President Obama Announces "Capture the Flag" in Space

This will be a great phone call...."Dear ISS astronauts, I regret to inform you but due to the debt crises, which I totally ignored until 2 weeks ago, the space station must be abandoned because those evil Republicans want tax cuts for the rich. Have a nice day."

And, apparently, the President's announcement walked all over CDR Ferguson's desire to keep this tidbit secret until their departure ceremony and so add to its solemnity, of which he hinted during the crew's press conference earlier today.

Thanks, Mr. President.

Go SpaceX!

hey spacedout - did you know the GOP raised the debt ceiling 19 times while W was in office?

Folks:

Game ON!

tinker

Hey bassplayinbe - did you know that Obama called raising the debt ceiling back then a "failure in leadership"? It's not now though apparently. Sigh.
Same ol same ol in DC.

Anyways.....

For a President that has been fawned over for his oratory and inspiration skills, lame jokes seems a poor way to address the very last space shuttle mission ever.

Just disappointing, but then again, most presidential calls are very boring and serve as symbolic puff.

How nice if he could greet the crew on the runway this last time, as Reagan did once.

If I we're president, NASA couldn't keep me away! LOL

CessnaDriver - I believe it, and you're right. Every time we citizens say "x president is better than y president" we play the fools and they laugh all the way to the bank.

I agree, if I were prez, they would have to have to move my oval office to the VAB.

bassplayinben,

Note that I said "debt crises" not vote to increase debt. My point is that this president is clueless on this topic and his standard answers are boring. Thank goodness we only have less than 16 months before the next election. Then maybe we can get some leadership in DC for NASA. He has been a total failure. Look at SLS. Now our great administrator tells us that it will be 10 years before it can be human rated!! Seriously.

Bob:

Maybe the timing and manner of delivery for this announcement makes a kind of sense. The President's endorsement carries some weight when you consider that the prize is an American flag. I, for one, will feel a little bit better as Atlantis departs station knowing that this flag is up for grabs.

Like with the X-Prize, a symbol is a powerful thing. Nobody was gonna pull off that one for the ten million dollars being offered. Folks did it to be first!

I'll bet that some of the other contenders for the 'Flag Prize' downplay or ignore this announcement out of the fear of appearing to 'lose' because they are already too far behind to compete.

tinker

Bringing back the STS-1 flag from ISS? That's the best space-based game of Capture the Flag they could think of? Weak.

Well, screw that. I'm issuing my own challenge:

At 17:54 UTC on July 21, 1969, the exhaust of Eagle's ascent stage engine knocked over a flagpole that had been planted in the lunar surface by Armstrong and Aldrin. That means that there is now a prominently-displayed American flag in contact with the ground, a clear violation of flag etiquette. The winner of my game of Capture the Flag goes to the person who can walk over to the flagpole and set it back up correctly.

Game on!

ASFalcon:

The "Re Raise the First Lunar Flag Competition". I like it!

Can it be a robotic mission?

tinker

Tinker:
Can it be a robotic mission?

NO! Men put it there. Men should put it back in place.

We've sent lots of robots to the moon. What's the fun/challenge/inspiration in sending more?

Folks love Space X so much......let's see them pull that one off.

No, wait a minute. Our president said we've already done that..

Many would complain - justifiably - that adding new footprints or wheel tracks would desecrate a historic site.

Any entrant in the "Raise the First Lunar Flag Competition" should be strictly limited to a fixed route in and out of the site. (One which may be used again by future historians.)

Stepping on or rolling over existing footprints would be unavoidable near the flag. But where stepping on or rolling over pristine regolith, those new tracks should be covered over on the way out.

tutiger:

"Men put it there. Men should put it back in place."

Good point! Why make it easy? Astronauts it is. :)

Roger:

The footsteps of the astronauts righting the Flag would be almost as historic but, as you say, the site should be preserved as best as possible. As long as something doesn't fall on them, like a meteor, the Apollo landing sites will remain undisturbed for a long, long time. Distinctly different boot soles would do for identifying old and new footprints, for instance.

tinker

Interesting how everyone talks about return to moon except Obama.

Bolden, Garver, I just listened to mission highlights and the Atlantis crew as well, mentioning the flag will be flown again to lunar destination.

I think Obama has been out voted on the return to moon matter.

If anyone is going to disturb the historicity of the Eagle landing site so significantly (by re-raising the flag), then why bother with preserving any of the rest?

The Apollo 11 site on the Moon should remain as is, the way history unfolded. And that means the flag stays down, since it is a 'trace fossil' of the first human lift-off from the lunar surface.

BTW, is anyone aware of the status of the Apollo 11 ascent stage? Last time I looked (a long time ago) it was still an 'active' object in the catalogue, i.e., no specification of its demise. Perhaps retrieving that and bringing it back to the Smithsonian would be a worthwhile (and less historically offensive) objective...

I'd understand trying to preserve the Apollo 11 site... but wouldn't the return also be historic?

If your first intention is to revisit the site to change a major detail (knowing that the flag is probably down and very likely also damaged or made dangerously frail by the lunar environment) the addition of new tracks is a minor sin.
Altho You could well destroy what's left of the original flag by touching it. There might be no way to revisit Apollo 11 without damaging the area.

Maybe the definition of "Raise" would be better left as "plant a replacement flag on the edge of the landing site".

Maxwell:

That's the best idea yet! If the challenge is to test an economical and reusable means of getting folks to the Lunar surface then a ceremonial mission would be just right. We're testing technology, not necessarily worried where we land as long as everything works the way it's supposed to. Land a couple of miles away (being careful not to overfly the historic site), then trek in for the flag planting at the perimeter.

Hey, maybe it could be the STS-1 flag's final destination! That'd be very cool.

Goodness, we've known about ISS Capture The Flag for a day and we're already talking about the next competition? That's encouraging.

tinker

My first thought — preserve the site intact — lasted about one second.  Then I thought, never mind, we’ll always know where it is/was;  the sooner the Moon is covered with many people’s foot prints, from pole to pole, the better our future will be.  The place and the memory are symbol enough.

Steve

The time will come when we will have to turn the Apollo 11 handing site into a museum with the main exhibit roped off.

Go Bigelow!

Private space stations are the future, not hyper expensive ($3 billion a year) big government corporate workfare programs for Space X and others like the ISS.

Marcel F. Williams

How do you propose people get to this private space station? Click their heels?

Oh, I know. Let's waste a lot of money on some shuttle derived rocket.

CessaDriver:

I don't think Reagen ever greeted any shuttle astronauts on the runway after landing. I believe it was George W. Bush senior that greeted Mattingly & Hartsfield on the shuttle runway. The year was 1992 when bush senior was running for reelection.

July 4 1982 President Reagan and wife attended STS 4 landing and met with crew.

Thanks Mungo, I do remember that now. I mentioned Bush senior because during the runway greeting the CNN anchors were kinda joking about his real interest in the shuttle program during a heavy presidential campaign.