Slashdot Mirror
Mir: Rest in Pieces
Space.com is giving the splashdown time at 12:58 AM EST, which seems to agree with what everyone else is saying. Unless I can find a more precise time, I'll go with that.
Mir stats: first piece launched Feb. 20, 1986. Returned to Earth Mar. 23, 2001. Total orbits: 86,331 (that's a Trivial Pursuit question in the next edition, guaranteed). Longest stay: 438 days, Cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, currently the record-holder for longest stay in space. Debris footprint: 120 miles by 3,600 miles, centered around 44 S latitude and 150 W longitude.
Jacek Fedorynski took a look at Guess When Mir Will Splash and drew up this nice histogram of the guesses. He also notes that the median guess for Mir's return to Mother Earth was 2001-03-19 10:11:01.
Good guesses:
- 2001-03-23 02:02:02 - looks like 'cowkiller' is our champion Mir-guesser
- 2001-03-23 04:07:33
- 2001-03-23 04:27:42
- 2001-03-23 04:37:28
- 2001-03-22 21:37:19
- 2001-03-22 21:21:21
- 2001-03-23 06:12:25
God damn, enough with the freakin' tacos already!
In yesterday's MIR story, exactly 63% of the posts had some relation to that cheap-ass publicity ploy. Yeah, it was amusing, for about thirty seconds. And unlike "AYBABTU", it is not funnier if it's repeated 100 times.
They're a part of Pepsico, for God's sake.
In dutch, for instance:
1 million = 1000 thousand
1 milliard = 1000 million
1 billion = 1000 milliard
1 billiard = 1000 billion
1 trillion = 1000 billiard
etc.
--
Linux user since early January 1992.
That's all I could think ofwhen I heard they were going to splash the station...
Image if this bug survies and likes plastic? We would be deaddeaddead.
ttyl
Farrell
CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
Ebay killed the auction.
We still have a space station... that is if Junior B. has the mental ability to understand some basic rules of cooperation: For what I know, the in-ter-na-tio-nal space station doesn't belong to the yanks. It belongs to everybody who worked on the project. That being said, eventhough it is sad to see mir going down, I think we needed that to, who knows? maybe build another one?
VOT TAK! :-)
---
"Hasta la victoria siempre!" El Comandante
I can see it...
Godzilla vs. the Space Station
=]
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
...by searching for "MIR space station". Does anyone have a mirror or pdf of the actual bidding page? There aren't many auction pages worth saving, but the Seattle earthquake rubble (~30 min after the quake) and the one for MIR salvage are pretty funny.
I think not...(*poof*)
It's nice to see that someone in this world has some pride about something. This is something ebbing away in the US. I'd agree that Mir was/is a great achievment. Communist or non-Communist Russia, it's what will be the catalyst and set the precedent of the entire world's next generation of space exploration projects.
Instant Karma's gonna get you...
Nah, the real tragedy is if Mir is mentioned alongside the Taco Bell dog. Not only is a great evil been done, but you know Damien(tm) has taken over.
Moof!
Well, both. It's been awhile since I've dealt with either.
Reminds me of that movie "The Andromeda Strain".
pronoblem
http://slashdot.org/articles/01/02/16/131214.shtml #145
Look at the timestamp on the start of the auction, versus the actual splashdown time. I doubt this is a legit auction....
I knew it wouldn't take long before someone thought up the bright idea (pun not intended) of putting the remains of Mir up on eBay. :-)
It'll be interesting to see how many verifiable pieces of Mir remains are posted on various eBay auctions. Some pieces could go for thousands of dollars.
Raymond in Mountain View, CA
I guess it didn't hit the Taco Bell Free Taco target.
I was sooo looking forward to a free taco.
--"Karma is justice without the satisfaction"
Oh, and another song based on the same three freaking chords is any different.....
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
Anyone have an mpeg copy of the reentry movie? It seems everything on the net is either Quicktime, Real or AVI.
Or at least just preserve the orbit, and add on the pieces to the ISS instead. Launch costs being so high it seems almost criminal to just destroy such a costly investment. Sure, the parts of Mir may not be exactly right for the ISS, but at least you could keep them as unpressurized storage compartments. That's got to be cheaper than re-launching equivalent hardware from Earth.
Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and
So, is the United States having mexican tonight?
Billion has "bi", which means two; Trillion has "tri", which means three. Million's "M" is likely related to "mono", which means one. But one of what? Two of what?
