Manned Space Exploration- The Columbia Tragedy

[coolalien312]

I don't know if this has already been discussed, but here it goes. I know this was quite a long time ago, but I still think it needs to be discussed. This topic, is of course, about the Columbia Disaster.
-What are your views on it?
-Do you think that manned space exploration should continue?
-Do you think that they should replace the shuttles that have been lost?

I really want to here from you! As for me, I am a huge fan of manned space trave, I want to be an astronaut! I think that it was a very sad time in history, brave souls left our world for the goodness of us, and all we can do is thank them. I personally think that discontinuing the manned missions is and insult to those that lost their lives doing it. Why did they do it in the first place? They were trying to improve technology, and if we are not going to use it for things that will devolpe new technology, why risk their lives in the first place? It's like that saying...give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Alot of people say that we should be spending goverment money on the poor and homeless, but if we spend those dollars on ways to develope new technology, we are providing jobs for the homeless, and more money for food.

[SmoochHeart]

Absolutely manned space travel should continue. I think they should replace the shuttles, but give them different names out of respect.

[lanifiel]

The concept of manned missions in space, to me, contains everything that humanity should strive for. Manned missions in space is something that is monumental, we are leaving the planet from which we came. There is no greater feat than that. Are the things that have happened to some missions tragedies? Yes. Should they be ignored? No. Should we continue with more missions? Yes! To cease the missions would be an insult to everything that astronaughts and NASA Stands for. Being an astronaught is not by definition a 'safe' profession. You're strapping yourself on to something that is a controlled explosion to escape the gravity that our planet exerts. Did the astronaughts who have died understand this? Yes. Would they have rather died in any other way? I doubt it, they were doing that which they loved, they were defying the boundries of mankind.

I think not only should space exploration continue but more money should be provided for the research and development of new technology and ways to get into space. Coolalien312, I wish you all the best for your future. If you ever do make it into space I want to see a banner saying CoS Forums on TV ^_^

[XanFan]

Manned and unmanned space travel is definitely the future.

I agree that the shuttle tragedies -- as well as the earlier (was it Gemini?) tragedies are hard to deal with. But they cannot mean an end to space travel.

This is meant in no disrespect to those who lost their lives in Columbia or Challenger, but I think it is terrible that those losses were allowed to cripple the NASA program. In fact, I think the crippling of NASA is the disrespect to those who died.

We are using 40-year-old technology. We have become content with going as far as an Earth orbit and no further. Think of all the strides we made in the space race. All the new technologies that came from that exciting time.

I hoped the Mars rovers would inspire a new generation to dream of outer space; but, sadly, no one outside of the science community even seemed to notice.

There are worlds and worlds of unknown out there. We're like kids who aren't allowed out of our backyard. I wish we had a leader *now* who was brave enough to say, "look, it's not popular, and it won't be easy, but we'll do it. We'll do it because we can."

But that wouldn't be politically-correct right now. I don't think any world leader is brave enough to say that right now.

I miss the excitement of a new launch. I miss the excitement of new discoveries, new challenges to ourselves as humans.

Perhaps the new drive for private space travel will kick-start the process. The X-Prize was certainly cool, but, unfortunately, just rewarded someone for doing what Chuck Yeager did decades ago.

Wow. How did I get on this soapbox? :) I guess I'm passionate about this one!

[haha]

Manned and unmanned space travel is definitely the future.

I agree that the shuttle tragedies -- as well as the earlier (was it Gemini?) tragedies are hard to deal with. But they cannot mean an end to space travel.
I have to agree with this. When astronauts accept to go on mission they also accept the fact that these sorts of things do and will occur, although with the right preparation a lot of them can be avoided.
My only worry is that shuttles are not checked over and inspected as much as it should be. In physics at school, as well as the Columbia disaster, we also looked at another incident where a horrific tragedy occured before they even left the ground and it all could have been avoided is the seals had been checked and replaced. Now, this is the sort of thing that gives space exploration a bad name, and makes it infinitely more dangerous than it should be.
Because of this accident, there are more stricter rules regarding this sort of thing, but there's always that what if this was in place before, then those people would not have had to die.

There are worlds and worlds of unknown out there. We're like kids who aren't allowed out of our backyard. I wish we had a leader *now* who was brave enough to say, "look, it's not popular, and it won't be easy, but we'll do it. We'll do it because we can."
Scientific Endeavour :D Definitely a major part in all of the major discoveries in science, present and past.

