From: GBurch1@aol.com
Date: Fri Nov 20 1998 - 09:24:51 MST
In a message dated 98-11-19 21:41:35 EST, patrickw@cs.monash.edu.au (Patrick
Wilken) writes:
> I know its not a very extropian venture, but I still find the launch of the
> first module of the ISS next Friday exciting. There is lots of information
> on the BBC website:
>
>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/iss/newsid_217000/217788.stm
>
> I'd be very interested in learning what people think the ISS will achieve
> (scientifically and otherwise).
You're right that the project is not very extropian in how it's being
accomplished, but I certainly let out a whoop of excitement this morning when
I saw that the Zarya module had gotten off the pad at Baikanour OK. Although
ISS is a big boondoggle in many ways and it's history is an object lesson in
why big central government projects are about the least efficient means of
accomplishing anything (even something as single-minded as "build a space
station"), it's also a great source of education for the next generation of
space engineers. We'll need those people when the technology becomes
available to do space on a more efficient basis. I'd like to see ISS
privatized as soon as possible and serve as a construction base for those
projects. By then (2005-2015) it's scientific value will have gone from low
to nil, but its value as a place to do useful engineering work may be
unmatched.
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<burchg@liddellsapp.com>
Attorney ::: Director, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must
be driven into practice with courageous impatience."
-- Admiral Hyman Rickover
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