EVA Plans Hit A Snag

I find it disturbing that we mention the ISS only when there are failures, breakdowns or problems. On the contrary, we don't mention the scientific acheivments - probably because as Bob Park says, they have been marginal so far. Two years have passed since the addition of the newest labs - Kibo and Columbus. And still nothing significant has come out.

What could justify the costs of the huge white elephant?

Nothing can justify its costs. It remains a sinkhole on the path to the moon and Mars.

Justification is that it is cheaper than a larger white elephant called a lunar base.

And the headlines are sooooo crowded with the ongoing 'achievements' occurring at the NIH, Lawrence Livermore, Fermilab,and Los Alamos, etc, not too mention the thousands of other laboratories, public and private, around the nation.

I would suggest that your understanding of scientific 'achievement' is a tad naive.

ISS is just fine if you don't want to go anywhere while eating tons of tax money. Glad to see we agree that the ISS is a white elephant though.

For those exhibiting their ignorant minds on the accomplishments of the ISS and science work then, they should read more than post....

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/index.html

Good day / evening.

Bob Mahoney: I'm a Molecular biologist and I'm currenttly mastering plant physiology in a local uni with local laboratories. Of course, our acheivements don't get published much in local newspapers. But We're not wasting billions of tax dollars either.

The Human Genome sequencing project took 10 years and the cost varies between $3 billion and $10 billion. Not counting Celera's project. The results in the end were great and will influence biological research for decades. And yet, this costly project got extreme news coverage.

The International Space Station costs even more - between $60 billion and $100 billion dollars. For that cost I would expect acheivements comparable to the Human Genome Project or another costly Mega Project.

And don't tell me that my understanding is naive - if something significant comes out, it will undoubtfully get news coverage! Think about some other great discoveries - discovery of water on Mars, for example. Now all people are talking about that...