I think not only should space exploration continue but more money should be provided for the research and development of new technology and ways to get into space. Coolalien312, I wish you all the best for your future. If you ever do make it into space I want to see a banner saying CoS Forums on TV ^_^
Same here :D I agree with you here on ALL points with ;)

[PLIMPY]

-What are your views on it?
I think that it was horrible that these people died, but I think that in general space travel has had few human casulaties from a feat that is so dangerous.

-Do you think that manned space exploration should continue?
I defintely think that it should be. I don't think that the world can say, "well, we have been to the moon, that is far enough." I read in the paper that President Bush wanted to fund continued manned space exploration, and I don't remember all that much, but the way the article read, it sounded as though he wanted man to go back to the moon by like 2020 (I think it may have been that he wanted to use it as a stepping stone to travel to Mars, is there something that I'm not understanding about this or is doing something that we did in 1969 sixteen years from now not all that impressive?), and the amount of money they listed didn't really seem to me to be enough to really make a huge impact, although I don't know nearly enough about the budgeting needs of NASA to say that for certain. I'm not sure how much of a priority that this is in the Bush White House, but I figured I would mention it. (Here is a link to some information about it from CNN if anyone is interested in the Bush plan, not where I read about it initially, but it looks like it says pretty much the same thing Bush unveils vision for moon and beyond (http://search.aimhome.netscape.com/aim/boomframe.jsp?query=President+Bush+funds+NASA+programs&page=1&offset=1&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Dcdc3bed42ea9189a%26clickedItemRank%3D1%26userQuery%3DPresident%2BBush%2Bfunds%2BNASA%2Bprograms%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.cnn.com%252F2004%252FTECH%252Fspace%252F01%252F14%252Fbush.space%252F%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DAIMHome%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2004%2FTECH%2Fspace%2F01%2F14%2Fbush.space%2F) ) It really seems to me that if we could get people interested in space travel, then it would be easier for politicians to advocate funding, but I don't know how to make this happen.

-Do you think that they should replace the shuttles that have been lost?
Definetly, they should replace them and replace them with better shuttles, I can't imagine that there have been no new advances since the old one was made, technology is constantly evolving.

[coolalien312]

I once heard that Bush wanted to build camps on the moon to make it easier to go to Mars. Right now, it would be pretty difficult to power a machiene that could take a team of humans to Mars, and so, if we launch it from the moon, it would be closer.
Coolalien312, I wish you all the best for your future. If you ever do make it into space I want to see a banner saying CoS Forums on TV ^_^
Of Course! Make sure to be infront of your TV in about 20 years...

[haha]

I once heard that Bush wanted to build camps on the moon to make it easier to go to Mars. Right now, it would be pretty difficult to power a machiene that could take a team of humans to Mars, and so, if we launch it from the moon, it would be closer.
But ther's no guarantee that humans would be safe to travel on mars. Because of other tragedies they can't afford to take risks so i think that it might be a while before this happens. Also to get from the moon to Mars you'll also need people to take fuel and stuff up there and set it up ready to set off for Mars so that will definitely take some preparation time to get the camp settled on the moon.

[teo]

-What are your views on it?

It was terrible, of course...I'm also old enough to remember sitting in the library at school and watching the Challenger explosion, so it brought back bad memories of that as well.

-Do you think that manned space exploration should continue?

Absolutely. There are risks involved, but I think the knowledge and rewards that can be gained from manned space exploration far outweigh these risks. It definitely is dangerous and probably always will be, but when a person signs up to be an astronaut, they are fully aware of the inherent risks involved.

-Do you think that they should replace the shuttles that have been lost?

Yes, or perhaps better, develop a new space vechicle that is safer and/or more efficient than the current Shuttle. I know they're working on this, but I'm not sure how close it is to happening. Either way, I think manned space exploration should definitely continue, and sooner rather than later.

[haha]

Yes, or perhaps better, develop a new space vechicle that is safer and/or more efficient than the current Shuttle. I know they're working on this, but I'm not sure how close it is to happening. Either way, I think manned space exploration should definitely continue, and sooner rather than later.
I don't think there's any way we can NOT stop it continuing considering the power and prestige involved in scientific endeavours. Just look at the race to get to Mars first with the robots, where Nasa's one worked and the poor British one failed to function.

[HollywoodBob]

The biggest problem I see with space exploration is that there's not enough federal money being spent on development.

