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Mir Reactivation Mission to Launch Monday
Anonymous Coward writes "According to this article in Aerotech News and Review as well as information on the Space Frontier Foundation web site, a mission to reactivate Mir for commercial purposes is scheduled to launch April 3rd or 4th and dock with Mir on the 6th. The mission is being launched by Holland-based MirCorp in preparation for scientific experiment, space-tourism, and in-orbit advertising."
As a big disappointment for some people on this forum, you can't pour hot grits down your pants in zero gravity. You can, however, pour hot grits all over the capsule but whether that is an intelligent thing to do is open to discussion.
That is totally bizaare. Excellent, actually.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
After just finishing "Case for Mars" by Robert Zubrin, and seeing that NASA has no will to be enthusiastic explorers of the red planet, I'm very glad to that private companies are going to put humans in space.
I personally think the JFK-style mission Zubrin describes would be work best, but I also think the Gingrich plan could effect the same results.
But I'll cross my fingers in the hope that whoever gets elected, Gore or Bush, would be willing to give space exploration a boost using the bully pulpit(though it doesn't look likely, neither of them has a spine).
And where's the IPO for this? - I want in.
Several people are knocking the idea, without even mentioning that
Hotel Mir --> Sex in Space.
It seems like it would be about the *first* thing on a geek's mind. Hell, I didn't even see any trolls talking about it. Are there no hormones on this site today?
--Lenny
During flight their record looks ok, but hundreds were killed in accidents on the ground including several launch pad explosions.
But you do have to admire the fact that when they had problems on the Mir they hung on and fixed them. Whenever the shuttle has the slightest problem it simply returns to mother earth.
----
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
What makes you think NASA has any sort of rescue capability? It takes them months just to prep the shuttle for a mission, they couldn't very well say "Uh oh, they're in trouble, let's go!"
This is why Mir always has at least one Soyuz craft docked at all times, so that the people on board can use it to take off if something bad happens.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
a bad dream about orbital advertising the other night, I thought I'd share. I imagined enormous low orbit billboards floating merrily across the sky. Eventually the Earth's atmosphere became so cluttered with this huge billboards all light from the Sun was reflected back into space and instead of a nuclear winter we enjoyed an advertismal winter. .com advertisement and all was well."
"As I looked upwards into a cobalt heaven, looking for answers. I beheld a
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
My only question is, will they call it "Mir: Millenium Edition" ?
What bothers me is that if there is some kind of systems failure or other emergency on Mir, I can only think of one agency in the world that could mount any kind of a rescue, and that's NASA. So the taxpayers of America get to pay for a multimillion dollar rescue operation. Mir is a decaying hunk of metal. Let it go down in a bright burst of orange and take its place in history.
Execute? [Y/N] _
An american company was charging $100,000 for a ride into orbit on a specially built space plane.
By the year 2000.
That just hit me. I should try looking up that webpage again.
(Anyone else think the future would be more interesting?)
Later
Erik Z
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
just a quick note: check out sunday's userfriendly
//rdj
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
Holland, the country. Not Holland, Michigan.. Actually called The Netherlands. Holland is a mere 2 provinces. Not every place in the world is in the US, although there's lots of copied placenames..
//rdj
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
Today they are a very impressive nation with huge resources but they have the same problem - corruption at all levels.
You know, this could be describing the USA just as easily as China, and I think perhaps it could be applied to several other first-world nations as well. Corruption is not a feature of communism as much as it is one of bureaucracy, which both capitalist and communist governments tend towards.
Interestingly, despite being part of said bureaucracy-laden government, I personally do not find NASA to be corrupt. It's not a lean, mean machine as some would like it to be, but it also isn't run by any special interest. In fact, when you get down to it, most Federal agencies are not corrupt. Some are doing nasty things (FBI, CIA, BATF, etc.) but it's in their mandate to Make America Safe. The corruption seems to mainly be in the Congress and President, which then direct their subordinates to do bad things. This is good: there is a maximum of 437 people to remove in order to restore the system.
Alik
The first example of in-orbit advertising that I remember (other than country flags) is a movie teaser for Arnold Schwarzenegger's weak Last Action Hero, a huge poster affixed to the side of some payload.
With the breakup of Iridium, though, come new possibilities.
