Shuttle launch today

[DyePack]

Like many at NASA, I'll have my fingers crossed, hoping luck is on the side of the shuttle and its crew. Luck is about all NASA has to rely on these days.

On a related note, that Nixon movie will be on later this afternoon. Nothing about space, but lots about Cambodia and Vietnam.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Why are we even spending billions to go into space anymore? We beat the Commies to the moon...

Because we are all explorers, starting with the earliest homo erectus who crossed the mountains to the next valley and continuing right through the ancient Macedonians, Greeks, Romans and Polynesians and on through Columbus, Marco Polo and right up to today. The eternal question "What's out there?" is one that defines humanity.

To quote one of the best lines from one of the best television shows I ever watched: "We have to make people lift their eyes back to the horizon and see the line of ancestors behind us saying, 'Make my life have meaning,' and to our inheritors before us saying, 'Create the world we will live in.' I mean, we're not just holding jobs and having dinner. We are in the process of building the future."

 

[BTExpress]

I'm as big an astro-geek as there is, but I can't figure out . . .

. . . why the most complex machine in the world is dependent on 3 inches of FOAM and whether that FOAM will hold up.

. . . why weather plays such a large role in these launches. These things carve through the atmosphere at 25,000 mph and are bombarded by gamma rays in outer space. Heck, Apollo 12 was struck by lightning and got its platform restored with the push of a button, yet these launches are scrubbed because . . . of a little RAIN?

. . . why the launch window is so tiny. We're not trying to rendezvous with a comet hurtling through space at 37,000 mph; we're going to visit the International Space Station, which is orbiting as it has done every day for years. Yet today's "launch window" is something like 2:31-2:38 p.m. All those engineers can't figure out how to get to the Space Station if the thing launches at 2:55 instead?



??? ??? ??? ???

 

[DyePack]

Except we ARE just holding jobs and having dinner.

 

[Starman]

I'm as big an astro-geek as there is, but I can't figure out . . .

. . . why the most complex machine in the world is dependent on 3 inches of FOAM and whether that FOAM will hold up.

. . . why weather plays such a large role in these launches. These things carve through the atmosphere at 25,000 mph and are bombarded by gamma rays in outer space. Heck, Apollo 12 was struck by lightning and got its platform restored with the push of a button, yet these launches are scrubbed because . . . of a little RAIN?

. . . why the launch window is so tiny. We're not trying to rendezvous with a comet hurtling through space at 37,000 mph; we're going to visit the International Space Station, which is orbiting as it has done every day for years. Yet today's "launch window" is something like 2:31-2:38 p.m. All those engineers can't figure out how to get to the Space Station if the thing launches at 2:55 instead?



??? ??? ??? ???

1. The foam is the result of the shuttle's goofy lateral design (the result of budget cuts and compromises in the early 1970s when it was being designed), with the orbiter vehicle attached to the side of the main fuel tank, and below it for the most part. Therefore, ice shedding off the tank during launch can fall off and hit the orbiter, thus the need for foam to prevent ice buildup on the tank.

The old Apollo (in fact, all other manned spacecraft) was designed with the crew vehicle at the TOP of the stack, thus ice falling off the tanks during launch was no threat. In virtually every old film clip of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo launches, you can see huge hunks of ice falling off as the vehicle takes off.

In addition, having the crew vehicle at the top of the stack makes an escape system possible, which of course the Shuttle does not have. Anything goes wrong until they jettison the solid boosters, basically they are finished.

2. The Shuttle could probably be launched in a rainstorm just fine, but since the Challenger (and then Columbia) accidents, NASA wants more and more of a clear view of the vehicle during the launch process. They want to be able to see if any debris strikes occur and much of any cloud cover makes that impossible.

3. They are trying to rendezvous with the ISS traveling through space at 17,000 mph. Five miles per second. If they wait 15 minutes, it's 4,500 miles away, and still moving. They really don't have all that much in-orbit maneuvering capability.

 

[Jones]

Starman knows his ****.

Two interesting factoids about shuttle launches:

1) At the bottom of the stack is an armoured tank. If, say, the crew has two minutes to get the hell out of Dodge, mid-deck, there is a hatch, and a basket that can be deployed to slide the astronauts, two at a time, down to the tank. Theoretically, they climb in and drive away, the shuttle exploding behind them. There are great pictures of astronauts driving around in this thing, kicking up dirt. Nutso.

