Could Russia produce a better practical moon base criterion than N.A.S.A.? The
United States space program except for the Kennedy years generally
gets little done in the way of manned space exploration. In about 70
years no one has gone beyond the space station (except for the
Kennedy programs through Apollo). The Apollo program might not have
got started except for competition with the Soviets.
It
would be a good idea to ask Russia to produce the most cost-effect,
practical moon base for research and industry they can, if one wants
to look at a practical design. It could be made to synergize with any
private corporate technology, yet government providing a core base
catalyst can actually get things moving.
Russia
since the end of the cold war has had a platter of problems to deal
with including complete economic and social restructuring. It has had
to protect its historical lands from global carpet baggers as best it
can, and to deal with terrorism, pollution and NATO military threats.
It has had little ability to put too much into manned space
exploration although it was a vital link to get astronauts to and
from the I.S.S. when America's space shuttle program was closed down.
Russia
has had to face the fact that the U.S.A. has a military edge and also
made it first to the moon staking a claim. Those and other factors
have made Russia unwilling to challenge what President Reagan called
the high frontier (of the moon). That's too bad in a sense because
the Soviet Union and Russia were the first in a few critical space
areas leading the way. They also got things done with cheap,
practical, no-frills technology. Because the U.S.A. has just let
N.A.S.A. largely abandoned manned space exploration and hope that a
few corporate efforts lead for the U.S.A., and that is too large a
task to get a moon base built anytime in the next decade that has any
sort of real economic and scientific development value, one might
like to have Russia involved to concept-brainstorm its version of the
most affordable and capable moon base that the U.S.A., Russia and the
European Space Agency could build in a joint venture. Democrats
though would hate that.
