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Space

NASA To Deal With Disney For Commercial Use Of ISS 113

Posted by emmett from the m-i-c-k-e-y-s-p-a-c-e- dept.
spiralx writes "According to this story on MSNBC, NASA is preparing to announce its first deal for 'commercial use' of the International Space Station. It is expected to be some kind of multimedia broadcasting deal, most likely to be with a Disney-led consortium." I'm presuming that liftoff is an E-ticket ride.
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NASA To Deal With Disney For Commercial Use of ISS More

NASA To Deal With Disney For Commercial Use of ISS

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  • What happens if it comes falling back to Earth?

    That'll be one hell of a ride!

  • No, no, no; this isn't a troll... it's honest, heartfelt agony pouring out of a soul that has had one too many exposures to capitalism. :)


    "The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness."
  • From the article:
    "Some you will (recognize), and some will surprise you," said Tam

    Like TBS. Nobody expected to see the "All Charles Bronson, All Weekend, All From SPACE Weekend!!!".

    Or what about Cartoon Network? Wouldn't Space Ghost be that much cooler From Space?

  • or the FU Center,formerly the Corestates Center,in Philadelphia.(look it up,it's where the Flyers play...go Philly!)


    Etot "sig" byit pisyat v Russki!
    (35.0% Slashdot nezdorovi.)
  • Oh yeah.
    That's the one I wanted. Glad that someone was able to find it. :-)
  • Um, not to rain on your unsupported rant, but MIR is still functioning peachy keen. Articles here [space.com] and here [britannica.com]
  • It seems the US space programme is striving for new lows. This is the sort of thing that people frm elsewhere read and think only in America! I know the program may need the money and it may be for the gretaer benefit but this time I just can't get over the tackiness of the whole thing. I hope this doesn't happen. Maybe I am getting carried away here but this is just wrong. We can't let Disney in on everything, can we?

    "Patience is a virtue, afforded those with nothing better to do." - I don't remember

  • I'm sorry,

    You must have me confused with someone else. What is a Troll anyway?

    :P

  • The ultimate goal of the ISS, commercialization of space, proves a disturbing theory. Human beings as a species are slowly destroying ourselves... perhaps its human nature that we chase the almighty dollar instead of exploring frontiers for discovery and the advancement of our kind. We are definetely a product of our own society now, proven when a dollar for entertainment value is more important than collective learning.

    With that theory in mind, the ISS is a terrible thing to waste on what will eventually become an amusement park ride at "Brainwashing Children Everywhere" Disney.

    Screw.

  • I really have no idea what is so holy about space travel that we can't allow corporations subsidize more of it's research. I know a lot of people think space exploration is a waste of tax payers money. Thus a logical progression is to use the private-sector, which has much more funds, and a lot of less obligation to spend it "wisely". If you remember correctly, ARPAnet was a government based project, and we let the private sector dig in and create cool and innovate ways to make profit and now look what we have... the internet (Of course when I say "private-sector" I mean the porn industry). I guarantee if corporations are given the incentive and means to explore methods of generating profit with a space travel as a medium, it will be common place with 20 years, and we will have a much wider selection of space-porn which is what we all really want, isn't it?

  • Those who think commercialization of space is the next great leap for our civilization, go read the article. Pay special attention to the parts that discuss NASA's intention to sell the rights to footage obtained from the ISS to the highest bidder, thereby eliminating a tradition of making these materials public and freely accessible. Also consider the references to embedding sponsors' logos into images and video footage sent from the ISS. Don't skip over the part where NASA sheepishly defends its right to freely distribute a small subset of ISS-produced material untaintained by commercial information. Read and weep, and, twenty years from now, tell your kids about the times when information, or at least the best part of it, was free.*

    * Or at least paid for by citizens' tax dollars that went into its production and not toward another round of Disney tax breaks.

  • I loved the ticket system when I visited my Aunt in LA as a kid. She had a drawer full of leftover A - C tickets that we would use to go round and round all day. Not only did it keep the lines down on the big ticket rides, it gave you some incentive to do the funky rides.

