[Raine]

darkpuppet,Aug 9 2005, 10:26 AM Wrote:the future of spaceflight is making the astronauts sit still for the entire duration of the flight?  you're kidding right?

Read the article. That's just the forward, reusable section of the proposed craft. There's also a secondary section that would be one or two time use that would leave the cosmonauts plenty of room to float around. It would also be as versitile as any existing cargo craft that we currently have with the various modules that could be attached to it.

darkpuppet,Aug 9 2005, 10:26 AM Wrote:you people complain about the shuttle being outdated (when it's not), and then suggest that the soyuz is the future of spaceflight.
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To quote you, you're kidding right? The shuttle is as severely outdated as the ocean liner. It is a product of the 60's & 70's... taking it into space is like taking an F4 Phantom into battle... although it still works, there's plenty of much more advanced equipment out there that's much less likely to get you killed. Just to toot the Russian horn a little more, even in the 80's when the shuttle was having problems (Challanger disaster), the USSR had a much more powerful, more capable orbiter built and tested - the Buran. By comparison, the Buran was better than the shuttle in every respect - more cargo capacity, more modern equipment, more atmospheric maneuverability... had the USSR not collapsed when it did it's very likely that the ISS would be complete by now, having it's components carried up by Energiya's Buran instead of NASA's problem-ridden orbiters. The fleet of shuttles is slated for retirement in 5 years... NASA has not given any indication of having a new orbiter in development, and yet they say they'll have a permanent facility on the moon by 2025...


Pic. of the Buran as taken from MIR