Russian Bio-Satellite Sent to Baikonur

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Russian Bio-Satellite Sent to Baikonur Space Port

MOSCOW, February 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s Bion-M satellite and a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket have been delivered to the Baikonur space launch center in Kazakhstan, the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said on Monday.

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[AsteroidX]

Odd. Seems the type of thing we would have done before having a manned space station for the past x decades. But I guess this might have more to do with traveling long distances.

And for the record those mice will never be the same after this.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Odd. Seems the type of thing we would have done before having a manned space station for the past x decades.

It was. Why does that mean it should stop now?

But I guess this might have more to do with traveling long distances.

It has more to do with the fact that we are still learning. Do you really think that we know all we need to know about the effects of microgravity on living organisms?

Science never stops learning. As old questions are answered so new questions are posed. New questions require new experiments and therefore (where spaceflight is concerned) new missions.

[AsteroidX]

Is it progress however ?

Im all for it. But are we over analyzing something that we could be spending the money on say something brand new. Just curious. I fully support this type of research but if we have limited resources is where I start to wonder.

Russian philosophy in the past I would expect them to load up a ship and land it on the moon and start building. There usually very industrious and willing to risk life and limb for the Motherland.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Is it progress however ?

Of course it is. If it is researching something that is po0rly understood then it is progress.

Im all for it. But are we over analyzing something that we could be spending the money on say something brand new. Just curious. I fully support this type of research but if we have limited resources is where I start to wonder.

Define "brand new".

You give the impression that new ideas in science are somehow plucked out of this air. You couldn't be more wrong. New ideas generally come as the result of meticulous research. Much of that research will not lead to new discoveries, but some will. There is no way of knowing which will succeed and which will fail unless it is tried. But don't take my word for it, listen to what some of the worlds greatest scientific minds had to say on the matter:

If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants.

Isaac Newton

I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.

Thomas Alva Edison

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

Thomas Alva Edison

Russian philosophy in the past I would expect them to load up a ship and land it on the moon and start building. There usually very industrious and willing to risk life and limb for the Motherland.

Then you understand little of the philosophy of the Russian space programme.

Unlike the US space programme the Russians have tended to go for gradual evolution not revolution. An example of this is the fact that the USA has so far used 6 different launch vehicles to put men in space. The Russians are still using the same launch vehicle (albeit highly modified) that put Gagarin in space in 1961.

Another example is the Bion-M satellite that this topic is about. The re-entry module of that vehicle is based on the Vostok capsule that Gagarin used.