posted
Reading over Bernd's timeline, I found something interesting that I wasn't aware of before: Both NASA and ISA existed at the same time! ISA (International Space Agency?) sent the Ares IV to Mars, but then five or so years later, NASA launched the Charybdis. Wouldn't it have made more sense for ISA to have evolved from NASA instaed of being a separate agency?
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Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Well, if ISA is an international organization, it could be similar to the situation we have now. An "ISA" of sorts building the International Space Station while NASA continues to run its own seperate program. (I know! I know! Bad analogy...)
In the Star Trek timeline, the ISA launches an international effort to reach Mars which results in the Ares IV. Later, NASA, not affiliated with the ISA, spearheads its own program, launching Charybdis.
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posted
It's called ignorance of continuity. Someone felt like mentioning an "International Space Agency", but didn't realize that TNG had already established that NASA was still around at the time. Though, as has been pointed out, it doesn't really matter. The idea of an international effort being launched while NASA is still doing other stuff on its own isn't really a problem.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
And it's not as much a continuity error as it might seem, really. In the real world, the reference to the continuing existence of NASA came earlier than the reference to ISA - so ignoring NASA in "One Small Step" would indeed have been a continuity error. But NASA *wasn't* ignored. A recent Fact Files sheet had some stuff on the Ares ship, and included pics of the logos painted on the ship. In addition to a catchall ISA logo, there appeared to be more "nationally oriented" logos, NASA among them. Evidently, NASA was just one minor (major?) member in this greater ISA whole.
Generally speaking, it would be pretty strange if anything "international" would surpass anything "national" during the first half of the Trek 21st century - especially if the "national" was American. Nationalism was still very much alive during that era, and no doubt played a major role in WWIII as well. It's only after "First Contact" that one could plausibly see international organizations taking over from national ones in matters of importance.
posted
Were ESA and the Russian space program (does their organisation have a name?) also represented? I know it had the Dutch flag somewhere on her hull..
quote:Generally speaking, it would be pretty strange if anything "international" would surpass anything "national" during the first half of the Trek 21st century
Not necessarily... if there was some sort of joint mission that was intended to prevent another costly space race (like the moon missions). I don't think the other nations would want to have a big NASA logo prominently displayed on the Mars orbiter that way, since they contributed as well. They'd want equal credit, so to speak.
The interesting thing, though, is that the background of the ISA logo is very similar (or identical) to the current blue-circle-and-red-delta symbol that NASA uses, only with the letters changed. Perhaps this was done to make it more of a global effort than an American-led effort.
I agree that this arrangement probably developed from the International Space Station... but unlike the ISS, the Mars program might have taken place at a point where the other nations had more equal access to space. Right now, the Americans and the Russians are the only routes for manned space travel.
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