    I was heartbroken when they got rid of Inner Space to make room for some lame Michael Jackson ride.

  • Sheesh guys, leave him alone. He's posting at 1, not posting as much and is posting more readable stuff than the crap you are.
  • *Sigh*... Once upon a time, "Rocket Science" referred to complex feats of science and engineering, while trivial matters were colloquially known as as "Mickey Mouse" stuff. But now, they have become one and the same.

  • For the first space shuttle launch the external fuel tank was painted white. In all subsequent launches it has been a natural rust colour because the weight of the paint added to the cost of the launch. By how much? (I don't know.) If the weight of all the advertising would not hamper the shuttle's performance significantly then this could noticably offset NASA's launch costs. Especially if some (presumably Disney owned channel) brodcasted every launch on TV and the internet.

    For a night launch you wouldn't have to add to the weight of the shuttle. You could project a company logo or two onto the white exhaust cloud.

    just my two percent of a loonie

  • Sorry, man. I'm think Disney bought the Muppets & everything else Jim Henson did. I would love to hear that this is false, though. Anybody know for sure?
  • ... after Earth, of course.

    And I assume by "planet" you'll include moons, asteroids, and Dyson's Spheres as well.
    (what would be an all-encompasing term? planetoid?)
  • And you thought the lines to get into Space Mountatin were long.

  • In the mid 1980s, NASA was selling commercial shuttle time to Hollywood studios.

    I think some stupid Space Camp movie was made by Disney with the Columbia.

    --
  • shouldn't that be the BHA Memorial Station on Mars?

  • USS ISS (Score:5)

    by MeanGene ( 17515 ) on Wednesday May 24, 2000 @12:16PM (#1049923)
    Now, if the station is international, how can national NASA enter into any unilatera; contracts regarding ISS?
  • What we are attempting to do is engage the private sector in providing high-definition TV services and multimedia services so the taxpayers don't have to make an investment, and in fact have the potential for gaining money back from the profits that might occur," NASA Administrator Dan Goldin told a Senate hearing last month.

    Okay, Dan, I'll be watching my mailbox for that refund check. I'm sure you'll be watching yours closer, though.
  • to ride "earth mountain"...
  • I'm not sure about geek flavor, but it was on bottomquark [bottomquark.com] yesterday. Since I don't have 1/10th of 1% of the submissions Slashdot gets, it doesn't take so long to sift through the stories and decide what to post. :-)

    GrnArrow
    grnarrow@removethis.bottomquark.com [mailto]

  • O.K., here's the proof that I'm getting old:

    E tickets weren't pink if I remember right; they were the orange ones.

    Also, if memory serves me correctly, they stopped using 'em sometime around 1982.


    ---
    Consult, v. t. To seek another's approval of a course already decided on.
  • I have a full book, from the days of old...
  • I think anybody over 5 foot 7 (let's see, that's about 170 cm) is automatically disqualified.

    That was true in the days of Apollo, but doesn't apply to shuttle crew anymore. Mission specialists can be anywhere between 58.5 and 76 inches (149 to 193 cm). Pilots must be at least 64 inches (163 cm) tall. Find out more here [nasa.gov] .

  • I recall a "Disney Planet" in Futurama.
  • And there's also the fact that this isn't Earth, where real estate can be bought anywhere. This is space, which I believe the UN has essentially cut off to most national and commercial ventures. Hopefully the ISS won't become extra office space and a theme park for extra-terrestrial-bound companies.

    Since when does NASA overrule the UN?

    Also, could someone please enlighten me as to the rules the UN has set on space.
  • New space suits were also introduced. Known as MICKEYs, they feature prominent round, black protusions on either side of the helmet, now in jet black.

    Uh oh, they'll be having a little problem with the fact that the black and white headgear worn under the helmet are informally called "snoopys" by flight crew.

    There's a nice two-page "Working Knowledge" article in the latest Scientific American [sciam.com] about modern space suits.

    [Hmm... the site doesn't appear to be fully functional... I need to make sure it's not my proxy.]

