In the new COMMENTARY podcast, tensions on the rise with North Korea create a dilemma for the United States, which has few options to resolve the threat. Elsewhere, the rise of authoritarianism and the collapse of faith in the kind of democratic liberalism that once came to typify Western governance create a set of new threats for the United States. Listen as the gang tries to unravel this Gordian knot.

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There are 5 comments.

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  1. Mark Wilson Inactive
    Mark Wilson
    @MarkWilson

    A quick clarification of our space development. Many of the early Mercury, Redstone, Atlas, and other rockets failed. Fortunately none of them were manned. The only US failure that killed astronauts during the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo era was the Apollo 1 fire in which the capsule caught fire during a ground test on the pad, but this was not a rocket problem.  The US didn’t lose an astronaut in a rocket failure until the 1986 loss of Challenger.

    • #1
  2. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Being a long time space geek, Iam always disappointed to see otherwise well informed and knowledgeable commentators to mess up important space history. Apollo 1, is the test flight that in Jan 1967 killed 3 astronauts when a fire broke out in the command capsule, and spread in the high pressure, high oxygen atmosphere inside the capsule than the escape hatch could be opened. Its was amazing that until the fire, nobody thought about aluminum combustion under these conditions. A tragic oversight.

    To get off track from the topics of the podcasts, you’re right Challenger was the first flight causalities in the US space program. The space shuttle, by all measure was a failure. An easily predictable failure at that.

    1. Costs – the shuttle wasnt going to be any cheaper to operate that the proven Apollo hardware.
    2. Safety – The shuttle was the deadliest space transport system ever devised – killing 1.68% of its crew members. (14/833)
    3. Complexity – Ive heard many times commenters state, that the shuttle was the most complex machine ever built. Complexity is the enemy of low costs, and reliability.
    4. Schedule – there was not way that the most complex system ever built would be able to fly 50 times per year – even between all 4 orbiters. Preparing each orbiter for flight just took too long.

    I know, Iam flying of on a tangent to the podcast’s theme but its a topic I have long been interested in, and look for opportunities to present this view.

    • #2
  3. Justin Hertog Inactive
    Justin Hertog
    @RooseveltGuck

    If the U.S. were going to “do something” about North Korea, then “very soon” would be the time to do it. Before their missiles start working.

    • #3
  4. John Russell Coolidge
    John Russell
    @JohnRussell

    (Re time stamp 3:00) I concur with comment #1 by Mark Wilson and comment #2 by OccupantCDN, in noting that the launch pad fire on Apollo 1 was the only Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo mission that resulted in the death of astronauts (Grissom, White, and Chaffee). Apollo 8 (Borman, Lovell, and Anders) did not blow up on the launch pad. Indeed, Apollo 8 was the first manned flight that orbited the moon.  The astronauts read from the book of Genesis as they emerged from radio blackout after passing behind the moon, an event we boomers heard live and will never forget.  According to Apollo legend the first time Borman, Lovell, and Anders passed behind the moon they broke out distilled beverages they had smuggled aboard and toasted their achievement.  Lovell, went on to command Apollo 13 (other crewmates Haise and Swigert), and to be played by Tom Hanks in the eponymous movie.

    • #4
  5. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    I think we should be buying Israel’s “Iron Dome” technology for rapid deployment in the far east. It may not change the policies of NKorea, but could firm up support for standing up to the tin pot dictatorship, and that could lead to a real change in the dynamics of the region.

    • #5
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