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Topic: collectSPACE in 2014 (predictions from 2004)
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ColinBurgess Member Posts: 2055 From: Sydney, Australia Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 05-28-2004 07:57 PM
Since the very beginning of the so-called Space Age, no one has ever correctly predicated what might be happening a decade in the future.It's whimsical I know, but what would anyone expect to read about in space exploration when opening collectSPACE on this date in 2014? Will the shuttle have been retired? Will there be a firm commitment for the human exploration of other celestial bodies? Will the ISS still be in use? Anyone care to speculate? |
Rodina Member Posts: 836 From: Lafayette, CA Registered: Oct 2001
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posted 05-29-2004 12:41 AM
The space shuttle will have been retired, the CEV will remain unbuilt, and all NASA astronauts will travel by Soyuz.Oh, yeah, and approximately 1,000 people will have done commercial suborbital hops. |
eurospace Member Posts: 2627 From: Berlin, Germany Registered: Dec 2000
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posted 05-29-2004 02:21 AM
I agree mostly. The Soyuz will be operated out of Kourou. Europeans are discussing (!) a flight to Mars. Chinese and Indians are building their first space station in LEO. Colin Burgess will publish a revised version of his Australian Astronauts book with two more names — two recent NASA astronaut corps additions that will never fly. |
DavidH Member Posts: 1224 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 05-29-2004 11:33 AM
The Space Shuttle will have been retired, though not a full four years early as is currently planned — probably two or three.Space Station will be in a stage which is called complete. The United States will still be involved, though less so than the Russian and European Space Agencies. Unmanned tests of CEV will be complete, and manned tests will be nearing, though possibly on the in the same way that manned tests of Shuttle were nearing in '78 or so, when Shuttle was so close to being finished, and yet, not. The Chinese space program, having completed fewer than 10 manned spaceflights, is still working towards launching a space station, which will be of an early-generation Salyut type. The European Space Agency will be in the midst of its robotic Martian sample return mission, and still struggling with whether its backburner efforts to develop a manned spacecraft are really worth it. While still U.S. led, the planetary exploration initiative is now a true international program, with substantial involvement by ESA, JAXA, and RSA. The astronaut members of Group 19 still have not flown. Nor have the members of the small Group 20, which features educators and scientists chosen for specialties relevant to planetary exploration, i.e. geology and medical. Paid suborbital flights are relatively commonplace, and prviate manned test flights into LEO have either been undertaken or soon will. The X Prize cup is the most amazing sporting competition on and off Earth, but the public doesn't care. Unmanned exploration no longer captures the public interest the way the MER probes did in 2004. Lunar rovers are dull to a public which has been promised men on the Moon, and Martian missions also have a been-there-done-that quality about them. While a sample return mission is cool, it doesn't produce the pictures and video that grab the public. Soyuz is likely the only manned spacecraft of the time, though it's possible that, thanks in part to funding by ESA, a larger Soyuz successor has been built. |
Carrie Member Posts: 225 From: Syracuse, New York, USA Registered: May 2003
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posted 05-29-2004 06:23 PM
Kids will be dreaming of being spaceflight attendants... heck, so will I. |
ColinBurgess Member Posts: 2055 From: Sydney, Australia Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 05-29-2004 08:27 PM
10 years in the future:In a world still beset by wanton acts of terrorism, the new U.S. President decides to undertake a bold initiative of hope for mankind by pledging America to placing an international crew on Mars within five years. Congress kills it off with cuts. 91-year-old Wally Schirra goes into space again on a privately-funded suborbital flight, and cracks jokes in the media about beating "that kid" John Glenn as the oldest person to fly. Valentina Tereshkova finally admits she was ill in space during her Vostok-6 mission. Ed Givens's name finally placed on the Astronauts Memorial Mirror. A full replica of a Mercury capsule, launched into orbit several months earlier to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of Project Mercury, sets out on a nationwide tour together with its sole pilot - the grandchild of a Mercury astronaut. The Fox Channel shows program asserting that men never walked on the moon. Bart Sibrel is punched in face again by Buzz Aldrin. |
Cindys_1 Member Posts: 192 From: Titusville, FL 32796 Registered: May 2001
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posted 05-29-2004 09:02 PM
No more shuttle. Maybe a new type of capsule will be used for spaceflight. And taking a Taikonaut with us after a year or so.Parts of the ISS will fall somewhere down under as it speeds towards earth. BEWARE! |
