[ExI] Hawking urges Moon landing to 'elevate humanity'

[Adrian Tymes]

Not so.  Space industrialization can make that happen.

The Moon landings were one thing.  Lots of people getting very, VERY
rich (billionaires if not trillionaires) from their workings in space?
 That's a whole other kind of sexy.

On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 10:30 PM, Giulio Prisco <giulio at gmail.com> wrote:
> Adrian, of course this depends on one's emotional triggers, but to me
> the ISS is no powerful symbol. It's sexy like a brick. When I was at
> ESA I used to criticize the ISS/Shuttle emphasis and the abandonment
> of Moon exploration as a losers' choice that would make space boring
> and uninteresting. I got into troubles with top management for that on
> at least one occasion, but facts proved me right.
>
> Not to say that we don't need the ISS, and of course as you said we
> need cheap access to space more than everything, but we need to make
> space sexy again (as Hawking says), and only manned exploration of the
> Moon and the planets can do that.
>
> On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 9:15 PM, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Another moon landing would not be such a symbol.  It's been done, and people
>> have seen what little comes of it.
>>
>> Just extending the ISS's lifespan, or setting up the ISS's replacement (to
>> be launched and manned before the last person leaves the ISS), would do
>> more.  People are in space today, and that hasn't gone away yet.  That is a
>> powerful, ongoing symbol.
>>
>> On Jun 22, 2017 6:07 AM, "Giulio Prisco" <giulio at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Of course I agree that cheaper space access is needed and, once it's
>>> there, will open many doors. But don't dismiss the power of symbols.
>>> Apollo was all about flags and footprints, and everyone knew that. Yet
>>> Apollo inspired a whole generation, and some of them did great things,
>>> in space and in other sectors. We need cheap access to space, and
>>> people like you are doing good things for that, but we also need to
>>> start dreaming again.
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 3:32 AM, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 12:18 AM, Giulio Prisco <giulio at gmail.com>
>>> > wrote:
>>> >> Hawking urges Moon landing to 'elevate humanity'
>>> >> http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40345048
>>> >
>>> > Even Obama said "we've been there", IIRC.  Flags and footprints won't
>>> > help - on the Moon or on Mars.
>>> >
>>> > What we need is more affordable space access.  That will cause all
>>> > other space dreams to become far more possible - and be enough to
>>> > cause many to happen.
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