(In-Orbit Advertising =anagram>squelch Endeavor Captain, ready to task Iridium #20 through #30.
static Roger, Marketing Officer.
squelch Iridium #20 and #21 away, flaring letter Lima over India.
static Roger, Lima.
squelch Iridium #22 away, flaring letter Indigo over Indonesia.
static Roger, Indigo.
squelch Iridium #23, #24, #25 away, flaring letter November over Hawaii.
static Roger, November.
squelch Iridium #26, #27, #28 away, flaring letter Uniform over Hawaii.
static Roger, Uniform.
squelch Iridium #29, #30 away, flaring letter X-Ray over California.
static Roger, X-Ray.
squelch Iridium #20 through #30 completed, Captain. Message Lima Indigo November Uniform X-Ray spelled in the sky over the Pacific.
static Roger, orbit over Europe in fifteen minutes for another eleven Iridium satellites to spell LINUX there. Out.
It is arriving on debt.)
[
We know there's a Zero G Club, but we haven't been told by any reputable source!
singing,
Where the space debris always collects.
We possess, so it seems, two of man's greatest dreams:
Solar power and zero-gee sex.
[
I think that this is a very cool step that MirCorp is taking. With all the money and man power it takes to get satellites and space stations in orbit, it would make more sense for commercial organizations to recycle unused satellites than spend more money on manufacturing and placing new ones. Ghetto
A witty saying proves nothing. -Voltaire
Sorry, but YOU are wrong. First, I said there is no abort/escape from LIFTOFF to about 2.5 minutes into the flight. This remains true, the ground escape system is not after the SRBs have lit off (the shuttle lifts off almost immedietely, and if a problem develops on the pad after SRB ignition, the vehicle and crew are lost). Also, the escape pole is NOT usable during the SRB burn.
Here's an abort scenario which uses the escape pole:
1. Liftoff
2. SRB burnout/seperation
3. Problem detected, too far for RTLS (return to landing site) and not far enough for TAL (transoceanic abort landing)
4. Shuttle adds/subtracts as much delta-v as possible to get close to land for ease of astronaut recovery.
5. Shuttle jettisons External Tank
6. Shuttle energy management program is used by the pilot to set up an energy efficient glide.
7. At around 30,000 feet the jump master prepares the door.
8. Shortly after, the commander activates the autopilot
9. The door is opened, pole extended.
10. Everyone jumps in an orderly manner.
11. Shuttle hits water and destroys itself. Hopefully the crew has landed safely w/ parachutes.
There simply is no abort option between SRB ignition and SRB seperation. They are solid rocket motors, which means that anything that could turn them off would also destroy the orbiter (eg, you would actually need to blow open the seams on the SRB to stop them, which is what the range safety officer does. This would also destroy the orbiter.)
You'll note that the shuttle is not certified by the FAA, 'cuzz it's very dangerous.
"Give me a room with a good view."
"Well, that going to be hard. For safety reasons, none of the guest rooms have a portal. We do however have multiple viewcams that you can look rthrough by selecting channels 332 to 389 on the TiVo ..."
"OK. Then any room will do right?"
"Yes. But in actuality, we are now on the night-side, and there is really nothing to see. You'll have to wait 8 hours."
"Then what can I do? Is there a casino or a bar someplace?"
"Well due to space restraints, you can enjoy a tube of wine within the comforts of your own room, and you can always surf the web to a casino site ..."
"WTF! Then what's the point of coming here? I might as well go back!"
"OK. As you wish. That will be $500 thousand for the return trip ..."
Well, here you go, contradicting yourself here and there. So is it Capitalism over Communism or is it Communism over Capitalism? You go this way and that way and than this way back again.
I would say that a capitalist society has a great incentive sending space stations up there since they need it for technological advancements and for the bottom line.
However there was NEVER a REAL Communist society on this planet, since Communism is a utopia and can not be created, the people are too corrupt and power-hungry. What the former Soviet Union and the current China were and are still basically dictatorship societies with of socialistic nature.
The former USSR could launch the space stations but did not care about its citizens beyond addressing very simple problems such as hunger, dwelling, medicine, studying and providing jobs. Of-course that does not sound too bad and it was not too bad for those people, the only problem was that it could not last forever. A uniform society was created, with almost equal possibilities and pretty good education but not enough room for self motivation, so the motivation was created artafficially by concentrating on the work getting done for the communist causes. Of-course people still had to work and many worked well but the final results, no matter how great could not benefit the working individual.
