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[Politics] Russia invades Ukraine (24/02/2022)







moggy

Well-known member
Oct 15, 2003
5,061
southwick
I
The Russians, in Sergei Korolev, had a brilliant rocket designer (probably better than anyone the Americans had) but he was totally hamstrung by having to get military and political approval for everything; sometmes it took weeks just to get authority to test a rocket. NASA, on the other hand, were given a big budget and trusted to spend it.
Had it not been for this there is no doubt in my mind that the russians would have put men on the moon sooner.

Don’t agree with this.
wernher von braun was the worlds top rocket researcher poached from Germany after the war by the Americans
 


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
53,055
Goldstone
I always remember a story about when US astronauts first met up in space with Russian cosmonauts.
The US had all this shiny computer technology, state-of-the-art stuff and Russia had, in the US's words, nothing
much more sophisticated than an abacus. I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make here, but maybe Russia could
be such a better country if it just unshackled itself from its own ridiculous nature.
With the gift of the natural resources Russia has, they could be the worlds leading economy. But that doesn't work for the likes of Putin, who want to be emperor forever, so instead Russia is a basket case.
 


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
53,055
Goldstone
The Russians, in Sergei Korolev, had a brilliant rocket designer (probably better than anyone the Americans had) but he was totally hamstrung by having to get military and political approval for everything; sometmes it took weeks just to get authority to test a rocket. NASA, on the other hand, were given a big budget and trusted to spend it.
Had it not been for this there is no doubt in my mind that the russians would have put men on the moon sooner.
Sooner than never?
 


SeagullinExile

Well-known member
Sep 10, 2010
6,190
London
I

Don’t agree with this.
wernher von braun was the worlds top rocket researcher poached from Germany after the war by the Americans

He was also a fully paid up member of the Nazi party and a Major in the Allgemeine SS.

Nice bloke.
 






Shropshire Seagull

Well-known member
Nov 5, 2004
8,769
Telford
I always remember a story about when US astronauts first met up in space with Russian cosmonauts.
The US had all this shiny computer technology, state-of-the-art stuff and Russia had, in the US's words, nothing
much more sophisticated than an abacus. I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make here, but maybe Russia could
be such a better country if it just unshackled itself from its own ridiculous nature.

But sometimes, keeping it simple can be best.
Can't remember the source [too many years ago] but there was a story that NASA spent loads of time and money inventing a pen that worked in zero-gravity.
The Russians used ........



pencils!
 






Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
53,055
Goldstone
But sometimes, keeping it simple can be best.
Can't remember the source [too many years ago] but there was a story that NASA spent loads of time and money inventing a pen that worked in zero-gravity.
The Russians used ........


pencils!
Come on, that was a fake story.
 


Igzilla

Well-known member
Sep 27, 2012
1,708
Worthing
But sometimes, keeping it simple can be best.
Can't remember the source [too many years ago] but there was a story that NASA spent loads of time and money inventing a pen that worked in zero-gravity.
The Russians used ........



pencils!

Come on, that was a fake story.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/#:~:text=They%20needed%20to%20figure%20out,simply%20handed%20their%20cosmonauts%20pencils.

tl:dr pencils are hazardous to spacecraft as flecks of graphite can break off, get into the circuitry and short it out. Both Russia and the USA used the Fisher anti-gravity pen from 1967, at a cost of $2.98 per pen, compared to $128.89 for the mechanical pencils they had been using previously.
 


sparkie

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2003
13,258
Hove
The Kharkiv rout seems to have spread to the Luhansk Oblast / "Peoples Republic".

Russian defences collapsing there too.
 






SeagullinExile

Well-known member
Sep 10, 2010
6,190
London
He was indeed but a brilliant rocket scientist. The best there ever was

He was. He was also the brains behind the V2 rocket. 3000 of them fired at civilian populations all over Europe with an estimated death toll of 9000, not to mention the forced labour from concentration camps used in their manufacturing.

Probably says more about the Yanks and their Operation Paperclip tbh though.
 






heathgate

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Apr 13, 2015
3,855
I haven't visited this thread for some time, I am wondering if the Putin friendly Swansman is currently choking on his Borscht as his much vaunted 'Soviets' get a shoeing from Ukrainian teachers, butchers and bus drivers.

Currently, this set of developments are bringing me hope of some de-escalation in the short term, some return to peace.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
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