UK should reverse astronaut ban

**Maggy J** · 24-10-2005, 00:08

Don't know how I missed this one..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4351688.stm

Incog awaits the 'waste of money brigade'

24-10-2005, 00:11

We (the british) are as a people the most inventive folk on the planet.

Of course we should have our own people as part of the astronaut programme.

sir_drinks_alot · 25-10-2005, 00:16

Didn’t even know we had a astronaut ban.

**Stuart C** · 25-10-2005, 00:26

How can going to space be a waste of money? Regardless of whether you believe we have gone to space, or it's just a big conspiracy, over 30,000 things were either invented or improved as a result of the space race. There were MASSIVE increases in computing power, also the Relational Database Management System (of which Access is an example and without which our current economy would be very different indeed) was invented for cataloging parts for the early Apollo missions.

danielf · 25-10-2005, 00:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by sir_drinks_alot

DidnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t even know we had a astronaut ban.

News for me too... What is the reasoning behind this ban? I would think that having a British Astronaut would do wonders for getting kids interested in science, which can only be a good thing (and probably makes good macro-economic sense as well) imo...

patrickp · 25-10-2005, 00:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart C

How can going to space be a waste of money? Regardless of whether you believe we have gone to space, or it's just a big conspiracy, over 30,000 things were either invented or improved as a result of the space race. There were MASSIVE increases in computing power, also the Relational Database Management System (of which Access is an example and without which our current economy would be very different indeed) was invented for cataloging parts for the early Apollo missions.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. When you think of the possibilities out there - manufacturing in zero gee (and think of the medical benefits) and in a better vaccuum than we can make on the Earth's surface (among other things, that means better transistors - better computer chips - than we can make now), limitless power...

Between Mars and Jupiter there's the asteroid belt, which is either the remains of an exploded planet, or one that never coalesced. Either way, it means that the total mineral wealth of that 'planet' is available - on Earth, we can only scratch the surface; 99% of the planet's minerals are unreachable. Not so in the asteroid belt...