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Burn, Mir, Burn (Do You Like To Watch?)

Posted by timothy on from the flies-through-the-air-with-the-greatest-disease dept.

Michael Stricklen writes: "The company I work for, NaviSite, Inc. is going to stream the Mir re-entry at http://www.mirreentry.com. I'm not sure what kind of view you'll have of it, but I figure with as many stories as /. has had on Mir, one more marking it's death couldn't hurt." And Kevin points to an article on Yahoo! which says that the mirreentry.com video will not be a live broadcast, "since 'the aircraft which will track the spacecraft's final descent will not have enough bandwidth to stream the footage as it occurs.' The film will be supposedly available on the Internet within two hours of reentry. The site currently target's Mir's 'latest probable deorbit date' as March 22." I wish I saw a link to other than "Windows Media Format" on that page, though.

6 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Before they burn Mir up... by Greyfox · · Score: 5
    They should dock with it one last time and fill it full of marshallows. Then when it falls on that guy in New Zealand, his family will at least get something to eat out of it...

    Any bets on whether the RIAA's trying to arrange for it to land on Sealand?

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  2. Some final thoughts by perdida · · Score: 5

    1) Mir was built, maintained and repaired by a much poorer space agency than the US's, and they kept a functional station in space for over twice its projected lifespan.

    2) Over the years cosmonauts at Mir have gathered much unglamorous data about the most efficient and comfortable ways to live in space station conditions for an extended period of time. The physiology and psychology of this is not dramatic or technical but it is crucial.

    3) There are many groups trying to profit off of the station's demise, which i think is a bit callous. Is it thrillseeking or morbid interest? At least they could donate money to the Russian space program from these commercial ventures, without some funds the Russian ISS-Alpha committment may not be passed over by the budget-makers axe next time around.

    --
    Goat sex free since 2001
  3. Re:Shooting Star by qnonsense · · Score: 4
    • Most of us will probably just see it as a shooting star, if even that. Mir is quite small, and depending on its re-entry speed, I don't think we'll see a whole lot.
    Unless you're in the South Pacific, you're not going to see it at all.

    Hint: The Earth is curved....
    --
    There comes a time in every man's life when he must say, "No mother! I do not want any more Jell-O!"
  4. Bye bye MIR.. by To0n · · Score: 4

    You were the cockroach of Space Stations. Ugly as hell, had it's major problems, and now is going to be watched burned for the enjoyment of Pre and Post adolescent american males.

    What a shame.

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    blah
  5. That's pretty close to tahiti! by agallagh42 · · Score: 4

    "The latest information on the location of the center of the debris impact area is approximately 2,000 nm south of Tahiti and 2,400 nm east of New Zealand in an area that is completely free of islands and any human habitation."

    Wow, 2,000 nm, they're cutting it pretty close ;-)

    --
    Carpe Cerevisi - Seize the Beer
  6. This will never work by Brento · · Score: 5

    Their site is Slashdotted right now, and Mir isn't even falling yet! They're not even delivering serious video bandwidth, and they're already crippled. Methinks I'll wait a couple of days after the Mir flameout before I try to pull up this site again.

    Then again, maybe this is their devious way of testing whether their server equipment is up to delivering the Mir reentry video. Note to Navisite: beef it up, baby.

    --
    What's your damage, Heather?