The world is on the verge of new manned exploration of the solar system - and, this time, environmentalists are backing itThis weekend, 40 years after man first landed on the Moon, more human beings than ever before are orbiting on a single spacecraft. In 1969, three men squeezed into Apollo 11's command module, a craft little bigger than a Mini. Yesterday, the International Space Station, now as large as a four-storey house, yet speeding at 17,239mph, took on board the crew of the shuttle Endeavour: 12 men, one woman - seven Americans, two Russians, two Canadians, one Japanese and a Belgian. During a two-man space-walk, the crew added a four-ton porch - an outdoor shelf for experiments - to the station. It is yet another small step in space exploration. But next month, a far bigger one could be taken. A panel of specialists will advise President Barack Obama on whether the US should embark on an ambitious 21st-century space programme that could see Americans return to the Moon, and eventually venture further to near-Earth asteroids and Mars. It is an issue that rouses not just space enthusiasts but those who think the world should have other, greener priorities. Related articles
This weekend, 40 years after man first landed on the Moon, more human beings than ever before are orbiting on a single spacecraft. In 1969, three men squeezed into Apollo 11's command module, a craft little bigger than a Mini.
Yesterday, the International Space Station, now as large as a four-storey house, yet speeding at 17,239mph, took on board the crew of the shuttle Endeavour: 12 men, one woman - seven Americans, two Russians, two Canadians, one Japanese and a Belgian. During a two-man space-walk, the crew added a four-ton porch - an outdoor shelf for experiments - to the station.
It is yet another small step in space exploration. But next month, a far bigger one could be taken. A panel of specialists will advise President Barack Obama on whether the US should embark on an ambitious 21st-century space programme that could see Americans return to the Moon, and eventually venture further to near-Earth asteroids and Mars. It is an issue that rouses not just space enthusiasts but those who think the world should have other, greener priorities. Related articles
Europe is seeing more success in the field of space flight than ever before. As Americans on Monday mark the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, Europeans are gearing up for their own moon walk. Forty years after man first walked on the moon, European astronauts have that great, glowing sphere in the sky back in sight. With several successes under its belt, Europe's dream of its own expedition to the moon is looking more realistic than ever. Europe's most ambitious spacecraft to date is the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which can deliver up to ten tons of material to the International Space Station. But the ATV can only carry material into space - and not the other way around, from space to Earth. Evert Dudok, the president of EADS Astrium, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, says that transporting material to Earth could be made possible. He says that the current ATV, which is relatively cylindrical, would be replaced with a capsule structure, which would then return to Earth, just like with the Apollo missions.
Forty years after man first walked on the moon, European astronauts have that great, glowing sphere in the sky back in sight. With several successes under its belt, Europe's dream of its own expedition to the moon is looking more realistic than ever.
Europe's most ambitious spacecraft to date is the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which can deliver up to ten tons of material to the International Space Station. But the ATV can only carry material into space - and not the other way around, from space to Earth.
Evert Dudok, the president of EADS Astrium, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, says that transporting material to Earth could be made possible. He says that the current ATV, which is relatively cylindrical, would be replaced with a capsule structure, which would then return to Earth, just like with the Apollo missions.
The US and Russia spend billions on their space programs, and China and India are following suit. Only Europe is in danger of being left behind. In a guest op-ed piece for SPIEGEL ONLINE, EADS CEO Louis Gallois argues that, 40 years after humanity first set foot on the moon, Europeans need a new vision. Forty years ago, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. With that "small step," a grand vision bore fruit. Only eight years earlier, US President John F. Kennedy had declared before the US Congress that "it will not be one man going to the moon -- it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there."
The US and Russia spend billions on their space programs, and China and India are following suit. Only Europe is in danger of being left behind. In a guest op-ed piece for SPIEGEL ONLINE, EADS CEO Louis Gallois argues that, 40 years after humanity first set foot on the moon, Europeans need a new vision.
Forty years ago, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. With that "small step," a grand vision bore fruit. Only eight years earlier, US President John F. Kennedy had declared before the US Congress that "it will not be one man going to the moon -- it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there."
And Mars! One does not have to look far at all to discover that it is, using any known technology, impossible to get humans to Mars and back in one piece. Bone degeneration being one of the more serious problems. Mental degeneration being not allowed for discussion. The risk equation not working out another problem.