  • ...Thing NASA itself faced in the late 60's. That is, the entire world watched Apollo 11, a few less watched 12, lots less 13 (until it had probs) and then interest fell off so much they canceled 18 (I think). Maybe Disney has underestimated the American public's utter lack of attention span on anything but mental candy...

    As is, I hope that Disney has at least the taste and goodwill to broadcast the momentous first couple of days ad-free, even if that's when premiums would be at their highest.

    P.S. Anyone here read the Red Mars series... great piece of space exploration and a look at the transnationals (metanats in their nastier form)

  • DisneyStar - By Ken Kopin
    (Sung to the tune of "When you Wish upon a star")

    When you wish on DisneyStar
    Makes no difference who you are
    Anything your heart desires
    will float to you....

    If you visit for a while
    It will soon seem pretty vile
    Space is fun, and space is big
    but it's not new

    Movies many, we have seen
    People dying on the screen
    Everyone needs air to breath
    no matter that there's none.

    Save your strength, they're almost here
    Exit slowly to the rear
    We hope that you enjoyed your stay
    On Dis....Ney.....STARRRRRRRRRR!
  • How tall is Pluto?
  • ... or perhaps it's a step forward that now we're only figuratively destroying ourselves, rather than literally destroying ourselves. Putting Mickey Mouse on a space station doesn't really compare to exploding an atomic device over a populated Japanese city, but maybe I'm just old-fashioned. Going into space is progress, no matter how you look at it, and tax dollars have got us basically nowhere since 1969. Let the corporations take us up there. Why the hell not?
  • >Even though NASA has had some troubles lately, they are still the class act in my opinion that they always were. Once commercialism comes into the picture, it'll lose focus on the scientific efforts that are it's passion.

    NASA has cut commercial deals in the past. Don't forget the exclusive Life magazine deal that made all the Mercury astronauts famous . . . .
  • The name Hubble is indeed very inspiring to me. He contributed greatly to our understanding of our expanding universe. Honoring a great man is far more inspiring than honoring "The Charmin Space Telescope - don't squeeze the mirrors".

  • Isn't Disney the company that bought the Sonny Bono Act (20-year retroactive extension of copyright term across the board) from Congress during the Monica Lewinsky scandal? Jiminy Cricket (pardon my French) I think 95 years of exclusive rights is too long if copyright is designed "to promote the progress of science and useful arts."
  • Last I heard, EuroDisney had turned things around, and is now very successful.
  • We are considering different things here. You are talking about private companies being involved in space research / exploration which I also agree is a good thing. What I was talking about is the use of space exploration as a marketing tool. This I think is bad. do you want man landing on Mars and spiking a Red Flag with Golden Arches on it into the soil? I don't.

    "Patience is a virtue, afforded those with nothing better to do." - I don't remember

  • Whoa now, I'd be happy with a few humans doing a show first. No need to start with the animal acts right away. Zero gee whoopi would have to be one of the funniest or one of the most erotic things to see. Uh, I mean study. Don't forget while the puritans may balk at the price, the wise know space can be paid for with vice.

    Cheers Andrew
  • Ha ha. .sdrawkcab epyt nac ouY

    I'm trying to read through your rhetoric. If what you're saying is that the ISS is basically a US project that everyone else is tagging along on, I don't disagree with that interpretation.

    Russia hasn't fallen down on their commitments, but they are tremendously late. We bailed them out not because we wanted a space station and they were the only way to get one, but because US politicians (White House and Congress) wanted a deal with Russia to get them to honor the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The ISS project and subsequent money funnelled to Russia can be viewed as foreign aid with a pretty bow on top.

    France is subsidized with US dollars? Please. France, a rich Western country, isn't even a partner, they have their own space program, and they're only connected with ISS indirectly, through the ESA. There's some "strong neutral" feelings there, but we may yet see an Ariane used to send supply flights to ISS, especially if Russia gets even more broke and cannot launch enough Progress flights.