What we really need is a world space program, where the nations all work together to build a space elevator, then a space station/dock/shipyard, then a moonbase. From there interstellar exploration can become a realistic possibility.

-HollywoodBob

[haha]

The biggest problem I see with space exploration is that there's not enough federal money being spent on development.
And what money they do have is in my opinion should be spent of security, at least some of it, but they tend to disregard this issue sometimes if they want to build a beter rocket or robot, they spend it more on that.

[Potters Goblet]

If more money was funneled into space exploration, medical research would benefit, agriculture would benefit, the environment and the military wouuld probably even benefit. There are practical uses for space travel in almost anything you can find. Why if it wasn't for the space program, the plastic shunt that they implanted in my head when I was born wouldn't have even been invented. The plastic leg braces that adorn my crippled legs likely would not be what they are. many surgeries, medicenes and agricultural processes wouldn't be nearly as developed as they are.

The ones that were on Columbia on that fateful day knew that, the same way those on the Challenger knew that. The same way that those on Apollo 1 knew that. (okay that last one might be a stretch but I BET they knew it.)

We're not just trying to discover the stars. We're trying to open up new worlds. I think it should be more of an earth project rather than a NASA Project though, but I digress.

We need something other than the space shuttle. Something that can get us to the moon and back. To Mars and back. Something that's not an ORBITER only. We need an actual SPACESHIP. And the money to fund it. But then again, much like the space station it needs to be a planetary project. Get money from all the industrialized nations of the world. From Russia, Germany, France, England, Ireland, Spain... you name it. Train their people to be astronauts and flight directors or whatever. Make it truly a world project. Then maybe accidents like columbia won't have to happen again.

[haha]

The problem with getting countries to work together (although it's a good idea) is that most of the industrtialised worlds are fighting AGAINST each other to be the first to do a particular thing in space exploration. It would take a lot for them to put their differences aside and work together, plus working together might even delay progress in some ways because there are bound to be disagreements with so many leaders present.

[Potters Goblet]

The problem with getting countries to work together (although it's a good idea) is that most of the industrtialised worlds are fighting AGAINST each other to be the first to do a particular thing in space exploration. It would take a lot for them to put their differences aside and work together, plus working together might even delay progress in some ways because there are bound to be disagreements with so many leaders present.
so create an organization that would be the space equivalent of the UN. Made up of dignitaries, secretaries or diplomats from each participating nation. Elect a president or secretary General that would act as the Kofi Annan Space Dude and have the committee available to resolve any desputes that may arise. In theory it might work. How well it'd work in practice??? Look at the UN today for that answer... and I'll digress because, well, we all know how well THAT's working! ;)

(Today's the anniversary of the Challenger. Feb 3 is the anniversary of Columbia. I believe yesterday was the anniversary of Apollo 1. Please remember all the fallen heroes of the space prgram.)

[haha]

In theory the idea does sound great but it would take a lot of money, time and cooperation before it could be ever put into practice. The UN role's is promoting peace within the nations which everyone can agree on pretty easily but with space travel, there's a lot of prestige linked with finding something before another country does, and i don't know how many industrialised countries are willing to give that up...not many, even if it is to save lives because i think they'd just claim that their security is safe and accidents like the Columbia tragedy was a freak accident.

[Potters Goblet]

In theory the idea does sound great but it would take a lot of money, time and cooperation before it could be ever put into practice. The UN role's is promoting peace within the nations which everyone can agree on pretty easily but with space travel, there's a lot of prestige linked with finding something before another country does, and i don't know how many industrialised countries are willing to give that up...not many, even if it is to save lives because i think they'd just claim that their security is safe and accidents like the Columbia tragedy was a freak accident.

I think if society (World society) were not built around money matters things could be a lot easier to do together. The Golden Rule...Whoever has the gold makes the rules. If this were not the case, people could more easily work together in space travel and other areas.

I think the world should be more like star trek. Less about money, More about mutual goals. It'll never happen. but then I didn't say I thought it would. I said I thought it SHOULD! ;)

[haha]

Your right about the 'Golden Rule' and in an utopian world we would care more about mutual goals rather than material gain, but unfortunately we don't live in an utopian society and i highly doubt we ever will...I don't think it's in human nature to when we have power to give it up so easily. (call me cynical but that's what i think :p )

[Potters Goblet]

Your right about the 'Golden Rule' and in an utopian world we would care more about mutual goals rather than material gain, but unfortunately we don't live in an utopian society and i highly doubt we ever will...I don't think it's in human nature to when we have power to give it up so easily. (call me cynical but that's what i think :p )

If people could look at all the benefits reaped from Space Travel, and stop trying to figure out how to make a buck on it, Space Travel might become a universal adventure.

