Nah, we'll probably cancel the NASA commem again - probably for a Woodstock or Wal-Mart commem. Not that I don't love Wal-Mart, I just don't necessarily want to see a fat chick in spandex on a coin...
This started as an acceptable thread , but it may be heading to an early demise. Try discussing commems that are in the pipeline, it makes infractions less likely. Again, no politics, religions or world events unless they are as the previous sentence. Thanks
As long as the Gov't needs money you will see Congress create all kinds of coin slots for deserving entities. It's one of the Governments money making scams. :yes: And yes, an NRA coin will sell tons but they need to wait awhile till this new nutcase in Colorado gets locked up forever.
Seems to me that there are thousands of worthwhile anniversaries that come around every year. The government only gets to pick a couple to receive commemoratives. I think the Lions Club is one of their more baffling choices, and I think a NASA anniversary would be an obvious choice -- but, looking at the likely affiliations of legislators and lobbyists, I can't say I'm that surprised. (But why no Freemasons coin? ) (Obvious answer: everything in the monetary system commemorates the Freemasons. :devil: )
Decades ahead of the US? I thought they were using rockets designed in the 60's for their manned flights. So if we pulled out an old Apollo we would then be even again?
If we pulled out the big old Saturn boosters, we would be well ahead of where we are today. Don't get me started.
Off topic, but I think pointing out misconceptions is important. From the 9/12 edition of Discover, an article on the discoveries of the "Dawn" spacecraft and its photos of Vesta, just slightly smaller than Ceres ( asteroids). It is an amazing article if you think the US in any way has lost the lead. The largest surprise is that this craft is going to be leaving Vesta ( and its 14 mile high mountain) and going to go to Ceres. It is only using the 937 lbs of xenon it contained at launch to do this. Chemical rockets of the past would have needed 2.5 tons of fuel just to get to Vesta, more to orbit, and could not have left Vesta and gone to Ceres ( 900 million miles away from Vesta). Dawn uses twin ion drive engines ( remember the Tie fighters). Solar panels produced electrical energy to ionize xenon gas which leaves the nozzle at 90,000 MPH. and can control the speed and the orbiting of the craft around Vesta. read the Article ~ Fantastic IMO. It isn't theory, It is working very well! Jim