    The non-US modules are being built and funded by the respective countries, in exchange for access to the ISS down the road. The sole exception is the Functional Cargo Block (FGB), which was funded by the US but is technically owned by Russia. (It has two tiny flag logos on it, one Russian, one American.)
    ----
  • Wasn't this news posted on GeekFlavor [geekflavor.com] yesterday or something ... ? Still, it's going to be pretty interesting to watch how this all turns out.
  • Is everyone else as frightened by this as I am? What next? - the DOD by McDonalds?
  • What happens if it comes falling back to Earth?
  • From the rec.arts.henson+ muppets FAQ [cs.ruu.nl] :

    "In the fall of 1989, the Walt Disney Company entered into negotiations to acquire The Jim Henson Company (then Jim Henson Productions) and the Muppets. Jim Henson died during the negotiations, and the deal eventually fell through. However, the JHC and Disney have sometimes worked together, such as for the (wonderful) MuppetVision 3-D at Disney/MGM studios in Orlando."

    BTW, does anyone know what happened to Muppets.com?

  • "E" ticket... (Score:3)

    by crotherm ( 160925 ) on Wednesday May 24, 2000 @11:41AM (#1049948) Journal
    I wonder just how many /. readers know what this refers to, and even more so, how many /. readers have used one?

    A term like this can really date someone.. :)

  • Great. Now we can watch the ISS on ESPN instead of all those boring sports reruns during the summer. And they'l call it "xtreme sports" or something.
  • Will be the first one turned into a disney theme park.

    tcd004

    Here's my Microsoft Parody [lostbrain.com], where's yours?

  • One drawback to disney (Score:3)

    by Shoeboy ( 16224 ) on Wednesday May 24, 2000 @11:42AM (#1049951) Homepage
    Now all the astronauts will have to walk past signs that say "You must be this tall to ride the space shuttle."
    --Shoeboy
    (former microserf)
  • Disney owns so many media outlets now that guessing that any media contract may involve Disney isn't much of a prediction. Just a random guess among major media sources is fairly likely to hit one with Disney affiliation.
  • "E ticket". . . sure, it's from that "Homecoming Queen" song, right? You know, the one about Columbine?

    - Michael Cohn
  • Yesterday - so what? Most stories on Slashdot are at least a day old - it's inherent in the system. Someone has to read a story somewhere, submit it, and the Slashdot guys have to look through the submissions and post it, all of which takes its time.
  • the deal will be called off after Disney demands that NASA put little mouse ears on all of the space suits.
  • We're already stuck with such uninspiring names as the Banc One Ballpark (nicknamed BOB, in Phoenix) and the new uninspiringly named Comerica Park where the Tigers play in Detroit. Do we really need to have our monuments and public works named by marketing people?

    I'd hate to think that the Sagan Memorial Station on Mars could have been called the "Donald and Goofy Mars House (C) 1997" or that we might have the "America Online/Time-Warner (all rights reserved) Docking Module" or even that the next space telescope might be called the "Tasco (TM) Space Telescope".

    I want inspiring, meaningful names. I want the ability to filter the uninspiring, boring ones with Junkbuster.

  • Ironic, considering that in actuality, astronauts have to be below a certain height, due to the close quarters and whatnot. I think anybody over 5 foot 7 (let's see, that's about 170 cm) is automatically disqualified.

    Of course, this means that given existing technology, any tourist trips to the ISS or the lunar theme park or whatever will also be off-limits to the taller folk among us.


    --

  • won't be a theme park. Everyone in here seems to think it is going to be a theme park... why, I dunno. Disney makes movies too you know.

    I don't see how they can re-coup the costs.. but whatever.

    cheese
  • <joke confusion="Microsoft, NASA">ISS</joke>
    -----
  • ...for the billboard on I-4 just outside the entrance to Disney World that advertises the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Until now that was the only tourist attraction in Central Florida that Disney couldn't match. :-)

    I can just picture mouse ears on the sperical liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks by Pads 39A and 39B.

  • I wonder if it's going to be powered by Caldera OpenLinux? [calderasystems.com]

    ;-)

  • Isn't it great that something which might be considered one of the pivotal moments in human history is going to be plastered with disney ads? I for one am sick of what should be public works forming "partnerships" with private sector companies. I'll tell you what; just increase everyone's taxes another 100 dollars or so. I'd rather pay a little extra to keep the corporate world restricted to earth.

