NASA and Space X - Little House on the Prairie

The History of the world is the record of a man in quest of his daily bread and butter

H. W. Van Loon, The Story of Mankind

History has been made again folks, this time in the arena of spaceflight, with the first Private spacecraft making its successful maiden return from orbit as per the article “Company is first to return spacecraft from orbit”, published Thursday December 9, 2010 10:18 am ET by MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer, Yahoo! News

This is part of President of the United Stats of America, Barack Obama’s push to have Private Sector take up opportunities for spaceflight, leaving NASA (National Aeronautical Space Administration) to focus on science and Research as per my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and Aviation - Flight of the Navigator is Still Big Oil”.

Thus SpaceX has proved the pundits wrong who said Private ventures such as SpaceX were not up to the task of replacing NASA role in providing “taxi” services to astronauts into Space and back as per my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and the Ion Drive Engine - Star Trek and Andromeda”.

History has been made for Venture Capitalist Elon Musk, owner of PayPal and now CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of his latest venture, SpaceX, one of several contractors bidding to replace NASA role in ferrying Satellites, Cargo and Astronauts into Space so that NASA can focus on science missions. I could go into the history, but my blog article already is historical sufficient, having been tracking this developement for quite a while.

By now everyone has quieted down about the launch of  NC (Network computers) finally coming of age, though I have already tired of it, having written my opinion piece on the matter as per my blog entitled “Google Chrome OS and Open Source - Star Wars a New Hope”

Already there is the curio of the Cr-48 having no CAPS LOCK (AS IF I WILL MISS IT!!!!) and Function Keys (which I hardly never use anyway except when having PC issues!) as per the article “The caps-lock Key: WOULD YOU MISS IT?”, published Wednesday December 8, 2010 4:35 pm ET by Ben Patterson, Yahoo! News.

Network reliability affecting NC’s is a debate as old as the hills and in fact is what originally killed the device.

So I will hold my breath and judgments until ZDNET and CNET bench test one of these things for a week and give a full review on their blog/websites before I get all giddy and excited like the last time I did, which was back in Glenmuir High School in Upper Sixth form (1997 to 1998) and became aware of the concept.

Here in Jamaica, Telecom Provider LIME has also launched Mobile TV as per my speculation in my blog article entitled “LIME TV and Broadcasting - The Andromeda Strain and My Science Project” and appearing as advertising on CVM TV and Television Jamaica, albeit no articles have yet been published in the newspaper that confirm this modern day wonder in Jamaica.

Hopefully, despite what the old fogies and Upper St. Andrew Management seriously out of touch with reality in Jamaica at Telecom Provider LIME think, would be a hit if it came with an Online Game Platform in the subscription, such as OnLive or Steam.

But back to what has me really excited. A wheel of cheese became the first payload in the successful return of a privately owned Space vehicle as stated in the article “Wheel of Cheese launched into Space on Private spacecraft”, published December Thursday 9 2010 by Tariq Malik Managing Editor, SPACE.

Aside for the Monty Python and his flying Circus reference (watched it on YouTube!) sketch with John Cleese asking for his namesake when they are fresh out, this cheese thankfully did not come back molten, a good indication to any NASA astronauts suspecting that they would end up otherwise harmed due to possible problems with the Unmanned Dragon Capsule. Unmanned you say?

Yes, but so too was the NASA STS Shuttle and the previous rocket program before it, in a sense; all of them are remote piloted from the ground, as no human is capable of piloting and flying such large complex vehicles unaided by computers, a fact true even with Commercial Aircraft and Military Jets.

What is new here is the idea of using unmanned aircraft to deploy Satellites in Space, which also is not a new idea but if done later this month or by next year, would be a true indication that the Private Space Industry is capable of delivering any payload, be it human, Cargo or satellite, into Space, using remote piloted from the ground, unmanned vehicles. Private Space Industry is practical and has a sense of humor; what’s not to like?

I had been following this story since articles about alternative energy and flight began popping up, such as the story about the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) codenamed the Zephyr, designed by Qinetiq Company out in the Arizona Desert right beside the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2010 AD as stated in the article “'Eternal plane' returns to earth”, published 23 July 2010 last updated at 14:48 GMT, BBC News, Science and Environment

It is also detailed in full in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and Aviation - of Airplanes and the Sun God Ra” and holder of the record for the longest unmanned un-refueled flight clocking an incredible Three hundred and thirty six hours and 24 minutes (336 hrs, 24 min) of unmanned, un-refueled flight.

Curiously, the Air Force has also been secretly testing an Unmanned aircraft codenamed the X-37B Space plane, which had just ended its maiden seven (7) month unmanned un-refueled Space orbit successfully in the month of November as stated in the article “Secretive X-37B Space plane ends 7-month orbit”, published December 3, 2010 11:17 AM PST by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Military Tech

This after also having secretly launched seven (7) months prior in April as stated in the article “Air Force launches X-37B Space plane”, published April 23, 2010 10:10 AM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Military Tech.

Seemingly, despite their trust in Private Space Industry, the Government of the United States of America likes to keep some extra cards in its hands, should Private Sector decide to leave the poker table or should the need arise to deploy secret spy Satellites, which is not part of the Private Space Industry’s mandate.

SpaceX’ focus is taking up the heavy lifting for NASA, leaving Research and Science focus, effectively NASA going back to its roots, effectively the Little House on the Prairie (TV Series 1974 - 1983) as well as the book Little house on the Prairie as per my favourite book series that I STILL read (using my caps-lock there?) by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Truly folks, with all these news of launches of Chrome OS and locally here with Telecom Provider LIME launch of LIME TV for the Christmas and now the trifecta success of Space X, the Eagle truly has landed. Anybody want to buy a Spaceport in Vernamfield aside from Sir Richard Branson owned Virgin Intergalactic, as per my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and Virgin Intergalactic - District 9”?.