They're counting groups of six zeros.
My theory is that back during the American Revolution, most people didn't use numbers so large and didn't learn what a billion was. Just like these days most people don't learn what a hacker is. A word used by a few can get corrupted when it becomes popularized.
Ok, so the book might not be out yet, and i've no idea about t-shirts, but the movie is here, and lots more besides at the good old BBC.
ooooooh! What does this button do? - DeeDee, Dexters Lab.
Bravery, Kindness, Clarity, Honesty, Compassion, Generosity
...Nothing interesting here. Just move along...
I never understood the logic in that.
Million: 10^6
American Billion: 10^9
Real Billion: 10^12
American Trillion (?): 10^12 (is it?)
Real Trillion: 10^18
Did I get that right? And if I did, look at the progression and tell me which is more logical, 6k or 3+3k.
- Kaatunut
In Finland (and we use Germans' number system, see post up and backward) thousand million (or 10^9) is "miljardi", which I used to translate "milliard". I found it much more logical; billion is (2 times 6) powers of ten, billiard (hehe ;]) is (2.5 times 6) powers of ten.
- Kaatunut
After the mention of cosmonauts that have died in space, I did some searching and found the following link...
Russian Aerospace Guide - Cosmonauts
This is an excerpt from a book by James Oberg titled "Uncovering Soviet Disasters"...about half way down the page is and interesting list of accidents that happened before 1973.
No mention of the MIR on this page (I think it's because this seems to have been done in 1985), but I thought that since everyone that mentions Cosmonauts that have died in space doesn't have the proof to back it up...well, this at least lends some validity to their complaints.
The strangest incident mentioned is this one "On February 4, 1961, a mystery Soviet satellite was heard to be transmitting heartbeats, which soon stopped (some reports even described it as a two-man capsule, and several "missing cosmonauts" were listed as Belokonev, Kachur, and Grachev)."
In episode 107 Kenny was Hit by Mir, undead via Worcestershire Sauce, and cut lengthwise by a chainsaw.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
Dude, just have superman do it! That would be practically free.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
My Condolences.
Although this is way OT, I had a similar experience. I finished my thesis in 1998 in Engineering Geoscience and did not dig in enough to learn Latex (a mistake I am now fixing). I had 100 pages without figures, and all kinds of stringent demands regarding layouts of table of contents, lists of figures, running heads, etc etc etc ad spewnitum. And two appendices of formulae.
After proofs by my advisors I tried to make the few "small" changes to the text suggested and watched the whole document self-destruct. I had returned to the campus from another state just to submit the thesis to the graduate department, and I spent the next 10 hours feverishly trying to get Word to cooperate for a final printing before my flight. Unfortunately I had a single long text document - but the lovely tools in Word are designed to automate all those tasks, right?
MicroSloth's rules for auto-formatting were devised by some netherworld slug with horns and a pitchfork.
I still dont have the latex proficiency to run off journal papers but I am working past the odd memo with equations. As far as references on latex, get the "dog book" -- the rescue st bernard with the whiskey onboard in the mini-keg. (The Latex Companion, goossens et al).
Word is actually great for something less than a couple pages without inline figures.
Anyway, my condolences and regards,
Ever say "No thanks, I have enough RAM"?
Lobster sticks to magnet!
----
Dave
MicrosoftME®? No, Microsoft YOU, buddy! - my boss
- Dave
Left claw North! RIGHTCLAWSOUTH!!
Zubenelgeubi and Zubeneschamali, the claws of scorpion?
Puesto que el Mir es de ruso, creo que la frase correcta es "Mne khochitsa Taco Bell".
O si prefieres en lugar: "Ya khachu Taco Bell".
/me checks in the oven.
How about $2000 for a burnt piece of metal? I mean a piece of the Mir space station. I accept credit cards.
Oh... wait... Mir was the only Space Station in orbit after Skylab was scrapped.
No, the Salyut 7 (basically like Mir's core module, but not expandable) was in orbit before Mir, and stayed up there until it was de-orbited by the USSR in February 1991.
Any bugs in MIR came from earth.
Any space borne bugs ON MIR would have survived the landing on a METEOR and already got here.
Any mutant microbes probably wont have any more effect than the ones that are already here, mutating constantly.
You halfwit.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
So what you're saying is I missed out on my free taco...
;-)
LOAD "SIG",8,1
LOADING...
READY.