Robots.
And again, robots are great for scientific exploration, but don't put people on Mars, and if your goal is to put people on Mars, then sending robots there will only help so much.
An argument for a one-way mission, I suppose.
PRAGUE -- Call it what you will: the Blob, the Octopus, the Eye -- by any name the saga of the chosen library design refuses to die. Officially known as The Eye Above Prague, the futuristic-looking library would have a malleable-looking shape bereft of corners, sides and sharp edges. Atop the eight-story building would be a cafe open to the public, with a huge window looking out over the city (hence the name). Many Czechs like the design, unconventional as it might be. Architects laud its contribution to Prague's cultural scene and decry the city's lack of modern architecture. Everyone acknowledges the city needs more space for its expanding book collection. But this is not merely a question of art.
PRAGUE -- Call it what you will: the Blob, the Octopus, the Eye -- by any name the saga of the chosen library design refuses to die.
Officially known as The Eye Above Prague, the futuristic-looking library would have a malleable-looking shape bereft of corners, sides and sharp edges. Atop the eight-story building would be a cafe open to the public, with a huge window looking out over the city (hence the name).
Many Czechs like the design, unconventional as it might be. Architects laud its contribution to Prague's cultural scene and decry the city's lack of modern architecture. Everyone acknowledges the city needs more space for its expanding book collection. But this is not merely a question of art.
The ostensible kickoff for WWII was British / European leaders' perceived need to crush a deliberately re-armed Germany, while the US and other major Western European powers conspired to pit Germany against the Soviet Union.
From WW II To WW III: Global NATO And Remilitarized Germany
In commenting on the rising tide of WWII revisionism in the West, reaching its nadir - to date - on this July 3rd with the passage of a resolution called Reunification of Divided Europe by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which in effect makes the former Soviet Union (and by implication current Russia) co-responsible for provoking WWII, veteran Russian journalist Valentin Zorin reminded his readers of several events usually swept under the carpet by leading Western circles and their compliant media and scholars: "The infamously failed Munich conspiracy of the western politicians and the Nazi Fuehrer sought to make the German Army march against the Soviet Union. In those days Moscow was pressing for forming an anti-Hitler coalition and invited a British and French delegation to that end. The talks proved long and fruitless. London and Paris actually sabotaged the talks while urging the Fuehrer to attack the USSR. "Even after the war had broken out, top-echelon leaders in London and Paris would not give up their attempts to make Hitler's divisions turn about and attack the Soviet Union. A several-month-long period of strange developments came to be known as a Phoney War. While deliberately inactive at the front, the British and French rulers engaged themselves in secret bargaining with Hitler.
"The infamously failed Munich conspiracy of the western politicians and the Nazi Fuehrer sought to make the German Army march against the Soviet Union. In those days Moscow was pressing for forming an anti-Hitler coalition and invited a British and French delegation to that end. The talks proved long and fruitless. London and Paris actually sabotaged the talks while urging the Fuehrer to attack the USSR.
"Even after the war had broken out, top-echelon leaders in London and Paris would not give up their attempts to make Hitler's divisions turn about and attack the Soviet Union. A several-month-long period of strange developments came to be known as a Phoney War. While deliberately inactive at the front, the British and French rulers engaged themselves in secret bargaining with Hitler.
Fascinating article, which I'd encourage all to read. Over 70 years later, we're only now beginning to understand the forces that were in play during WWII, much less WWI, which was equally conspiratorial in nature.
See also: Operation Unthinkable
Unthinkable, indeed.
What might this tell us about the wars that have been fought since the late 1940s, and those that are being waged today?
There's a pattern, here. What is its common denominator?
This sentence is self-contradictory. How could the British and European leaders (which ones?) at the same time want to crush Germany and pit it against Soviet Union?
By the way, the kick-off of WWII was the German invasion of Poland...
IMHO Globalresearch is not a very reliable source. This article claims that the presence of German troops in the Balkans equates the occupation of Rhineland in 1936, but doesn't explain what they have in common.
It is well known that Churchill was obsessed (not without reasons...) by the advance of Soviet armies in central and eastern Europe and that some people (like Patton) wanted to fight the USSR and that some Nazi leaders tried to reverse alliances. But the US government opposed such projects and, as far as I know, they were never seriously considered.
