NASA is saying they may need to temporarily abandoning the International Space Station until they figure out what went wrong with Russia's Soyuz rockets. Astronauts have been living aboard the station since 2000.

It is a sad commentary about our belief in the future that the U.S. no longer has a manned space program. To put the cost of the space program into perspective, Neil deGrasse Tyson, an American astrophysicist, recently said that the U.S. allocated more money for the TARP bailout ($700 billion) than we spent on NASA for its entire history ($471.23 billion from 1958-2008).

I guess we can find money for the things that our important to us as a country.

Check out this one minute graphic of what it took to put the space station together. I never really appreciated everything that went into its assembly.

International Space Station Comes Together
http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss ... /flash.htm

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th' only knower of th' cosmic mysteries alive at this time

The only things missing are Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

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th' only knower of th' cosmic mysteries alive at this time

If it happens at all, which I highly doubt, then the keyword here is temporarily. There's too much of a future in space that we would abandon anything of that magnitude completely. My field of research is one of the many puzzle pieces that will be making the future of space travel possible.

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I could use a vacation home. Maybe they can set up some time shares and rent it out, weather should be the same all year round. I'll sign up.

Texas burning, as seen from hand-held camera on the Space Station.

http://www.kvue.com/news/Bastrop-fire-v ... 30018.html

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th' only knower of th' cosmic mysteries alive at this time