RUN
Someone else on eBay has an auction for "Actual Piece of the Mir"--not. Mildly amusing. Much cheaper than the actual[?] piece.
Isn't it ironic that the "Death of Mir" coincides with diplomats being sent back to the Russia? This could lead to a heightened level of distrust between Russia and the US, if not a peace breakdown altogether. "Mir" is Russian for "Peace."
Well, I'm not a throwaway account. But then,
I'm not American either. And I agree (and for
the record I know quite a few Americans who
agree) with minus23.
Such a cynical attempt to use an unprecedented
occurrence to manipulate the general media-sheep
populace into brand recognition is just a low
form of preying on the weak. Looks like you fell
for it.
...the personal ship of the station's last commander was found empty in the Coriana 6 system today. His whereabouts are currently unknown...
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
billion n. & adj. --n. (pl. same or (in sense 3) billions) (in sing. prec. by a or one) 1 a thousand million (1,000,000,000 or 10(9)). 2 (now less often, esp. Brit.) a million million (1,000,000,000,000 or 10(12))
--
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
When you said "Pepsi rules", you of course meant: "Mountain Dew rules"...
Tostitos are the best salsa and cheese dipping chips (especially the cute bite sized round ones), but for everyday snacking, Doritos still take the cake: "Now with even more Orange Space Fungus Cheeze(tm)."
--
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
There's no need to spell it "taco's"... that's like "There are many table's in the restaurant."
--
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
According to tacobell.com, Mir did not in fact hit their target.
All your free tacos are belong to us. (iow, no free tacos for americans)
--buddy
Similarly a trillion is 1,000,000^3 and a quadrillion 1,000,000^4
However In my A-Level Physics class we were told to always use the american scale of numbering, but it was never explained why...
It's not too late, folks! We can still get the tacos! We must pool our resources, buy the Mir bits from ebay, and locate the tacobell raft! Having gotten Mir, and having found the raft, we can introduce them too each other, and obtain our tacos! Late, but not too late!
I've had this sig for three days.
Mutant microbes don't need Mir to get down to earth. If they could survive reentry on Mir, cound't they make it here on their own?
I don't think Mir has added significantly to the risk of invasion by mutant microbes.
--
Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
Anaerobic: They don't need air.. they still need food..
Actually, a billion is a thousand million, not a million million.
When I was a kid, a billion was a million million. But these days it seems that the definition of it as a thousand million is almost ubiquitous (I don't agree, but I go with the flow).
I think this is because it a politician and advertisers billion, looks impressive, everybody goes "wow! look at how many Billions! BillyG has!", and "look how our kind leaders are pumping Billions! into promoting thermonuclear destruction..", "Microsoft is great, Billions! of people buy Windows!!!!!!!"
I'm too cynical for this shit. 10^9 is quicker to type.
EZ
"Oops, I always forget the purpose of competition is to divide people into winners and losers." - Hobbes
You mean the book?
That's great! What is funny is that it really has bids! Did you see his other auctions? I might have to bid on the moist towelette. After all, you never know when you might need one... ;)
Out of order? Fuck! Even in the future nothing works! - Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) "Spaceballs"
Actually, Pepsico spunoff their resturants off a few years ago. Now they are owned by "TriCon"
But I don't know what you are talking about... Cheetos rule, Tostitos rule, Sun Chips rule and god knows Pepsi rules. Therefore Pepsico rules.
-Lenza
Why didn't they just Push it towards the sun, instead of bringing back down?
"If you have done 6 impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways" -- hhgg
Pioneering ships destroyed
AP, Portugal, July 4, 1507: The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, used by Cristobal Colon in his discovery of a new route to the Indies, were deliberately destroyed last night, being set afire by their owners.
"They were old, and had rats," explained a Portugese government official. "Our main concern is to save a bit of money."
There has been speculation that England had asked Portugal to destroy the ships as a symbol of England's recent success at colonial enterprises.
Rumors of the impending destruction had been circulating for several months. A few rich investors wanted to use the ships as a museum or hotel, but plans fell through. "It's just too expensive and difficult to keep a fifteen-year-old ship afloat, and not enough people want to spend the money and take the risk of going for a cruise on it," said one potential buyer.
The public has been inexplicably gleeful at the destruction, focusing on the rats and the leaks instead of the historical significance of the vessels. Many who have been following the story made bets on how long the ships would burn once they were set afire. The Nina sank at 1:01 PM, the Pinta and Santa Maria soon after.
