Marconi's Steampunk UFO

Recent Actions

• Commented on Exploration Roadmap Materials Online

  November 14-16th? Huh? What am I missing?...

• Commented on Stratolaunch Systems Unveiled

  Keith, The hook here is Dynetics. The same corrupt people that were at the heart of Ares-I are in the drivers seat at Dynetics. This is doomed to fail as Steve Cook is a part of it. He is the...

• Commented on ESA Contact With Phobos-Grunt - Off and On and Off

  You'd think that insurers would favor repair over paying out and scrapping in place....

• Commented on Atlas V Moves Closer To Human Rating

  You do realize that the Atlas V was developed by the DoD and like many items in the US military inventory it does contain foreign parts. The software that was used to develop several critical US military programs is French....

• Commented on First Orion Flight in 2014?

  You would think that aerobraking would be attractive until you realize that it likely adds several weeks to the mission and multiple passes thought the Van Allen belts. Not to mention that you need to replace the functionality lost when...

• Commented on NASA Studies Show Cheaper Alternatives to SLS

  The NASA of Apollo is dead. These guys are clowns. End it....

• Commented on Blue Origin Suffers Major Accident (Update)

  The end of that stage looks like an eliptical bulkhead, probably a 707 bulkhead. That tells me that this is a stage, perhaps a first or second stage. The other test article looked like a final stage, or the orbital...

• Commented on Progress Mission To ISS Fails

  Another good reason to make sure that both Orion and Dragon can carry out these missions. Both vehicles should be fully funded and able to ride on a variety of EELVs. What's up with HTV and ATV these days?...

• Commented on JWST and SLS: Dueling Giant Money Sponges

  It strikes me that at least JWST at least exists somewhat and SLS is a pile of PowerPoint cut and paste nonsense. Sadly when I donn my mystical swami hat of space program termination prediction, my hat tells me that...

• Commented on Large Budget Cuts Ahead for FY 2013

  Perhaps those civil servants and contractor employees that can retire without undue financial burden can do so. There are also many non historic facilities that cost more to operate than demolish or board up. The point is that finding ways...

• Commented on NASA Buzzroom is Back and it is Awful

  Hey Keith instead of being such a wet blanket why don't you read messages like this from their website: We're in the process of making Buzzroom better for our users. We appreciate your patience. Please check back in the future."...

• Commented on SLS: A Rarely Flown Rocket to Nowhere?

  The SLS is not needed, I do not think that NASA should be allowed to develop it unless they can get another customer on board that will commit money to develop it. Bigelow had huge modules that he wanted to...

• Commented on Rejoice Comrades! Glorious Era of Soyuz Begins (Update)

  I find it funny that the Russians are getting cocky about an ancient design and having no one actively in their government or private sector developing anything to replace it. Sure they make a claim every few years that they...

• Commented on Houston You Have a Cheese Problem

  Keith I have eaten fine American made Stilton, Gouda, Feta, Queso Blancho, Cheddar and other cheeses. That the Brie recipe originated in France does not mean that it cannot be an All American product. I am confused by your conundrum....

• Commented on House Appropriations Committee Targets NASA for Deep Budget Cut

  Given the fact that most of the money spent on NASA goes to labor, this is in fact an anti-jobs proposal. So the GOP hadn't tried to pass any legislation that creates jobs, so they propose to eliminate them. Killing...

• Commented on Last Minute Plea To Not Retire Shuttle Fleet

  The people in that letter are utter complete morons. Where the hell were they in 2005 when the decision was being made? Why did they wait so long? They are idiots and political hacks. BTW the Shuttle sucks and cannot...

• Commented on Three Letters NASA Users Complain About

  Typical NASA mentality. When something goes wrong, blame the contractor. When something goes right, take credit from the contractor. You must be a NASA employee or at least attended the training. BTW, I just typed nasa.gov into my firefox browser...

• Commented on Shielding Bolden From Unfiltered Questions

  Bolden's faux pas make Bush look eloquent. He is hidden from the public eye because he is an embarrassment. He is only better than Griffin because he is not an arrogant clown. Griffin was a medlesome useless megalomaniac....

• Commented on Must See Video: XCOR's Jeff Greason ISDC 2011 Keynote Address: A Settlement Strategy for NASA

  That was a very good perspective and it cleverly allows everyone that wants to be in the game to do so. Let's do it....

• Commented on Video: Morpheus Test Firing

  Newark with a comment like that I can be absolutely certain that you have never build and tested anything that you have designed that was a challenge. Walk a mile in their shoes and then comment. On another note it...

• Commented on China Has Limits After All

  SpaceX will gladly operate at a severe loss until they can eliminate the competition, then they can jack up their prices to recover their losses. SpaceX a cutthroat operation that does not have the best interests of America in mind....

• Commented on Nickname for Liberty

  I would call it the Styx, not the band, but the river that the newly dead must cross. They should paint a big coin on the side off the first stage to pay Charon for passage....

• Commented on Question for Mike Coats

  I always wanted to ask Doc Horowitz the exact same thing about ATK. The Ares-I was a complete death trap, no sane human being would advocate such a rocket unless they were crooked....

• Commented on New Crew Transportation Requirements NASA Won't Let You See (Update)

  I would find any document coming from NASA on the subject of human rating a capsule to be dubious at best. They actually thought that the first stage of Ares-I was a good idea. That speaks volumes. I do not...

• Commented on Constellation Changes Underway

  If you make policy decisions based upon what Bigelow tells you without requiring him to back up his assertions, you get what you deserve. Wasn't he supposed to have a fully functional space station by 2010? Now it is 2017?...

• Commented on Deja Vu All Over Again

  To get a large number of human beings into space to work and live is going to take a bunch of changes and risks. I find it odd that some seem to think that we can do that, and at...

• Commented on Fighting For Shuttles

  King Tut tours the US, why not a Shuttle? Since there is a means to fly a shuttle from city to city, why not have one shuttle that periodically gets moved from one city to another. If there is an...

• Commented on Kepler Co-Investigator Spills The Beans: Lots of Earth-like Planets

  Now we just need to get the people in this country that are afraid of their own shadow to start fearing the boogeymen from outer space. That'll get NASA more funding. Imagine what NASA could do if it had even...

• Commented on Senate and White House (Apparently) Compromise on NASA Policy

  I like the Senate bill and I like the administrations vision with the tech demos. Why not fund them all? Isn't everyone jumping up and down screaming jobs, jobs, jobs? NASA is spread all over the country and every well...

• Commented on Huntsville Constellation Layoff Update

  Gary to blame Obama for the state NASA is in is about as logical as blaming Dubya for the ISS program status when he took office. If you look to President Bush's VSE you'll see something that is more like...