Quote:
Originally Posted by BWinmill
A lot of that old SF had to do with topics that we've long since moved on from. The modern world has a different view of space travel. Some of it is routine, like satellites and robotic science missions. Some of it we've all but given up on, such as manned exploration. The former is not science fiction, it is reality. The latter is as close to unicorns as you can get without abandoning reality altogether,
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Uh, no.
Even as we speak, engineers are working on solar sails to be flown into space this year, ion drives are powering deep space probes, a full-on plasma drive is set to be tested on the ISS next year.
Scientists and *engineers* in the US, UK, Russia, and China are looking into a reactionless space drive, space elevators and lunar mining bases are being scoped out, and the physics of warped space for drives is being *tested*.
Deep space travel might have been slowed and stalled by idiot politicians but it is nowhere near being fantasy. Real meaningful work on manned exploration of space continues, luddites notwithstanding.