2) If, after the boosters are jettisoned, but before the shuttle reaches space, there is a need to evacuate, that same hatch is opened, and a device called "the pole" is deployed. It is, surprisingly enough, an ordinary pole that extends just past the wing. The astonauts are supposed to slide down this pole like firemen, clearing the wing, and opening their parachutes. Everybody knows that this is an impossible scenario. The wind force alone would probably blow the astronauts to bits. But everyone also acknowledges the pole and the possibility of having to use it, just ignoring the fact that if they are asked to, they are done.

Astronauts are ****ing crazy.

 

[Point of Order]

Myles O'Brien (aka Douchenozzle) loves him some model space shuttle to play with on the set. BTW, is he married to his morning show co-host (fogot her first name) O'Brien.

 

[Starman]

Starman knows his ****.

Two interesting factoids about shuttle launches:

1) At the bottom of the stack is an armoured tank. If, say, the crew has two minutes to get the hell out of Dodge, mid-deck, there is a hatch, and a basket that can be deployed to slide the astronauts, two at a time, down to the tank. Theoretically, they climb in and drive away, the shuttle exploding behind them. There are great pictures of astronauts driving around in this thing, kicking up dirt. Nutso.

2) If, after the boosters are jettisoned, but before the shuttle reaches space, there is a need to evacuate, that same hatch is opened, and a device called "the pole" is deployed. It is, surprisingly enough, an ordinary pole that extends just past the wing. The astonauts are supposed to slide down this pole like firemen, clearing the wing, and opening their parachutes. Everybody knows that this is an impossible scenario. The wind force alone would probably blow the astronauts to bits. But everyone also acknowledges the pole and the possibility of having to use it, just ignoring the fact that if they are asked to, they are done.

Astronauts are ****ing crazy.

Basically, most all these escape scenarios are BS. If anything goes seriously wrong in the first three minutes or the last 15 minutes of a shuttle flight, you are in big, big trouble.

T-minus 3:45. Here we go.

 

[Chi City 81]

T-Minus 1 minute. Godspeed.

 

[Chi City 81]

6,000 mph. *******. And things are going smoothly so far, thank God.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Except we ARE just holding jobs and having dinner.

Maybe you have sacrificed all your hopes and dreams for the future. Most of us still have them.

T-Minus 1 minute. Godspeed.

Watched it from my driveway. Beautiful launch. And the thunder from the launch is rolling over my house as I type.

 

[Huggy]

Myles O'Brien (aka Douchenozzle) loves him some model space shuttle to play with on the set.  BTW, is he married to his morning show co-host (fogot her first name) O'Brien.

No, Miles O'Brien is not married to the delectable Soledad O'Brien. Her hubby is some Wall St. guy.

 

[21]

Man, if you're not praying and holding your breath during that, I don't think you're human.  

Godspeed, indeed.

 

[DyePack]

Except we ARE just holding jobs and having dinner.

Maybe you have sacrificed all your hopes and dreams for the future. Most of us still have them.

Heck, I'm not even having dinner. Need to go buy groceries.

 

[OnTheRiver]

Good work today, NASA.

 

[DyePack]

Good work today, NASA.

They must have rubbed the right rabbit's foot.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Man, if you're not praying and holding your breath during that, I don't think you're human.

My neighbor is retired from NASA. We were outside raising our beers in salute (and violating the open-container law, but **** it).

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Good work today, NASA.

They must have rubbed the right rabbit's foot.

Dyepr, this may come as a shock to you but NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory &c. employ real live rocket scientists. They know what they're doing.

 

[DyePack]

Good work today, NASA.

They must have rubbed the right rabbit's foot.

Dyepr, this may come as a shock to you but NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory &c. employ real live rocket scientists. They know what they're doing.

Except when they don't.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Good work today, NASA.

They must have rubbed the right rabbit's foot.

Dyepr, this may come as a shock to you but NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory &c. employ real live rocket scientists. They know what they're doing.

Except when they don't.

Let me guess ... you're the type of person who, back in the day, would have refused to get in an airplane because it might crash.