Charred bits of wood drifted ashore and soon appeared in the market next to pieces of the True Cross.
Chris Phoenix
Ask me about Nanotechnology, Dyslexia Correction. Tell me about A.I., robotics, infrastructure.
The photo acompanies this article but it's much smaller (though better detailed).
They also have a link to a RealVideo Clip which was obviously filmed on a camcorder but manages to catch quite a bit of the debris fly-over.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
If in 25 years Mir is mentioned along with a footnote to Taco Bell... then we (as Americans) have done a great evil.
It's already going to happen. Haven't you seen Demolition Man?
> ... it didn't kill Kenny?
:-P
No this time. And you didn't get your free 74Q0.
--
--- Sueños del Sur - a webcomic about four young siblings
No damos tacos a los que no saben hablar bien castellano. (We don't give tacos to anyone who don't know how to speak spanish)
--
--- Sueños del Sur - a webcomic about four young siblings
Jajajajaja! Ocioso... :-)
(But everyone seems to want Taco Bell anyway...)
--
--- Sueños del Sur - a webcomic about four young siblings
To a Star:
Power of the Russians
Glory of the Skies
Oldest of man's Satellites
You have inspired the dreams of thousands
Fulfilled the hopes of many
Brightened the eyes of millions
Your trip is now finished
Your journey complete
You have done well
We salute you.
Rest in Peace
Mir
23 March 2001
Blog,Twitter
CNN is reporting at 05:58GMT the Russian Mir Space Station has splashed into the Pacific Ocean. Full details can be found here. Personally, it was a little bittersweet to witness the end of an era. After all, Mir had spent somewhere near 3.5 billion (million million for the UKians in the audience) miles and 15 years in space. It really was a remarkable piece of technology, but Russians really should be applauded for the accuracy of the descent. From what I understand they only missed the targeted area by a few hundred miles. Maybe they had representatives from the Mars Polar Lander team... :)
If I could only live my life with my threshold at 4...
... or the marketing people at Taco Ball will have pulled off one of the greatest, most successful advertising stunts of all time.
kugano
Thats funny. /.'ers trolling ebay. Man I hope the current winner wins.
-Moondog
also, i read somewhere that MIR was slowly being eaten by fungus that manages to survive in space (i suppose if you have earth like conditions for the crew the fungus will happily live there too) so it probably WOULDN'T be around for future generations even if you did use the fuel to send it out there.
mov ax, 13h
int 10h
mov ax, 13h
int 10h
Bullshit Bullshit Bullshit!
There are no "mutant microbes" up there. The only stuff that was up there is what we humans sent up there. Everything up there came from earth, so there will be no great plague caused by it coming back to earth.
As for "pushing it out into the sun or empty space", you obviously have no understanding of orbital mechanics or gravity. To get an object of that size and mass out of earth's orbit would require MASSIVE amounts of thrust.
To get it to the Sun would have probably required the equivalent of about a dozen Saturn V rockets strapped to it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& item=1000267750
....
gotta be worth a bid
phil
Fry: heh, Yakov Smirnoff said it
Leela: No he didn't.
It was mentioned that the final part of the descent was out of range of any tracking station. What was seen on CNN was probably just a extrapolation given speed, etc.
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
Don't forget that Taco Bell's parent company did the same thing with the Russian's launch of their ISS module. Remember the Pizza Hut logo painted on the side of the rocket? It sounds like they are trying to be moderately decent coporate citizens and providing funding to help advance our civilization by helping out in such a way that it is mutally benefitical to both parties. They get a lot of press for it and the Russians got a nice chunk of change for their space program.
Never mind any bacteria that may live in or on the several tons of dust and micro meteoroids that have been falling to Earth each day for the past 4 billion years.
Edith Keeler Must Die
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird. It's a plane! It's a really obvious although not very creative reference to Superman!
When will Windows be ready for the desktop?
Great, if we now collect the "pieces of Mir" for a few centuries (or millenia), we can probably build a huge (Babylon 5 sized or bigger) space station out of them.
Nice ebay name commander (or poser of you). Trying to scare us off with a million dollar bid. Haha...Trippy will bid a million and one.
Is it me or are these pieces falling up?
If there is hope, it lies in the trolls.
That link wasn't in the original posting. Apparantly, they updated the story without the usual "update" notice.
Space.com has some pictures of MIR's re-entry. MIR hit the water at 05:58 GMT Mar 23.
