A NASA official may have made a 35-million-mile slip of the tongue.
The director of NASA's Ames Research Center in California casually let slip mention of the 100-Year Starship recently, a new program funded by the super-secret government agency, DARPA. In a talk at San Francisco's Long Conversation conference, Simon “Pete” Worden said DARPA has $1M to spend, plus another $100,000 from NASA itself, for the program, which will initially develop a new kind of propulsion engine that will take us to Mars or beyond.
There's only one problem: The astronauts won't come back.
FOX News
Showing posts with label Ray Bradbury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ray Bradbury. Show all posts
November 2, 2010
October 6, 2010
Space tourism agents lined up
LAS CRUCES - They're like your neighborhood travel agents - except their package tours' most unique feature is nowhere to be found on earth.
A group of actual "space agents" is touring Spaceport America and the surrounding Mesilla Valley through Thursday during the New Mexico Spaceport Authority's annual forum.
The agents are taking a guided tour spanning three counties to help impress upon potential customers what the area has to offer: Las Cruces, Mesilla, Hatch, Truth or Consequences, White Sands Missile Range and White Sands National Monument, the National Solar Observatory at Sacramento and the New Mexico Museum of Space History.
Currently under construction near Truth or Consequences, Spaceport America has been providing commercial launch services since 2006 and its state-of-the-art launch facility, which counts Lockheed Martin, Moog-FTS, Armadillo Aerospace, and UP Aerospace as tenants, is expected to become fully operational next year.
Spaceport America's anchor tenant Virgin Galactic plans to provide sub-orbital space flights and commercial service via its WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo vehicles. Only Virgin Galactic-affiliated agents will be able to book travel on SpaceShipTwo, which is progressing in development and will fly from Spaceport America when testing completes, according to a news release.
"Spaceport America is going to be a major destination for tourists from all over the world, whether visitors or Virgin Galactic customers," said Spaceport Authority Executive Director Rick Homans. "These (Virgin Galactic-)accredited space agents will help spread the word about New Mexico by promoting the spaceport."
Las Cruces Sun-News
Spaceport America
A group of actual "space agents" is touring Spaceport America and the surrounding Mesilla Valley through Thursday during the New Mexico Spaceport Authority's annual forum.
The agents are taking a guided tour spanning three counties to help impress upon potential customers what the area has to offer: Las Cruces, Mesilla, Hatch, Truth or Consequences, White Sands Missile Range and White Sands National Monument, the National Solar Observatory at Sacramento and the New Mexico Museum of Space History.
Currently under construction near Truth or Consequences, Spaceport America has been providing commercial launch services since 2006 and its state-of-the-art launch facility, which counts Lockheed Martin, Moog-FTS, Armadillo Aerospace, and UP Aerospace as tenants, is expected to become fully operational next year.
Spaceport America's anchor tenant Virgin Galactic plans to provide sub-orbital space flights and commercial service via its WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo vehicles. Only Virgin Galactic-affiliated agents will be able to book travel on SpaceShipTwo, which is progressing in development and will fly from Spaceport America when testing completes, according to a news release.
"Spaceport America is going to be a major destination for tourists from all over the world, whether visitors or Virgin Galactic customers," said Spaceport Authority Executive Director Rick Homans. "These (Virgin Galactic-)accredited space agents will help spread the word about New Mexico by promoting the spaceport."
Las Cruces Sun-News
Spaceport America
April 22, 2010
April 10, 2009
Elton John & Bernie Taupin's "Rocket Man"
Elton John
William Shatner
Stewie Griffin
Kate Bush
Dan Fonesca
Jamie Cullum
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
My Morning Jacket
"Rocket Man" by Pearls Before Swine
My father was a rocket man
He often went to Jupiter or Mercury, to Venus or to Mars
My mother and I would watch the sky
And wonder if a falling star
Was a ship becoming ashes with a rocket man inside
My mother and I
Never went out
Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out
Or to escape the pain
We only went out when it rained
My father was a rocket man
He loved the world beyond the world, the sky beyond the sky
And on my mother's face, as lonely as the world in space
I could read the silent cry
That if my father fell into a star
We must not look upon that star again
My mother and I
Never went out
Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out
Or to escape the pain
We only went out when it rained
Tears are often jewel-like
My mother's went unnoticed by my father, for his jewels were the stars
And in my father's eyes I knew he had to find
In the sanctity of distance something brighter than a star
One day they told us the sun had flared and taken him inside
My mother and I
Never went out
Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out
Or to escape the pain
We only went out when it rained
This song written by Tom Rapp, and based on Ray Bradbury's short story Rocket Man, was written and performed before the Bernie Taupin/Elton John version. According to Wikipedia, Taupin acknowledged the influence of Rapp's version.
He often went to Jupiter or Mercury, to Venus or to Mars
My mother and I would watch the sky
And wonder if a falling star
Was a ship becoming ashes with a rocket man inside
My mother and I
Never went out
Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out
Or to escape the pain
We only went out when it rained
My father was a rocket man
He loved the world beyond the world, the sky beyond the sky
And on my mother's face, as lonely as the world in space
I could read the silent cry
That if my father fell into a star
We must not look upon that star again
My mother and I
Never went out
Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out
Or to escape the pain
We only went out when it rained
Tears are often jewel-like
My mother's went unnoticed by my father, for his jewels were the stars
And in my father's eyes I knew he had to find
In the sanctity of distance something brighter than a star
One day they told us the sun had flared and taken him inside
My mother and I
Never went out
Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out
Or to escape the pain
We only went out when it rained
This song written by Tom Rapp, and based on Ray Bradbury's short story Rocket Man, was written and performed before the Bernie Taupin/Elton John version. According to Wikipedia, Taupin acknowledged the influence of Rapp's version.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
