Re: I'd just like to say.
>Putting aside the how and why and who's to blame aspects of this incident for a moment, I'd just like to say that we all owe a debt of gratitude to all those that have given, or continue to risk, their lives for the advancement of the human species into space.
>Thanks space traveller-type folks.
Eh? for what? with risking the "what have the Romans ever done for us", what has manned space travel ever done for us?
1. Used huge amounts of fossil fuels both directly and indirectly to put a spaceship up
2. Wasted massive amounts of cash purely for political reasons
Oooohhh... Mars or Cassini could human support life.... no they couldn't (no atmosphere)
OK, we'll build a biosphere then.... OK why not the moon then? oh, apart from the fact that it cost billions to build the ISS and that's not even self sustaining let alone set down on another moon/planet, imagine trying to build something like the size of the Eden project on the moon, if you thought the ISS was expensive, then imagine trying to build something as big as that and send it to somewhere like Mars, it would take 9 months to get there, with a 26 month launch window you'd want to send as much as possible in one go, but big don't land so well, so multiple landers required, even bigger!
So, best will in the world it would take decades to get a biosphere set up just on the moon, to support 5, maybe 10 people? what happens when the biosphere needs physical maintenance, the equipment would have to come from earth (otherwise where would you get the raw materials? the rare earth metals, plastics, hell, iron? or are you going send a smelting works too?), the moon would be an achieveable, hidiously expensive white elephant, Mars just about possible for an 22 month*, small team, obscenely risky/expensive return jaunt (start building in about 10 years, and another 10 years to get everything you need into space, then another 10 years to replace the worn out stuff, then another 10 years to replace the legacy equipment etc. etc.).
>the advancement of the human species into space.
It's bollocks and will remain so for the foreseeable future, unmanned=good, manned=stupid
Unless we invent warp drive and find a planet with comparable environment to earth then maybe we should spend the effort looking after earth instead?
Where's the foetus going to gestate? You going to keep it in a box?!
*9+9 +4 months waiting for the return window, miss it and you'll never catch the earth.