Is it a bird, is it a plane, it's Supe.... no wait, it's Mir
LOAD ".SIG"
PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
For those who speak Portuguese, there is this shockwave animation that shows the president of Petrobras on top of P-36, the largest offshore oil rig, that recently sank, singing a parody of the infamous Titanic music. When he says that nothing worse can happen, then the Mir falls upon his head. It's very interesting for those who understand Portuguese.
-
Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
I believe that the last mig fighters were made out of steel, and ran with some transistor tubes. And they worked better than whatever NATO had to put out.
Then again, maybe I'm just a fan this kind of engineering approach. At any rate, I'm going to have to organize a wake or something for mir1. I'm kind of a fan.
Sigh. Once again, science fiction over science fact. Or at least the reality that if there were any "Deadly Space Microbes"(TM) that magically attached themselves onto Mir, there's no more risk than there has been over the last 5 billion years during which similar microbes have made their way down to the lower atmosphere from either outer space, or those that somehow managed to be lofted up from the lower depths of the atmosphere, and managed to stick around long enough to mutate.
Oops - that means that nature might do EXACTLY THE SAME THING. How dare it.
The entire concept of "a heathly environment" is fallacious. If you require proof of this, go to some remote place and see how healthy the environment is for you. Just from natural water supplies you won't be able to drink, malaria, and the fact that many wild beests won't care about killing you, I think you'll find that Earth (and probably every other place in the Universe) is a pretty hostile place to be.
And for THAT matter, why is shooting Mir out into space or into the Sun any more "environmentally friendly" than wontonly dumping your trash into some land fill? Basically that IS the hypocrasy that you're suggesting; it's nothing more than a new gloss on "not in my back yard".
Even if it is real, the winner will never have it... why? Well, isn't that really quite obvious, that would be because the fisherman who found it, his whole family (if he had one) and his boat has already been eaten by teenage mutant ninja space fungus.
By now, fungus is probably lying in the bottom of the pacific, planning what is has been planning ever since it first time saw the Earth from its orbital watchplace, total world domination.
I'm writing academic work...but I'm wearing jeans.
Must be some mad scientist fetish thing, I guess.
________________________________
If encryption is outlawed, only
________________________________
If encryption is outlawed, only
YIE565$FF DSDNE4!MJK XMY7*fRBVM.
I think this makes for a very dangerous precedent. I am talking about all the mutant microbs and bacteria that Mir was carrying.
Who knows what survived the plunge into the ocean, or even went foating on earth's atmosphere?
They should have boost it out into the sun or empty space; but of course, that would've cost a lot more money, and as always, money is king in this world. Who cares about a healthy environment when we can save a buck.
~~~Please pass the salt, I hate unsalted MD5s
here is a rather sketcthy auction for a piece of the space station:
& item=1126537064
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem
this appeared very soon after splashdown, and by a user clearly created just to sell "mir-wreckage". could a boat really pick up pieces of mir? charred hunks of spacestation don't seem like they would be floating and easily spottable. also, this would be very easy to scam adequately, with a blowtorch and some twisted metal/plastic/fiberglass, although the experts could probably tell.
maybe someone can put up a bid, pain the slashdot logo over the char marks, and offer it as a second prize for people who didn't win the slashdot pt cruiser.
-=tonyt=-
Well, it seems that Ebay has removed the big chunk of Mir listed on the main /. page.
It seems that at least one other person claims to have a piece of Mir, a control panel
Personally, I am waiting for a piece of Mir on Ebay that includes an actual photograph.
For those individuals troubled by the low quality of fake mir fragments, things that look like strange sculptures or are bolts, I offer an alternative.
I offer two fake Mir fragments, a smaller one and a larger one. Although these are fakes, they are of the highest quality, having been made with parts from a toaster oven and a computer of about the same vintage as Mir.
I really wanted to use the Brooklyn_bridge_owner id for the first Mir pieces auction -- but I didn't want to actually submit my credit card for personal authentication (required for bids of $15,000 or more -- which is why most of these bids are stopping at $14,999.99).
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
SUV Driving Jesus Christ. That is the unfunniest thing I've ever seen. I should know. I'm pretty unnfunny myself.
-Crispin
I would disagree. People view this as an achievement of Russian people, not of the Soviet Regime. Besides, as a Russian, I would tell you that it was much more painful to read stories about an "ailing space station", and go over constant wise-cracks about Russians not being able to support it like they did.