star51L Member Posts: 368 From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 05-29-2004 09:36 PM
John Young will still be on active flight status.... |
OV-105 Member Posts: 824 From: Ridgecrest, CA Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 05-29-2004 11:11 PM
The shuttle will make its last flight and John Young will be on it after a trip to the ISS. |
ColinBurgess Member Posts: 2055 From: Sydney, Australia Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 05-30-2004 05:14 AM
More thoughts for a decade on:The recovered hatch of Liberty Bell 7 is for sale on eBay, and as a bonus has been signed by the crew of Soyuz 11. All of the moon has finally been sold in one-metre squares to speculators holding certificates on Earth. In "Rocky 12," Sylvester Stallone fights Mike Tyson in one-sixth gravity on the moon. John Young releases best-selling book called "Signing Autographs for Fun and Profit." 1,450,000 former NASA employees, tracking station attendants, scientists, planners, flight controllers, astronomers, rocket engineers, spacecraft designers, pad technicians, mission specialists, flight surgeons, contractors and media people finally admit the moon landings never happened, and they had all kept the secret for nearly half a century. |
icarkie Member Posts: 618 From: BURTON ON TRENT /England Registered: Nov 2002
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posted 05-30-2004 06:31 AM
As what Colin said, as well as the Liberty Bell 7 hatch also selling on eBay is parts from Beagle 2 (with no reserve). |
CJC Member Posts: 95 From: Ireland Registered: Nov 2003
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posted 05-30-2004 10:18 AM
The shuttles will be museum exhibits, astronauts, cosmonauts, taikonauts and what ever else will be circling Earth in Soyuz and Soyuz derivative vehicles conducting the same old experiments day in and day out. Most of the current astronaut corps will have resigned in disgust at the decision by Congress to scrap the CEV and storm the place and burn it to the ground. Meanwhile we'll be looking at the past with sorrow in our hearts wondering why we allowed the Saturn Vs, the shuttle and the Energia/Buran systems to be dismantled by the ignorant politicians. |
Philip Member Posts: 6043 From: Brussels, Belgium Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 05-30-2004 11:23 AM
Unmanned spaceflight comes in focus with missions to the icy moon Europa of Jupiter and the large moon Titan of Saturn...The European Space Agency send a manned mission to the Moon to check out equipment and long-duration habitats on the lunar surface for a future Mars-mission in 2020... A Japanese artists plans to go to Mars to plant Red Roses on the Martian South Pole... collectSPACE fades away as no-one is interested in ISS stuff and the 1960s and 1970s memorabilia are too expensive! |
RichieB16 Member Posts: 590 From: Oregon Registered: Feb 2003
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posted 05-31-2004 04:38 PM
All I know is that ISS (still in use or retired) will not be finished. |
WAWalsh Member Posts: 809 From: Cortlandt Manor, NY Registered: May 2000
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posted 06-03-2004 12:10 PM
Nice to see that a number of people are almost as pessimistic on this issue as I am. The following is more of a worst-case scenario, than a prediction of where things will be in 10 years. - NASA never returned to flight. Most active astronauts laid off in 2011, with the exception of 20 or so test pilots for the completion of the next generation of vehicle.
- ISS never completed and abandoned in place in 2009; Russian-U.S. team attempts to boost ISS back into higher orbit, but lose stability on the platform, ISS dumped into the Pacific in 2010.
- Ten years of Democratic administrations and congressional control largely caused the end of NASA as the federal government shifted funding prioritiesght.
- Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins make a joint appearance in 2009 for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo XI landing. Each man in turn is openly critical of the government's abject failure to support NASA over the previous ten years and the continuing decline of education in the areas of science and math.
- Private orbital flights continue, but at a low level due to several rather spectacular and fatal launches.
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GACspaceguy Member Posts: 2550 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 11-01-2014 04:35 PM
While on a search I came across this thread. Now that it IS 2014 this is a very interesting read. |
Nigel Mc Member Posts: 182 From: Sheffield, UK Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 11-07-2014 05:09 PM
Very interesting stuff! |
Ronpur Member Posts: 1223 From: Brandon, Fl Registered: May 2012
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posted 11-07-2014 07:03 PM
Some are pretty close. But the suborbital hops didn't pan out so well... |
oly Member Posts: 1065 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 07-07-2020 02:41 AM
Some interesting predictions can be closed out now that the SpaceX Crew Demo mission has launched. A fun read. |