Buzz Aldrin’s quest for a real spaceship

By John Dodge | Nov 26, 2009 |

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin advocates extending the life of the Space Shuttle by five years in a back to future column yesterday in The Huffington Post. From there, commercial concerns would leverage Shuttle technology to build future runway land-able space vehicles.

He’s highly critical of NASA’s new old strategy of developing space capsules which are not reused and whose living conditions leave (no bathroom) much to be desired.

I met Aldrin in June at a 40th anniversary celebration for Apollo 11 at MIT. He’s passionate about U.S. space leadership and thinks we are relinquishing it other nations anxious to prove their prowess in the heavens and stick it to the U.S. in the process. “In search of a real spaceship” is a fascinating read by one who’s been there. Happy Thanksgiving Day.

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  •  
    1

    AdamHart

    11/27/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Buzz Aldrin's quest for a real spaceship

    I hope u succeed in your quest...

    AdamHart
    http://www.isopurewater.com/

  •  
    2

    Agnostic_OS

    11/27/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Buzz Aldrin's quest for a real spaceship

    With a look at the book The Space Shuttle Decision
    NASA's Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle. A better spaceship would have emerged if the politician had kept their quiet and allow NASA to do their job. As usual through it was all about money.

  •  
    3

    John Dodge

    11/30/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Buzz Aldrin's quest for a real spaceship

    Everything in the U.S. is about money these days....sad commentary on the times and our country.

  •  
    4

    GuntherGump

    11/30/09 | Report as spam

    The days of leadership are gone - well, in this country atleast.

    It is really sad to see our country run by those that want power and money for themselves. (e.g. - all our most recent presidents since Reagan). What happened? Well, many people know what happened - and say it is still happening. Only now are they starting to raise their voices - now that things have gotten bad enough. Only now because it's evident ethnics, moral character, genuine integrity, and stewardship have all but left the leadership here in the Great US of America. How do you get something pure and of value? Torch it. Burn off the impurities! Only now are we starting to see the American Public turn up the heat on Washington. Let's hope we all keep applying the heat until we see something pure and valuable in Washington.

    I'm proud to be an American. I'm proud of what our Flag stands for and what our founding fathers envisioned for this country. With what God has given this country, much is expected out of us! We must keep it up. We must continue to lead the world in food production, ethics, human rights, technological advances, etc., etc.. The desire to do all of what I just mentioned is still present in America. What's the problem? The problem is that Washington wants to control it and get a slice of it. Time to tell our politicians to get the h-e-ll out of the way. If we can do that, you'll see this country flourish like no one has ever seen the likes of - again!

    Let's teach our kids to be dreamers and to be proud of their country and to respect its role in the world today - and to adhere to its founding principles.

    I know I'm not politically correct. I'm right.

  •  
    5

    GuntherGump

    11/30/09 | Report as spam

    How about the Air Force?

    Can we get the Air Force to build us a space ship? Some geniuses invented the SR-71 Blackbird a while back. It was decades ahead of its time. Let's round up those guys and throw money at them to give us something like that again - but for space!

    I'm sure some of them would love a visit from Mr. Aldrin.

    Let's round up our rocket scientists and put them back to work.

    Or how about this Headline!?

    Chinese remove American flag from Moon's surface, calling it space trash and disposing of it.

    It it's place, they'll shape the dust to be a Chinese flag visible to telescopes trained on the moon's surface.

  •  
    6

    JTF243@...

    11/30/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Buzz Aldrin's quest for a real spaceship

    If, as Agnostic_OS said, that NASA had been able to keep doing the spectacular job they did of fulfilling JFK's challenge, we probably have already had an outpost on the Moon by now, the ISS would have been finished 10 years ago, and we might have even had a manned landing on Mars by now.
    We currently have "all our eggs in one basket" here on Earth. For us to not take every opportunity to expand our horizons is beyond foolhardy; it is suicidal.

  •  
    7

    Ken Ferry

    12/01/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Buzz Aldrin's quest for a real spaceship

    Money is such a bothersome thing. Seems that everyone wants it all spent on what they think is most important. The only trouble is people tend to disagree on what is most important. The economy? Jobs? Infrastructure? R&D? Space exploration? National defense? International aid and development? Climate change? I figure that, as long as we remain a democracy, we will be stuck with providing some funding to all of these and more.

    I see some interesting ideas in this thread, though. Involving the Air Force in spaceship design and development, for instance - except that the rest of the world would probably see this as a thinly veiled attempt to expand international "relations" beyond the earth's atmosphere (Star Wars, anyone?)

  •  
    8

    John Dodge

    12/03/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Buzz Aldrin's quest for a real spaceship

    GuntherGump,

    I'm gonna steal your line for a future post. It's too good not to use! (I'll attribute it to you...send me your real name, title and location on Twitter...@thedodgereport....)

    "Chinese remove American flag from Moon's surface, calling it space trash and disposing of it."

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    MuratCan

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John Dodge

John Dodge has answered the call of journalism for 33 years, most of the time covering technology, engineering and business. While he's run magazines, newsweeklies and web sites, reporting and writing always took up half his time. He has have plied his craft at the WSJ, Boston Globe, PC Week (now eWeek), EDN, Design News, Electronic Business, Bio-IT World, Health-IT World, the Lowell Sun, Haverhill Gazette and Newburyport Daily News. He would have like to have been around when Boston supported seven or more newspapers (1940s) and while steam locomotives still pulled trains, but that era was nearly over by the time he raced into the world. That said, he has been blogging and shooting and editing video, writing for web and other online contents tasks for years now.

He has won numerous journalism awards in the past two years, including two Eddie Golds, one Neal finalist and the IEEE Award for Distinguished Journalism all for his reporting and coverage of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Besides his family and myriad hobbies, reporting and writing is why he gets up in the morning. His personal blog focuses on netbooks and is called The Dodge Retort.

John Dodge

John Dodge prides himself on completely independent journalism. His opinions, observations and reporting are not influenced by any financial holdings. He holds no shares in computer, electronics, software or Internet companies. He also has no business affiliations with organizations except with those for which he creates content as a freelancer.

Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for nearly 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the Interactive Age Daily for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age's "NetMarketing" supplement, and dozens of other publications over the years.

Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn has been a technology reporter since 1982, a business reporter since 1978, and a writer for as long as he can remember. His Schwab IRA has a few tech stocks in it, most notably some Intel and Applied Materials bought over 10 years ago. But the vast majority of his tiny fortune (emphasis on the word tiny) is invested in mutual funds. He presently writes for no one else but ZDNet, SmartPlanet and himself. But if you've got an opportunity let him know. If he takes the gig he"ll first add it to this disclosure page.
The Thinking Tech blog focuses on technologies such as virtualization, smart electric grids, enterprise 2.0, open source, data center management, green technology and the intersection between the innovation and application of these advancements.