  • mir (Score:1)

    by emir ( 111909 )
    uuh mir was not a failure. its been up in orbit around 6-7 years more then they expected it to be + they have done bunch of important experiments on it (for example: they researched how different types of organism reproduce in a weightless conditions, how fire spreads in a space + many other things)
  • I have one floating around, and I could swear it was pink... Here's a look at some of them, [simplenet.com] provided by an indoubtably insane Disney fan..
  • Kudos to NASA for bringing in commerce money. Columbus used public funds (i.e. Queen Isabella's tax coffers) to "explore the Final Frontier". But public funds did not colonize (and wiped out the indigenous folks...) America. The West was won because of there is commercial incentives to do so (gold). Similarly, Space will be conquered not by NASA, but by the East India Companies of the 21st Century.
  • E tickets were orange, and were discontinued in Disneyworld in FL in '82 and in Disneyland in CA in 85.
  • I dont think so..

    AFAI can remember from reading up on one of the commercial projects to put a hotel on the moon, the moon is handled by internation treaty like the open ocean (ie ocean past 12 (nautical?) miles).

    However, there is something there, a space station, and the space station operators can do whatever they want with it..

  • ...or even that the next space telescope might be called the "Tasco (TM) Space Telescope".

    I want inspiring, meaningful names. I want the ability to filter the uninspiring, boring ones with Junkbuster.

    Ok, does the name HUBBLE count as inspiring, or meanigful? Is "He thought of it first" a better reason than "They paid us $1.5M, and we were able to get it done 3 months sooner because of the extra cash?" Yes, it's cool when they name a piece of space hardware after Scientists, or Science Fiction Authors, but those names have become commodities, and frankly, Love ain't what makes the world go 'round... it's funding.

    And really... Who cares if it's called The Sagan Memorial Station, Donald & Goofy's house, or "The Ronald McDonald House for REALLY, REALLY sick kids" (Ok, that was slightly silly :)

    Nipok Nek
  • Great, now even taking a website off the planet won't render it immune to copyright lawsuits.
  • While AOL is busy with its head up its @$$ and grabbing up ground-based media, Disney is conquering the skies to do a massive broadcast of Fantasia.

    And I, while all this happens, read slashdot and post this message. (Oh, werd... an infinite loop of postings on slashdot, what an idea!)

  • Re: internationality (Score:5)

    by DHartung ( 13689 ) on Wednesday May 24, 2000 @03:03PM (#1049971) Homepage
    >Now, if the station is international, how can national NASA enter into any unilatera; contracts regarding ISS?

    Short answer: because the station is not owned in common; each nation retains ownership of the modules it builds.

    Long answer: Station operations are governed by a suite of bilateral agreements [nasa.gov] signed in 1998 among NASA, RSA (Russia), CSA (Canada), ESA (European Union), and NASDA (Japan). These agreements specify down to the tenth exactly how much usage of each module each of the partners is entitled to [for instance, the Russians have 100% usage of their modules; the Americans have 97.7% use of theirs; but Japan and Europe have smaller percentages, mainly because they can't launch their own elements]. Most of the "financial" arrangements among the partners are handled by barter, e.g. we agree to provide X module in return for Y launch vehicle or J station support service or K slots for an astronaut from our program.

    In the case of this ISS multimedia deal, essentially what is happening is that NASA is getting a third party (Disney) to pony up for the provision of expensive cameras and transmission equipment (ISS support) in return for the usual temporary embargo allowing them exclusive public use of the images. This equipment will actually be available to all partners to a certain extent.

    Effectively NASA is providing something for the ISS without paying for it.
    ----
  • don't they know how insecure that is???

    oh wait....

    -Peter

  • Re: Outer Space Treaty (Score:5)

    by DHartung ( 13689 ) on Wednesday May 24, 2000 @03:23PM (#1049973) Homepage
    The 1967 Outer Space Treaty [unvienna.org] does not ban commercial ventures. It bans national sovereignty and nuclear weapons and any obstacle to free access, among many other things, but puts responsibility for compliance in the hands of the signatories, e.g. the US is responsible for making sure that no US companies violate the treaty. The treaty didn't really envision private space launches, so it's going to be obsolete eventually, but it does have an amendment procedure.