Furthermore, this article makes many claims (i.e. alleged secret meetings between Stewart Menzies and Canaris) without quoting any source other than Novosti... "Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Didn't Hitler crush himself by breaking the Ribbentrop-Molotov non-aggression pact and starting Operation Barbarrossa?
Clearly the easiest way to crush both Germany and the Soviet Union is to provoke a war between the two? The peak-to-trough part of the business cycle is an outlier. Carnot would have died laughing.
Though as far as I know no concrete such plans existed. One should note that Poland and Roumainia blocked the way and that both these states were probably considered important assets in eastern europe. A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
There had been a groundswell in the country at large that hitler was someone who had to be stopped. MacMillan had his Munich moment and Hitler had ignored him. Britain was still too proud of its heft in the world not to see that as a the worst possible insult, to ignore that and ally ourselves with him would have been impossible to sell politically. Once Britain had been humiliated at munich, war was unavoidable.
Even the Daily mail could see that. keep to the Fen Causeway
The historic flight lifts off July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Center.
Engines for the massive Saturn V rocket were developed and built in Southern California. The young scientists who created the Saturn V rocket that powered Aldrin and Armstrong to the moon on Apollo 11 in July 1969 were the unsung heroes in the space race with the Soviet Union. The success of America's big bet in space depended on the ability of young, unheralded engineers to build rocket engines that were both powerful enough and reliable enough to wrench the spacecraft from Earth's jealous grasp and send it winging to the lunar surface. The result of their work was the mammoth Saturn V, the largest and most powerful launch vehicle of its time. It was as tall as a 40-story building, with engines that gulped swimming pools worth of fuel every second. Producing 7.5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, Saturn V was so powerful that during a test at Cape Canaveral, it rained ceiling tiles on the head of CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite, watching from four miles away. "What set us apart was our ability to build a very big rocket to get us to the moon," said Roger Launius, the Smithsonian Institution's space historian, reflecting on the U.S.' race with the then-Soviet Union to reach the moon first. "The Russians were never able to do that." -Skip- The massive engines that would power each of the stages were the responsibility of Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, then a division of North American Aviation and now managed by Pratt & Whitney. As NASA management fretted that precious time was ticking away, Rocketdyne's engineers battled combustion problems and a dangerously faulty start-up sequence on the first-stage engines, and the failure of two second-stage engines in a key test less than a year before Apollo 11's scheduled launch. Those engineers were every bit the typical post-war working stiffs. Newly married and raising families, these men set up housekeeping in the fast-growing suburbs of the San Fernando Valley and threw themselves into the work of a lifetime.
The result of their work was the mammoth Saturn V, the largest and most powerful launch vehicle of its time. It was as tall as a 40-story building, with engines that gulped swimming pools worth of fuel every second. Producing 7.5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, Saturn V was so powerful that during a test at Cape Canaveral, it rained ceiling tiles on the head of CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite, watching from four miles away.
"What set us apart was our ability to build a very big rocket to get us to the moon," said Roger Launius, the Smithsonian Institution's space historian, reflecting on the U.S.' race with the then-Soviet Union to reach the moon first. "The Russians were never able to do that."
-Skip-
The massive engines that would power each of the stages were the responsibility of Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, then a division of North American Aviation and now managed by Pratt & Whitney. As NASA management fretted that precious time was ticking away, Rocketdyne's engineers battled combustion problems and a dangerously faulty start-up sequence on the first-stage engines, and the failure of two second-stage engines in a key test less than a year before Apollo 11's scheduled launch.
Those engineers were every bit the typical post-war working stiffs. Newly married and raising families, these men set up housekeeping in the fast-growing suburbs of the San Fernando Valley and threw themselves into the work of a lifetime.
From 1979 to 2006 we drove past the Rocketdyne facility on Canoga Avenue any time we went to the Topanga Shopping Center. I knew people who worked there. I hired engineers part time from similar aerospace industries for the development of the Digital Editor for the 3M Digital Audio Mastering System. I visited another aerospace facility to talk with an engineer about providing an inertial reference unit for a remotely piloted underwater vehicle. His company did guidance systems. Models of spacecraft they had worked on hung above cubicles. I loved it. Sadly, never got funds for the "underwater airplane." As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