[haha]

Talking about benefits, i was just doing some work for physics and i read about how if you could travel at 99.99% the speed of light, then a 4.2 light year trip to our closest star Alpha Centauri would only take 20 days from the spacecrafts point of view. Imagine how cool it would be if that actually happened. Imagine all the types of places that we could explore.

[spacecase]

I definetly want the space program to go on. I also strive to be an astronaut.

Right after the Columbia accident, I went on the news for my city and they interviewed me (I had inside connections with an NBC cameraman) about whether the accident changed my views of the space program at all. I said that people die every day in car accidents, yet I still drive a car. That's an extreme generalization, but I think that this is just another kink that NASA has to get through. The main problem was that they did not know exactly what went wrong with Columbia. All of the "evidence" of the accident was strewn across Texas, without giving much hope for deciphering it. After the Apollo 1 accident, NASA still went on with their plans to go to the moon. When the Challenger exploded, they eventually sent people up again, and just took extra precautions and took in account any unusually cold weather.
We know that the Columbia tragedy didn't stop NASA right away. (True, it did put a halt on things initially...). We're still sending people up to the International Space Station with the Cosmonauts. I personally would like to see the Orbiters fly again, the remaining ones (Endeavour, Atlantis, and Discovery). It was a great technology. If they ever find what went wrong with Columbia, I think that it should be fixed because the orbiters theoretically work great for docking with the international space station.
I would also like to see some other types of spacecraft evolve. We'll need something much more powerful that would be able to get us to Mars and hold everything needed for people to survive as well as fuel to get them back to Earth. I really want to be the first person on Mars. Hey-it's possible!
If you haven't noticed, I think that manned space exploration should continue. Sending unmanned space probes does give us a lot of pertinent information, but I think that you should only send a robot somewhere that a person actually can't go themselves. A person takes a lot more money to take care of, but a human perspective it what we need. We need a person who can decide what rocks on Mars are important to take pictures of. We need a person who can make split second decisions, not a rover that has a several minute delay from the command time to the action time.
NASA is our (at least the US's) connection with the rest of the universe. If we decide to never send a man up again, it's almost not worth it to send robots. We need the connection to be made with an actual representative of the human race to see things first hand, we don't need a robot to mindlessly wander and take samples.

EDIT: Another thing that I forgot that I wanted to say....
Planes crash all of the time. There are devestating accidents...Tenerife, the sept 11th attacks, and many other things (I'm in a class that basically does case studies of airplane accidents and the human factors issues involved). When one plane crashes, most people and certainly most pilots keep on flying. They make due for the losses. They improve upon the planes and they keep getting better and better. I hope that one day, spacecraft can be made in the same way. It would be awesome to have new models come out. Some day it'll be cheap enough to do that.
(I'm also a student pilot...that's how I'm going to make my way to astronautism...I'll be a pilot, and also get a PhD in Physics. Wish me luck)

[Potters Goblet]

Talking about benefits, i was just doing some work for physics and i read about how if you could travel at 99.99% the speed of light, then a 4.2 light year trip to our closest star Alpha Centauri would only take 20 days from the spacecrafts point of view. Imagine how cool it would be if that actually happened. Imagine all the types of places that we could explore.
That's what I like to see... Young minds inspired to dream. Okay you know the calculation. You know what's required to get us there. Now it's up to you fellas to get us there. I doubt it'll happen in my lifetime but get us there in yours. Or maybe pave the way for your kids to get us there.

[haha]

I hope so but the only problem with travelling that fast, which i later found out, is that the energy you make converts into mass so you get fatter. You're length also decreases or contracts. So that's fatter and shorter. Not a pretty picture ;) Still a sacrifice for space exploration.

[Potters Goblet]

I hope so but the only problem with travelling that fast, which i later found out, is that the energy you make converts into mass so you get fatter. You're length also decreases or contracts. So that's fatter and shorter. Not a pretty picture ;) Still a sacrifice for space exploration.

I'm 5'9 and 200 (mumble) pounds. The last thing I need is to get shorter and fatter! I think I'll stay right here on good ol' planet Earth.

