What is going on with our space programs. there has been little or know development and shuttles have failed.?

Question

why is it since recorded history began, the human race has endeavored to explore our world regardless of risk.Yet when you look at the space programs of today as compared to the sixties, well it seems as though the human race has become accustomed to not taking chances, do we still have the right stuff. sorry but this defeats the purpose of exploration. Think about it, If Christopher Columbus or Captain Cook had abandoned their exploits because they got the flu or someone told them that they might get hurt then it is very possible that our way of life would be vastly different. we could possibly be centuries behind technologically. the brave men and women who have died for the advancement of the human race i'm sure would be saddened by the lack of enthusiasm shown by NASA. what happend to thinking out side the square. all i can say is, the private sector has done more in the last 5 years i.e space plane development than Nasa and all the other space agencies have done in the last 40 years. crew capsules are not transport systems. if this is the future of space travel then no wonder ordinary people have turned there back on space exploration. our abilities are matched only by imagination. Pretty embarrassing if you ask me, scientists back in the 60's and 70's put men on and around the moon with computers less powerful than modern calculators. yet we cant even make a plane fly in space. maybe instead of spending the hundreds and thousands of dollars on launching rockets, give up on space for the next 10 or 20 years and develop the technology to get us there safely and cheaply. crew capsules ??? honestly how safe can they be. would you cross the Atlantic or the Pacific in something the same size? i doubt it although i'm sure its been done before. While we have rocket scientists telling us this is the only way we can fly in space we will not drive to create newer and cheaper ways to get there. maybe its time to look at other means of transport, if anything to at least make it cheaper for us and put these dinosaur technologies on the back burner. Time to change the rules, bend them , break them, rockets are not reliable, safe. otherwise we would be flying round flash gordon style in rocket ships.

Answer 1

In order to make our dreams of conquering space a reality, we need to develop a reliable and inexpensive means of accessing it. Currently, it costs approximately $10,000 for every pound we place in orbit. Most of that is burned up as fuel in the inefficient chemical rockets we currently use. What we need is some serious development in something like a space elevator. Not something big, heavy and expensive like the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles. The Constellation program is billed as 'Apollo in steroids'. Sure it will get us to the Moon, but in 2020 we will be asking ourselves the same thing we asked in 1969. Now what?

Answer 2

I share your frustration with the slow pace of the space program. But it is not so easy. The developments from 1950 to 1970 pretty much completely achieved the maximum theoretical performance that can be had from rockets powered by chemcial reactions. Without a completely new basic way to reach space, like the space elevator or whatever, space travel will remain expensive and risky.

I do agree that private companies are doing the most exciting stuff now, but they too are showing us how hard it is, with SpaceX having 3 fails out of 3 tries to reach orbit and Burt Rutan having an explostion while testing his SpaceShip Two.