[The Woodsiders]

Good morning, this may qualify for the silliest question of the week, How , once these astronauts have completed their stint on the International Space Station, how do they return to earth?

[verdifish]

The top part of the rocket docks to the station and then is used for the next team to leave. Hence they have to wait for replacements to arrive with a new pod before the outgoing team can leave..

[Louise Gaunt]

Not wanting to sound too churlish, our first "official " astronaut etc, but in light of the recent climate change conference, can we continue to use soooo much fossil fuel to send a few people up into space to do exactly what? Just how much ground breaking research has come out of the space station?

[DavidandCollette]

You don't understand Louise climate change only affects the minions it doesn't apply to big business who make squillions out of building these things

[Fleecewife]

I hate climate change but I love technology    Silly me 

[verdifish]

Some.of the most important data collected to date concerning climate change has been gathered from?  Yep you guessed it the ISS.  So I guess the answer is yes it's worth it.

[The Woodsiders]

Thanks Verdifish for your reply, did not realise it would lead to a Climate Change discussion.

[Penninehillbilly]

You don't understand Louise climate change only affects the minions it doesn't apply to big business who make squillions out of building these things

Off topic i know but it frustrates me that news is constantly talking about climate change, but these channels (bbc?) send people halfway round the world to show us some monkeys, building, sealife etc, don't know why local companies can't do the filming and then film talked over in english? or do we really need to see researcher patting a wall or a sea-lions head.
Sorry, couldn't help it.
and just cross posted but I'll post anyway :-)

[verdifish]

Climate change !!! It's happened before and it'll happen again. Are we to blame Not as much as we are lead to believe..

Sea level rise  !!  looking back over the millions of years this little planet of ours has been here the current ocean levels are really quite low . and yes they will rise and then they will get low again . Again our fault ?? Again, not as much as we are lead to believe.

If you go back a couple of hundred thousand years before man was knocking about the sea levels were such that only 1 third of the current land mass was above sea level ,no one was polluting the atmosphere with big V 8 land rovers  and big jets so why did this all happen . ? Our planet is cyclical and Go's through these cycles regardless of what we are pumping into the atmosphere. I do think we are speeding it up but I don't believe in all the hype and I don't think there is a damn thing any of these minuscule changes the world's leaders insist must happen, will make any difference .

[Marches Farmer]

We have 17 Small-Leaved Limes on the farm, which are estimated to be around 1200 years old.  They would have germinated when the Romans were here but no longer germinate in the wild as the temperature is too cold.  So what were the Romans doing to cause global warming ....?

[verdifish]

We have 17 Small-Leaved Limes on the farm, which are estimated to be around 1200 years old.  They would have germinated when the Romans were here but no longer germinate in the wild as the temperature is too cold.  So what were the Romans doing to cause global warming ....?

I rest my case ma lord !!!

[Castle Farm]

Can the UK afford this trip ?

[verdifish]

It being funded by private companies so don't  worry ukplc  will still have  enough in the kitty for Xmas .!!!

[Lesley Silvester]

It being funded by private companies so don't  worry ukplc  will still have  enough in the kitty for Xmas .!!!

And these private companies won't get any handouts or tax concessions? Hmmmmm.

[verdifish]

No different to the plenty of other companies in this country that dodge tax or get huge tax breaks. But the ISS does actually do the world a favour and we all and I mean All benefit from research done up there.  Next time you buy and electrical device it will be cheaper and better / mire capable because of research and testingndone on alloysbused in micro chips on the ISS. This is just one of a myriad of  good ISS does.