a manned mission to Mars, it might get other space-travel capable countries thinking. Assuming no know does something stupid (unfortunately the probability of that is overwhelming), then by the time the dust settles, and everyone realizes that this is a good thing to be doing jointly, humanity will finally begin to realize it's potential.
Simplistic perhaps, but still, it's a hope.
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Post by Yildizkapisi on Aug 23, 2004 5:41:59 GMT -5
First of all the russian name you are looking for is yuri Gagarin. Also I have mentioned this before but you should read the book by Kim stanley robinson called Red Mars. basically about how humans go to Mars and slowly terraform but amonst all sorts of political & moral issues. Excellent read and really belive we should skip the moon and just go straight for Mars. The only thing the moon might have usefull is helium 3 otherwise its just another gravity well which a space staion wouldnt have.
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