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jlf1961 -> RE: Find the Money For This Program.....Somewhere (4/15/2011 4:35:58 PM)
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For the record, there were 32 Saturn family launches, the only loss of life was the Apollo 1 cabin fire, which had NOTHING to do with the launch vehicle.
The fire was the result of a short in wiring in an oxygen rich environment, the oxygen level in the Apollo one capsule at the time was nearly 100%.
So, the safety rating of the saturn program was much higher than the shuttle, since the Saturn Launch vehicle was never the direct cause of loss of life.
Various NASA programs were initiated for heavy launch vehicles, including various space plane designs which never got further than the drawing board.
The space shuttle was never intended for anything more that a low earth orbit vehicle, which was a large step backwards after Apollo.
The current Ares program, along with the Orion crew vehicle may not get as much support due to funding, but it is the only game in town.
If you read the current release of "2001 A Space Odyssey" there is a essay included in which Arthur C Clarke stated that the technology exists to build the space station and space craft described in the book, including the Nuclear rocket engines used in the Voyager craft.
The truth of the matter is that one country could not fund programs such as portrayed in the book, and considering the current funding cuts for NASA, as well as other country's space programs, it would make more sense for all countries to work together and jointly fund space operations and exploration.
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