People seem to forget, that Russia is smaller than Soviet Union was. We don't have Southern republics any more, and we don't even have Baikonur launch facilities -- they belong to Kazakhstan now. For over a decade Russia has been in a very bad economical and political situation. I mean -- US has an economical recession now and people scream bloody hell as NASDAQ falls below certain points. This is NOTHING compared to the situation in Russia, although things are looking much better than they did in the early nineties.
Don't forget, also, that we built a big part of the Alpha station -- and salaries for our engineers are incomparable to the ones at NASA.
I'd say that we should be DAMN proud of our history and of our achievements. And believe me -- you haven't heard the last of us yet. ;) (in a good sort of way, of course).
If you open yourself to the foo, You and foo become one.
The auction is an E-Bay classic - almost as good as when people put Elian up for auction (Descripton was something like "Surplus government property for sale, small boy, age 6, can tread water...". My favorite bidder tho is: this one.
==
Senior space official Nikolai Anfimov told reporters Russia had not had the means to pinpoint where Mir's remnants landed.
``We are hoping to get some observers' information and then we can analyze it,'' he said. Such information could come from Fiji and a U.S.-Russian group that flew two planes to the area.
South Pacific nations had been on standby in case chunks hit land instead of water. A fleet of 27 tuna boats fishing in the target zone was not hit by any debris, a spokeswoman for the fleet, Tana McHale, told Reuters from California.
``They didn't even get a decent light show,'' she said.
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
So, no free Taco then???
It was live on CNN, the altitude counter hit 0 at around 5:58 GMT
Tux Games. Your complete source for native Linux games.
That's not a meteor, it's a space station!
--
mrBlond
CowboyNeal for president!
"Hit any user to continue."
... it didn't kill Kenny?
main(i){putchar((1397178701>>(i/2+(i==3))*8)+(i/2
HEY!
---
This
Its nice when something in the space industry goes as well as this did. Unfortunately, hopes of free taco's have gone unfullfilled. If by some off chance you havent seen the video of it over Fiji yet, check it out. http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/03/23/mir.desce nt/index.html
Very cool stuff. Congratulations and condolences to everyone who helped to bring it down so successfully.
"Open the pod by doors, Hal" > "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave" sudo "Open the pod bay doors, Hal" > alright
There's one major reason why they don't send it out to space. It would cost too much in terms of fuel. It's a lot easier to slow the orbit so it falls to earth, than to escape the earth's gravity, when you're dealing with something that has as much mass as Mir. Also the thrust required may cause bits to drop off, adding to space junk threatening the ISS and anything else going into space.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
"Information wants to be paid"
Shouldn't that story title be "Mir: Rust in Pieces"?
--
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
To everyone making solemn remarks of taking the old wreck of a station out of its misery, remember 'mir' means peace. Finally the station has reached the state worthy of its name.
--
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Does anyone know if a piece hit the taco bell target ? Should I expect a cupon by mail ?
--=.=-- www.cyber2000.qc.ca
You know, I've got a whole bridge in San Fransisco that I'll sell you for less than that piece of Mir. I'll be posting it on eBay shortly...
My spoon is too big!
Good pic, I agree. But I can't help but wonder if it's turned upside down!
-- "On second thought, let's not go there. Camelot is a silly place."
Just need training in deep sea diving, rather than that space stuff.
Heh. I did the CMDRTACO_BIDS_A_MILLION one. i loved the "all your mir parts are belong to us".
Kalrand
-the voice of reason
thanks for noticing.
Kalrand
-the voice of reason
(ignore this text, im avoiding the lameness filter)
Kalrand
-the voice of reason
Let's think of this as the beginning of a new era of Russian achievement.
For a list of numbers take a look at http://www.todd.demon.co.uk/encyc/million.htm, which compares british and US usage.
it seems thought that today most people use the american billions (though this arguably is a less sensible system), but as long as we're not starting to quote pressures in psi or some equally silly unit i'm happy....
--
I've never heard of a death on the Mir. James Oberg has cataloged what is known about the several deaths of Russian cosmonauts here, and Mir isn't mentioned once.
I still do not see a need to deorbit a large vessel like MIRS (or ALPHA in 15 years). Why not pump it to a higher orbit and send towards MARS or the MOON. Where the interner space or at least the the materal would be of future use.
It's worth noting that the current high-bidder in the eBay auction linked above, "jsider22," has an "About Me" page on the auction site which lists Slashdot as one of his three favorite sites.