Now the space exploration required huge investments and those were taken from the government sector, which basically collected all the profits of the working individuals. The state was very rich in that it could allow itself very expensive moves without thinking twice - a huge army, huge fleet, enormous spendings toward the defence system and the space exploration fell somewhere in between. The cold war was also an important factor, USSR had to beat America in whatever they could, they even had slogans: "To gain on and to go ahead of America" something of a kind.
China has a totaliterian regime with little respect to individual rights, it's not hard to understand why - try manipulating 1.5 billion people.
Today they are a very impressive nation with huge resources but they have the same problem - corruption at all levels.
Comparing Capitalism to Communism is quite useless since there are no complete models to compare. Capitalism has a model that is easier to implement and maintain as the history has shown. The communism model only works in ant and bee colonies, with people it's too submissive.
Maybe the next model to come is related to the evolution of our understanding of human sexuality and the evolution of human sexuality in itself together with advancement in technologies and will be presented by some new order of sexually oriented persons without any specific work related problems to solve? Anyway, I believe that our race is just a step toward the higher race of smart computers.
You can't handle the truth.
Well, Good. Though it is quite old (very old by space standards) this station may in fact appear to be usefull again after all. Too bad Russian economy is in such shambles, I was hoping for the new space station to take the place of the old one. Mir has survived something like 3 or 4 times the predicted life expectancy, I am sure its engineers have learned a lot during this time and could build something even more impressive if there were any money there.
You can't handle the truth.
I just hope there will not be any special-t-travel DISCOUNTS!
-Yes sir, it's only 99,999.99 and for that extraordinary price you will become one of the few that can boast that they have gone to space. Share our magnificent bedrooms with a breathtaking view of the entire world. Enjoy our special tubed meals with your loved one for only 59,999,99 more. Walk in the open space with only a space suit between you and the unimaginable vastness of the surroundings for a little extra charge of 39,999.99 (insure yourself with our special-t-insurance, after all isn't your life worth a mere 29,999.99?) Enjoy a real human drama of the space travel - mini-asteroids, solar winds, gamma radiation - all this is included in the package FREE OF CHARGE!!!
Just in case of a serious accident, buy yourself a landing module with life boats, axes, automatic weapon system (who knows where you'll land) and much much more for only 299,999.99! You can even keep the module after you land successfully in it!
Our highly trained and very professional crue members will be at your disposal before start and after the landing.
Bring home souvenirs, take a piece of the space with you (for a little extra, take a piece of the spaceship with you too!)
We have a steady supply of alien monsters and if you want, a highly trained Russian professional astronaut will die trying to save you from an oxygen leak.
So what are YOU waiting for?! Call us now at 1-800-spacetravel or visit our website at www.areyoustillalive.com
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Special-t-travel space section takes no legal responsibility for any conceivable and inconceivable problems that may arise during the space travel. All sales are final, non-refundable, non-negotiable and completely transferable.
Thank you very much for visiting our hotline, in case if you wish to order press 1.
You can't handle the truth.
I wonder whether this will take focus(and engineers) off of Russia's commitment to the International Space Station? Hopefully not! Not that the idea of a space hotel isn't very cool, I just seriously doubt anyone reading this would be able to afford it(and benefit from it). The ISS on the other hand offers to benefit a great deal of people through increased scientific research. Still, the MIR hotel could actually help in Russian efforts towards the ISS if some of the income from MIR was redirected towards it.
Scaling mountains too tame for you? Basejumping or parachuting boring? Own four SUVs? Then you should take the MIR CHALLENGE.
For a mere $600,000 a day, you can experience the terror of in-space collisions, failing power systems, and catastrophic decompressions!
SIGN UP TODAY and you'll receive a free oxygen mask at NO CHARGE (useful when the ship comes apart!).
Don't delay, call today!
Warning: slight risk of death on the MiR Challenge. Don't say we didn't warn you.
-ted
Yes friends, Mir is going to become a Hotel.
From what I gathered on the first article I read, it's not going to be cheap. (Duh) Basically, you take a ride up there, hang out for a few days, and take a ride back. Space Vacation. (WooHoo!)
Read about it here, and here.
Oh! Coincidentally, check this out:
2000-02-18 15:40:56 Mir Space Station to become Hotel (articles,space) (declined)
2000-02-18 19:13:39 Mir Space Station to be made into Hotel (articles,space) (declined)
*Sigh*, At least now I can finally claim I knew about something before it hit Slashdot. (I never used to be able to do that, but lately.....)
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.