Re: Nasa calling it quits!!!!!
They aren't??!!
well.. they are, but that isnt all they are doing
Well, "calling it quits" is a bit overstated, but NASA is certainly in a 'pause', as they find themselves in between vehicles.
They probably ran the space shuttles for too long and did not have plans soon enough for the next vehicle, which is called 'Orion' a.k.a Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle.
Meanwhile, private industry can have their 'shot' at putting things into space. It is wicked expensive, so I'm not sure about its future as a commercial program.
the shuttles had to run as long as they did because there is no other vehicle that can lift the capacity the shuttle can, therefore no way to get the large chunks of space station up there.
they had orion on the way, but budget cuts and a change is "scope" by the current president changed that. It was intended to be the next vehicle, and used to travel back to the moon, close asteroids, and eventually mars, but the biggest hindrance was the propulsion system. It is a modified military rocket, and has the power to carry the load, but had an issue with vibration. Enough to shake a human to jello. So they had to rework the connection between the capsule and the rocket to minimize transfer of that vibration. That was the biggest setback besides the normal reworking of the rocket to make it more reliable.
Then the announcement from Obama came along, and the new "plan" is to still complete the capsule, but to use it as an escape pod for the station. there are many reasons for the commercial aspect that is coming along. one of which is to see just what other technology comes along. when you have been doing something for so long, its hard to wrap your head around something new, and come up with new ideas. another is to free up resources to concentrate on building that new technology.
Who is paying the private company to fly stuff to the space station?... I'm thinking it's the guvment.
yes they are. its is a joint venture. just like the many subcontractor companies that work for NASA now. Its cheaper to pay them to do it, then to come up with something to do it themselves, and it pours money into the economy.