    Now, the 1979 Moon Treaty [greaterearth.org] does ban, in effect, private property rights on the Moon. That's a little different, and a potential obstacle to development, but Russia and China have both come around to free enterprise and trade, and we'll have to see what happens. The basic problem is the same as Antarctica: everyone will eventually want the resources, the only question is who gets the benefits of bringing them back to Earth. Most likely the treaty signatories will eventually provide commercial charters a la those that were used to initially explore and exploit the Americas (like the Hudsons Bay Company). I think this is so obvious and practical that we can assume it as the long-term outcome, though I don't discount political delays in getting there.

    >Since when does NASA overrule the UN?

    Since when does the UN have any jurisdiction over NASA or the USA? The UN, contrary to myth, is not a world government, it is a diplomatic body governed by treaty. The UN sponsored, but does not control, the space treaty; only the signatories govern the space treaty. If the US signs a treaty, it's obligated to live up to what it promised, which is why treatys are few and far between and argued over for years. But as far as the UN is concerned, the Assembly can pass resolutions of condemnation as many times as it likes and the US, like anyone else (say Saddam Hussein) may freely thumb its nose at them. Even the UN Security Council is effectively toothless in the face of a permanent member such as the US choosing to flout its decisions.
    ----
  • Oh, yes. I forgot. It's not land, it's a ship. Like office space.

    But I doubt the hotel on the moon will ever get off the ground.
  • I stand corrected, thank you.

  • It's good that NASA know why they built the ISS and spent (so far) 24 billion dollars of US taxpayers money.

    Multimedia broadcasting from the space station. Oh nooo couldn't use a satellite for that...

    Fantastic. It makes the Millenium dome look like a work of genius.

  • This one is just a little bit bigger than that. Got to hand it to them though for being so creative.
  • Just a minor thing: ESA is not a European Union agency. There are (at least) two countries that are members of ESA that are not members of the European Union and three countries are members of EU without being members of ESA.

  • Am I the only one here who read Pirates of the Universe [barnesandnoble.com]?

  • The laptops on board are (currently) going to run Solaris x86.
  • I saw a ticket book once, when I was a kid. All the E tickets were used up, of course. I think there was a couple of the tamer tickets left in it. But they discontinued their use before I ever went to Disneyland.
  • Yep, international projects tend to have their growing pains, at the very least. And both sides in this deal know that - remember EuroDisney?
    --
  • Hey,
    That was a cool movie, it had a little robot that looked like R2D2
  • If the government would rather spend it's money on investigating where the President's penis has been, what else can we expect NASA to do?

    More power to em...wish it wasn't Di$ney though. Though the name alone, says why it's Di$ney.

    C

  • Hey, all right! Can anyone think of some more purely scientific endeavors that can be ruined be corporate involvement/takeover? I'm going IPO with my new business to sell print ads in elementary school textbooks. Maybe we can start selling ad space on artificial limbs?

    Amateur science is becoming the only real science. Now if only we can figure out a way to expropriate some superconducters ...

  • Finally Disney has found a prime location to build a theme park. Unlike the failed DisneyAmerica project in Haymarket, Virginia, there isn't anybody there to object.

    I wonder if it'll have a "Space Mountain". They could just throw you out of the airlock. A truly wild ride...

  • Christa McAuliffe. Nah, she never blew up the Challenger with a GPF. 76 seconds just isn't enough time to boot up Windows. It probably crashed during bootup, not because of the crew.
  • Well, we all knew it was going to happen. If they paint a picture of Mickey on the side of the craft though, I will grab the latest keps, a nice big laser, and a huge lens and make sure he gets a mustache.

  • Disney to reduce the value of the contract (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

    May 24 - The value of the contract between Disney and NASA has been reduced 10-fold when NASA admitted they were unable to fulfill all the expectations.

