Space Shuttle Atlantis docked to Mir space station - photo

[mwmkravchenko]

I wonder how many Americans know that they current space station was designed by the Russians.

[WmRMeyers]

I wonder how many Americans know that they current space station was designed by the Russians.

I've known. The Russians have always been serious about space. The US, not so much. I cried when we lost astronauts, and I cried just as much for lost cosmonauts. We need to get people off this planet, and out into space. And if my country won't do it, I'll cheer the others on. China, Japan, India, I don't care who does it, so long as someone does. I'm probably too old for it, now, at 66, and definitely too broken down to be worth shipping up there, but I am seriously pissed off that my country is not already on the moon in great quantity as well as quality, and working on getting to other worlds, and moving as much of our industry into space as possible. You want a clean, healthy planet, that is the beginning! As Jerry Pournelle used to say, "In space it's raining soup. All we need to do is learn how to build soup bowls."