meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
If you think the Space Shuttle's cockpit is complex and a mess, how about Apollo's command module? There was so many switches and buttons, only two people knew about the SCE to Aux switch that saved Apollo 12..... Everyone else when ECOM suggested it went, " WTF is SCE to Aux?"
giggity Last edited by Quagmire : 2012-05-02 at 21:33. |
quote |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Paris, France
|
I think the whole Apollo programme was a near-miraculous achievement that could only have been pulled off by an unprecedented technological superpower at the very zenith of her confidence, and I doubt I'll witness something so spectacular in scope and ambition in my lifetime. The Apollo command modules were a mess, of course.
|
quote |
Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
|
Don't screw the pooch, Gus.
|
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
I just read that the SRB's for the SLS will not be recovered and will be allowed to sink in the Atlantic. So my reaction is, " WTF WHY!?!?" The only thing that is reusable on the SLS( since it is basically the Shuttle SRB with an extra segment) is not going to be reused?
giggity |
quote |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
|
Quote:
EECOM: SCE to AUX! Rest of MCC: WTF is SCE to AUX?! CDR & CMP: WTF is SCE to AUX?! Al Bean: I KNOW WHAT THAT IS!!! Quote:
They've already repurposed one of the SRB recovery ships as a mobile tracking and observation platform for the SpaceX launches to the ISS. |
||
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
Quote:
|
|
quote |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
|
I have no problem with SRBs for unmanned launchers like the Atlas 5 or Delta 4, but on a manned vehicle it's a recipe for disaster. Although they're far safer on a vertical stack booster like SLS than the parallel setup on the Shuttle, when an SRB goes wrong it goes wrong very fast and very violently with no way to cut it off. Back in the late 90s one of a Delta 2's solids had a tiny, unseen crack in the casing, and it blew the whole rocket to hell just seconds after liftoff.
With the liquid boosters, if one of them fails, you can cut it off. And if you've set up the fuel line plumbing to make it possible, re-route the failed booster's fuel supply to the other one for a longer burn to make up for the lost engine, instead of being absolutely forced into a launch abort. It happened a couple times on the Saturn V second stage, such as the center engine on the S-2 failing on Apollo 13 resulting in a longer burn of the remaining engines and also a longer S-4B burn. Can't do stuff like that with solids. |
quote |
Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
|
Neil deGrasse Tyson had an awesome tweet today.
Someone asked what the obstacles to exploring Mercury are and is it mostly about temperature to which Neil replied "No, you need a space program too". So true. http://twitter.com/#!/neiltyson ...into the light of a dark black night. |
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
Always a nice site to see two Shuttle's together.....
|
quote |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Leiden, the Netherlands
|
Actually. The biggest problem is (has always been) to get something in a sufficiently similar orbit as Mercury. To go to Mercury directly would take a tremendous amount of fuel, which we don't want (shooting fuel and a spaceship with a large enough engine up is very expensive) so we have to make complicated detours through the solar system which take a long time and need more course-corrections.
|
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
Ares I rocket reborn..... ATK's proposed Liberty rocket using what looks to be a 5 segment Shuttle-derived SRB with a modified Ariane 5 upper stage attached that will compete against SpaceX, Boeing, etc for the commercial contracts. They say it will be ready by 2015 for a manned flight if rewarded the contract.
giggity |
quote |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
|
What could it win a contract for? There's no spacecraft associated with it, unless ATK is serious about the recent rumors that they're also developing a crew capsule. Sierra Nevada and Boeing are going to use a man-rated Atlas V/Centaur for their respective spacecraft, and SpaceX has their own Falcon series.
|
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
Quote:
And the Delta IV's upper stage has been chosen as the upper stage of the SLS for the first two flights while the J-2X finishes development. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1205/15slsinterim/ giggity |
|
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule this morning on the way to resupply the ISS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkqBfv8OMM& |
quote |
careful with axes
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
|
Quote:
Someone should find a clip of the solar arrays being deployed...they lady in SpaceX mission control sounded very excited... |
|
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
And Dragon is docked to the ISS. |
quote |
Antimatter Man
Join Date: May 2004
Location: that interweb thing
|
And there was much rejoicing... and eating of musicians.
Go SpaceX! |
quote |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
|
Slate has an series of short excerpts from past news stories about space travel here.
This is my favourite - from the Washington Monthly in 1980, as it brought home just what an achievement the Space Shuttle was in its time: Quote:
When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray. |
|
quote |
Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
|
Put me in cryo-freeze and sign me up for the galactic Fireworks show in 3.75B years.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18285583 |
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
|
quote |
Antimatter Man
Join Date: May 2004
Location: that interweb thing
|
Half an hour until the start of the last Transit of Venus this century… about 7 hours of a 1/32 size black dot (Venus) occulting the Sun… If you can't see it yourself directly* (curses clouds) - NASA has webcasts.
Http://venustransit.nasa.gov Http://transitofvenus.org And as for the news NASA got gifted a pair of mint KH-11 spy scopes to back up or replace Hubble... Can you say "kick-ass space binoculars"? * OBLIGATORY WARNING: Don't stare at Sun. Project image onto card if needed. |
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
They can't seriously be thinking of leaving it like that. The paint has to be temporary just to hide the damage until the repair......
|
quote |
Less than Stellar Member
|
Quote:
If it's not red and showing substantial musculature, you're wearing it wrong. |
|
quote |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
|
Enterprise is safely sitting on Intrepid's deck, United Space Alliance techs are starting to work on removing the lifting harness.
http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/Live-Webcams.aspx Quote:
|
|
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
Pathetic..... Thank god they didn't get any of the space worthy Shuttle's..... What would they have done if they damaged those?
And it looks like they are leaving the tail cone on her for display. giggity |
quote |
Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
|
|
quote |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Paris, France
|
Not bad, drewprops.
The remarkable amateur astronomer Thierry Legault demonstrated similar skill in photographing not only the transit of Venus, but, simultaneously, the transit of the Hubble space telescope. I dread to think what kind of mathematics was needed to figure out where to stand (somewhere in Australia, apparently) and when (the whole thing took less than second). He used a Nikon D4 shooting at 10 frames per second, which offers a maximum continuous shooting time of just a few seconds, showing the crazy precision needed to pull off this stunt. |
quote |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Atlanta
|
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technolo...200752158.html
A picture taken by Cassini on June 27th showing a vortex on Titan's south pole. A knife and a fork, a bottle and a cork, that's the way to spell New York. |
quote |
meh
Join Date: May 2004
|
The F-1 boosters are among the final candidates for NASA to replace the 5 segment SRB on the SLS.
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/syst...d_booster.html |
quote |
Posting Rules | Navigation |
Page 12 of 31 First Previous 8 9 10 11 [12] 13 14 15 16 Next Last |
Thread Tools | |
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
The Official *Saturn* Exploration Thread | curiousuburb | AppleOutsider | 226 | 2017-09-15 06:26 |
The Official * Pluto / Kuiper Belt * Exploration Thread | curiousuburb | AppleOutsider | 28 | 2015-07-18 00:53 |
The Official * Mercury * Exploration Thread | curiousuburb | AppleOutsider | 36 | 2015-05-02 19:10 |
The Official * Venus * Exploration Thread | curiousuburb | AppleOutsider | 41 | 2014-12-04 09:19 |
The Official .org Photography Thread | InactionMan | General Discussion | 59 | 2004-08-26 15:57 |