LOL

But seriously, I love the space program and If I had a realistic shot at going up, I probably would. But only into orbit.

[spacecase]

I don't think that we're going to be traveling that fast, like 99.99% the speed of light anytime soon...especially not sending humans traveling that fast!

But in normal space flight, you actually get a couple inches taller, like just in the orbiter (well, not now, since it's currently out of service), or the international space station. I forget exactly why...I have it in my notes somewhere...but like your spine stretches out or something because gravity isn't pulling it down. That's a perk for me to go into space...I'm only 5'0" on Earth...but I guess everyone else will be taller in space, too.

[haha]

I don't think that we're going to be traveling that fast, like 99.99% the speed of light anytime soon...especially not sending humans traveling that fast!
Realistically there is no way we can go to anywhere near that speed not even to 505 the speed of light, the main reason being fuel and technology. But it is something to dream about.

And the thing you mentioned about you growing taller, i found this which explains it. i never actually knew you could grow taller...i would love to be taller :D
After achieving orbit, the body fluids will start to redistribute themselves in the weightless environment. A lot of the effects that will be described can be limited by creating gravity through craft or station rotation. If there is no artificial source of gravity, astronauts experience a head cold type of condition. If you have ever felt a little bit wide in the midsection, but were not inclined to do much about it, a space mission is just the answer. The intestinal tract will float upwards in the body causing an average human body to lose about 10 cm around the middle. Talk about a quickie remedy to a very difficult problem. Stooped over slightly, space travel is just the ticket. Not only will your spine straighten but in the weightless environment, you will also be a little bit taller than you are on Earth. There is a price to pay for this added height, though, a slight pain in the lower back.

[spacecase]

While you actually grow taller in space, once back on Earth and walking around with normal gravity again, you shrink back.

When I go into space, I'm getting pictures taken, showing how tall I am. And then I won't get measured again and claim that I'm that tall forever :p

[haha]

While you actually grow taller in space, once back on Earth and walking around with normal gravity again, you shrink back.
Bummer ;)

[kingwidgit]

Double bummer. If I remember correctly, some of those cosmonauts had to relearn how to walk, and suffered severe osteoporosis due to living without a gravitational field for many months/years. You aren't actually growing, the bones in your spine are separating due to no g-force, which keeps your spine compressed.

[haha]

Yeah I've heard of that. But I think the worst would be muscle atrophy due to lack of use. Now if i could only find my science textbook....Found it!

The muscle damage is from contractile proteins lost and tissues shrink. They (the astronauts) also showed an increase in circulating nitrogen and creatinine kinase, which are both indicators of mucle breakdown. Muscle loss may be accompanied by a conversion of muscle type as rats exposed to weightlessness show an increase in the amount of "fast-twitch" white fiber relative to the bulkier "slow-twitch" red fiber, which is thought to carry the burden in endurance exercise.

[spacecase]

Because of the muscle atrophy or whatever, they have to exercise so much more. We take for granted the opportunities that we have just to walk everywhere, but in space, when you walk, you talk one step and float everywhere.
I actually had this idea for a type of treadmill. Right now they basically strap you down to a treadmill to get it to actually work. My idea is-- Have some type of shoes with slightly magnetic soles or something, and then the treadmill be metal, or vice versa...creating a fake little gravity field so that there will be some resistance and something to keep you down and actually work the muscles. That's very theoretical right now. ...Maybe I should have been an engineer and I could've actually made a prototype :p

[haha]

when you walk, you talk one step and float everywhere.
When you see on videos and stuff astronauts doing it you think it's so cool, but then they have to come back and they never tell you about them having to deal with all these problems :p
My idea is-- Have some type of shoes with slightly magnetic soles or something
I'm all for a better type of treadmill but you might take care because magnetic fields can generate electric currents and we don't want people to become electrocuted when they exercise :lol:

[Potters Goblet]

You would think that with all of the space walks and such and all of the energy expended to do one that they'd get more exercise than they do, but I suppose it's due to the lack of physical work (stress) on the legs. You're just floating around. The lungs and heart might theoretically get a good workout but not the muscles. I think that they need to build a component on the space station that allows them simply to do nothing but play hand ball or something. Could you imagine playing hand ball in space? LOL

Seriously though, you have to be able to tax your muscles. To work out in a way that's going to WORK the muscle. Since there's basically no "weight" to even the heaviest of handweights it wouldn't do them any good to take a gym up there.

