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mithridates · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:30 am Post subject: Space Shuttle Discovery

...is going up in 11 minutes.

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

Any link to view it? I'm trying and failing on http://www.bbc.co.uk/?ok

mithridates · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:40 am Post subject:

http://www.space.com/returntoflight/

mithridates · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:41 am Post subject:

31 seconds!

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

Missed it. Dumb computer failed to perform..wretched pc bang!!!Aaaahhh!!

mithridates · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:55 am Post subject:

I can't believe it only takes nine minutes to get from where we are to space. Amazing. Now they're in space. And I'm not.
Mad

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

Yahoo newsplayer finally kicked in...just seen a replay of the launch: awesome!

Why does it swivel round/rotate just after launch? Weight distribution?

- safety checks this time must've been the most stringent of any launch I would guess.

mithridates · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 7:14 am Post subject:

First it gets lifted up by the solid rocket boosters and after that turning the shuttle around helps it to increase speed as the rockets are more effective that way. About 8-9 minutes after liftoff the big external fuel tank gets jettisoned too.

Looks like there's another video here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8562942/

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

Man, I remember when the whole family would watch those launches together, back when the shuttle (and I) were brand new. But somehow they became boring.

The last one I watched live on TV was the Challenger's final blastoff. They wheeled the TV into my 3rd grade classroom and we all watched... I remember Christa McAuliff was going to be the first "teacher in space" and teach us all something after getting into orbit. We didn't understand the explosion, though I realize now the teacher must have smurfed her pants, we kids didn't believe bad things could happen to superheroes like the astronauts. We were waiting for the surprise happy ending like in the movies. I counted 13 instant replays before President Reagan came on the tube and told us what a tragedy it was.

mithridates · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:42 pm Post subject:

The shuttle's still being shown on NASA TV - they're all sleeping and the shuttle is orbiting the Earth, you can see it rotating slowly below. Add that to FSOL that I'm listening to and it's pretty surreal.

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

That loose insulation foam has overshadowed the whole thing I see. Might even put the whole program on permanent hold. If several years of stringent safety checks and billions of dollars can't ensure a secure mission, then its unlikely that anything ever will.

If there are serious problems, the astronauts face being dumped on the space station until the U.S can send up a rescue shuttle.

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

Things are going to get real interesting in October when the Chinese send up another space ship.

Here the USA is grounded again with their problem plagued space program and the Chinese are surging ahead in leaps and bounds.

If you're interested in why the Chinese space program is so advanced google the name Qian Xuesen (sometimes spelled Tsien Hsue-shen). What the US government did to him was shameful and disgraceful, and one of the great human rights abuses of the 20th century.

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

Rteacher · Joined: 23 May 2005 Location: Western MA, USA

As your humble #1 authority on most any subject, I will grace this forum with my views on the space program.

My qualifications??? Well, I resided in central Florida, including Titusville - where I lived practically in the shadow of the Kennedy Space Center - for about ten years, and I saw almost every shuttle launch during that period. (The night and pre-dawn ones were visually spectacular...)
Beyond that I was a movie extra on three films set at least partly at KSC: Contact, Armageddon, and the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon - where I played a "NASA VIP" and (in one scene) astronaut Frank Borman's uncle.

In Contact, I was just in a panicky crowd scene near a weird rocket launch. Although it was freezing, we weren't allowed to wear sweaters or warm clothes (to preserve the image of "sunny Florida") and I didn't even get to see Jodie Foster. I was a "press photographer" in Armageddon. We all had to get NASA security passes, and I got to see Bruce Willis contemptuously smirking as he leaned against a rocket in the shuttle launch area. Unfortunately, the big scene that I was in got deleted in the editing process (but with my huge prop camera I did get to "zoom in" on the actress who was a former Penthouse something-or-other as she lay atop Steve Buscemi...) In From Earth to the Moon I was in a scene directed by Tom Hanks (also the executive producer) and also was one of only four extras in a living room scene featuring his real-life wife, Rita Wilson (who played Frank Borman's wife). In the "Apollo 13" portion of the series the camera was positioned about two feet away from me as I projected a look of intense concern at the fate of the astronauts...

In view of controversies regarding NASA's possible "moon hoax" I did happen to hear an interesting comment from the chief technical advisor (I think of "From Earth to the Moon" but possibly Armageddon) who had worked extensively on the space program. I heard him clearly state (seated directly in front of me on the extras bus en route to the launch area) that to this day there are some former employees of Gruman who are convinced that at least some of the moon landing stuff was filmed in a simulation chambor that was on the roof of one of their hangars... Food for thought, eh?

Before I wrote this I checked out the conspiracy buff's website
www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html to see how they were answering all the passionate debunkerers arguments at the "bad astronomy" website; www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/apollohoax.html In my "expert" opinion they seem to counter the conspiracy critics quite well - though I admit that much of the technical stuff is over my head.