    "We were shocked when we learned that simple things like a rotating DNA molecule built out of M&M's would not be possible aboard the ISS.", a Disney representative said today. "A NASA engineer came and gave a crash lecture on the so-called laws of motion, but we were not convinced. We, at Disney, maintain that the environment is not "in-space enough", and we will have to review the terms of our contract with NASA."

  • Part of the current inventory of things being loaded on the embryonic ISS is an IMAX camera. I wonder if Disney will license any of the IMAX footage for use in conjunction with any productions arising from this?

    Of course, my favorite space commercialization scheme remains the following picture:
    http://www.hallert.net/images/S huttleBudgetCuts.jpg [hallert.net]

  • I heard that the DOJ was planning on breaking Disney into 3 seperate companies:
    One that owns/operates the ground and buildings at the theme parks, another company to maintain/operate the rides and stores at the theme park, and finally one company that will operate the information booth that was supposed to be free to begin with.

    --
  • AC writes: One Mickey Mouse organization deserves another...

    Disney, a Mickey Mouse organization, is famously successful. I imagine many companies would consider it the highest compliment to be considered on par with Disney.

    Aside from snide comments and puns, that NASA is teaming with commercial entities for projects only bodes well for the future and growth of the space efforts. When there's profit driving development, things go fast.

  • I don't think they want to kill the astronauts.
    The government is already angry at M$, besides the DOJ, the Navy recently gave them a rating of "0" for performance.
    It's funny when your cable company's add/public access channel BSOD's but I don't think anyone wants to hear
    "Uhoh Blue Screen Of Death..." played over again on the news ;)
  • is This [reston.com] what you mean?
  • Don't forget the new PNC Park or the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.

    --
  • Damn, I wasn't completely sure and tried to find a page like that, but couldn't. Must've been thinking of the D tickets.

    Probably 'cuz, when I was a kid, by the time we got the books home you could be damn sure there weren't any E's left.

    ---
    Consult, v. t. To seek another's approval of a course already decided on.
  • Duck Dodgers, in the 23rd & 1/2th century!
  • (AP) -- At a press conference today, NASA (NYSE:DIS) today unveiled the latest version of the troubled International Space Station. Renamed SpaceWorld(tm), it would include plenty of rides for the kids, as well as a place for parents to get away for a while.

    "Scientific research is still very important to Disney. NASA. I mean NASA," said NASA Executive Michael Eisner. "But it's time that we made it fun for the whole family."

    New space suits were also introduced. Known as MICKEYs, they feature prominent round, black protusions on either side of the helmet, now in jet black.

    "Those?" said Eisner. "Those are just satellite transponders. For the astronauts. I'm afraid I can't give out details right now, but I assure you, they are very important." Eisner then refused to say what MICKEY was an acronym for, and announced a warning for those who might try to figure it out.

    "I've been advised by our attorneys that any attemt to reverse-engineer that acronym is punishable under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. And believe me, we're protect acronym theft wherever it occurs."

    Eric S. Raymond was unavailable for comment, as he was being fitted for a MICKEY of his own.

  • Great news. . . At least on the surface. When Eisner and the gang start pumping big bucks into Space-Disney it will have a bad effect on American space efforts overall.

    Even though NASA has had some troubles lately, they are still the class act in my opinion that they always were. Once commercialism comes into the picture, it'll lose focus on the scientific efforts that are it's passion.

    Soon to come, Astronaut suits with Ninja Turtles logos. . .

  • For somewhat scary views of the future of space commercialization, check out this link [spaceviews.com]. Deals with pizza hut advertising on a Russian launch vehicle.

    About a year ago I found an even better picture of the space shuttle with all sorts of other American megacorporations, but I cannot seem to find that one again...

  • I wonder if this [reston.com] is the future of NASA... :) On the other hand, if commercialization helps future missions, like putting three interferometers [sciastro.net] orbiting the sun, which effectively yields to a very high powered "telescope", helping to find those nearby planets.
  • When did they kill the 'A-E' tickets at Disneyland, anyway? They were a rather stupid idea, and the pink ink always ran when you got it wet.

    What would have really dated him (alas, he isn't old enough) would have been '"D"-ticket ride'. ;)

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