What about those Stretchy rubber band things? They would provide resistence wouldn't they? Then you could tax the muscle some. But it would take a heck of a lot of work I guess, unless there's a way to make them tougher to stretch, which I'm sure there is.

[spacecase]

What about those Stretchy rubber band things? They would provide resistence wouldn't they? Then you could tax the muscle some. But it would take a heck of a lot of work I guess, unless there's a way to make them tougher to stretch, which I'm sure there is.

I think that they actually use those some. But whatever work out that you would do, it would be so repetetive. It's not like here where you can run around or maybe switch up your routine.

The human body is actually lazy, it won't work unless it has to.

I just had a completely random thought....What if they put a swimming pool on a space ship, like maybe the ISS, or some other huge space station that they might put up sometime. I know that it would be impractical on the orbiter or the russian soyuz. But then they could have the resistance of water when they are trying to swim... I suppose that it wouldn't be a pool, it would be just like a huge hovering spill.

I should design my own space station and send the blueprints to NASA!

[haha]

Could you imagine playing hand ball in space? LOL
Well you'd hit the ball once and never see it again until some aliens came to destroy earth because a small, round, yellow object hit their leader on the head :lol:
What about those Stretchy rubber band things? They would provide resistence wouldn't they? Then you could tax the muscle some. But it would take a heck of a lot of work I guess, unless there's a way to make them tougher to stretch, which I'm sure there is.
Astronauts do actually do exercise and would you believe that they do take a gym up to space, well to be more accurate a treadmill. The exercise also helps them adjust to the Earth's atmosphere when they return. Astronauts can use a treadmill as a form of resistance exercise. The treadmill is a Teflon-coated aluminum sheet on a roller, with a bottom that locks into holes in the floor. Straps from the base of the treadmill tie around the waist. Astronauts exercise their arms by pushing upward on the bar while walking. Moving air from a nearby duct is used to dry off the perspiration produced from exercising. Otherwise, the sweat would stick to the skin and grow thicker and thicker.

[Potters Goblet]

Well you'd hit the ball once and never see it again until some aliens came to destroy earth because a small, round, yellow object hit their leader on the head :lol:.

LOL NO I mean playing handball like in the cargo bay of a shuttle or something. Or in a room on the space station. Off of a (hypothetically) blank wall, with no switches, buttons etc...Talk about a slow motion game! I think I've found a sport more boring than watching paint dry!

Astronauts do actually do exercise and would you believe that they do take a gym up to space, well to be more accurate a treadmill. The exercise also helps them adjust to the Earth's atmosphere when they return. Astronauts can use a treadmill as a form of resistance exercise. The treadmill is a Teflon-coated aluminum sheet on a roller, with a bottom that locks into holes in the floor. Straps from the base of the treadmill tie around the waist. Astronauts exercise their arms by pushing upward on the bar while walking. Moving air from a nearby duct is used to dry off the perspiration produced from exercising. Otherwise, the sweat would stick to the skin and grow thicker and thicker.

But imagine the weight that you'd save if you just carried one of those stretchy things instead of the treadmill. Treadmills weigh a couple hundred pounds at their lightest... It might not seem like much but on a mission to Mars that's going to last more than 2 years, every ounce is going to count. That's 200 more pounds of fuel you can use. Or Oxygen or food. whatever.

Then everybody exercises with their little bands everyday and goes into the cargo bay to play handball! (LOL)

[haha]

LOL NO I mean playing handball like in the cargo bay of a shuttle or something. Or in a room on the space station. Off of a (hypothetically) blank wall, with no switches, buttons etc...Talk about a slow motion game! I think I've found a sport more boring than watching paint dry!
:lol: yeah i figured you meant something like that :D
But imagine the weight that you'd save if you just carried one of those stretchy things instead of the treadmill.
But i think the advantage with the treadmills is that it can exercise various muscles in your body rather than just a couple of target one's which the rubber bands tend to focus on. I'm not sure though, that's just my opinion.

[spacecase]

I was reading on space.com today, and I found this article that might be of interest to anyone who was interested in this thread and whether we'll go back into space using the orbiters.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/rtf_sts114_update_050210.html

[haha]

I think it is possible to get the orbiter up again because the only problem was a couple of loose tiles. Of course that led to other damages being sustained. Such a small thing caused such a big disaster.