...proving once again that the idiots of the world are closer than you think.
crib
Please don't read my journal
Aren't those "wildebeests"? :)
This next song is very sad. Please clap along. -- Robin Zander
I say Taco Bell must provide proof that MIR missed the target. I want video footage showing MIR missing the target.
Pinky: What are we going to do tomorrow night Brain?
Pinky: "What are we going to do tomorrow night Brain?"
Brain: "I would tell you Pinky but this 120 char limi
I still remember the advice my father gave me: Never get in anything Russian-made with an airlock."
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
No, it missed!
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%46%55%43%4B !
Heh i wonder if there are any space shrooms still intact?? Quick! someone check them for psilocybe!
Hah. Maybe they were fake.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The REAL jabber has the user id: 13196
What you do today will cost you a day of your life
I think that's kinda what Taco Bell was going for, besides having the ignorant get their hopes up for a free taco..
end communication
Did it hit the Taco Bell mark and will every american get a free stomach-ache?
Sig (appended to the end of comments I post, 54 chars)
I never heard about the cosmonaut dying due to a fire in space - references, please?
Er... Well, y'know. You can't make an omelette without um... destroying a forest. Or something.
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
Er... Well, y'know. You can't make an omelette without um... destroying a forest. Or something.
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
Oh please, you are throwing around buzzwords like Jon Katz. I really do not think that because of what Taco Bell (Pepisco) did, more people are going to eat at Taco Bell. If anything, what Taco Bell did is more in homage to Mir than anything. I think the Russians are proud that they built a space station that lasted fifteen years, and probably could have lasted longer if they had had the money. I'd hope that they would recognize the global support for the Mir endeavor(sp?) including this name pitch by Taco Bell.
If anyone is being cynical here it is you in assuming that Taco Bell only did this for brand recognition and not as part brand recognition and part honoring the Russians.
And besides, there is nothing wrong with brand recognition. Many brands out there have that recognition because they are the best. I don't go to a restaurant and order a cola beverage when I want a Coke. I personally can't stand a lot of the generic cola beverages where I live.
Tired of sitting at that karma cap? Start a flame war today! See just how low you can go!
Well now Paco Rabanne's last chance to see his predictions come true have vanished in the Pacific. I want my money back for me lucky charms Paco!
É que os desafinados também têm um coração
"Mir, after successfully entering the earth athmosphere and crashing into the ocean has resurfaced and is on a direct collision course with Tokyo (which holds a patent on catastrophic dinosaur distruction)"
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Jon - TheSpork
One of my network servers is named Mir, others are named after the Apollo Lunar Landers (LEM's): i.e. Eagle, Intrepid, Aquarius, Antares, Falcon & Orion. Now all these spacecraft have something in common: They all did their jobs as they were designed and intended to do, some even went far above and beyond the call of duty (Aquarius and Mir). They all were intentionally discarded at the end of their missions. All my namesake servers are still on duty and running well, however ;-)
I guess I must be a true nerd, because as Mir was burning up in the atmosphere, I felt like crying.
Won't be able to say ..these 280 million tacos ought to provide adequate sustinence for the Dr. Who marathon...
Anybody want a peanut?
The auction for the piece of mir has now been hit up by a troll or two....
and also, someone has a sense of humor.....
so where did it land?
===sam=== free nessus vulnerability scan = www.vulnerabilities.org
> I think we can all agree Mir has been a disaster from day 1. Yeah ... and we can point the wonderfully successful space station programs run by other nations as .. Oh well, so much for that argument!
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& item=1126603700
9 minutes, a bolt, in Indiana. If he really thinks he has a piece of mir. . .
and..
The item you requested (1126537064) is invalid or no longer in our database. Please check the number and try again. If this message persists, the item has expired and is no longer available.
i guess someone at eBay caught on? or.. got sick of the stupid bids? :P either way, MIR fell east of NZ, not between Australia and NZ.
Hmmm... well if someone is using throw-away accounts... it wasn't me... Heh.. I never made the post to troll... but I'm glad someone thought it was insightfull :)...
Hmmm you should calm-down tho with your always questioning how things happen the way they do... I learned a long time ago that some things just undergo the phenomenon of *actually occuring*.
It is strange stuff... but there is no stopping it.
I am Jack's HTTP Server
If in 25 years Mir is mentioned along with a footnote to Taco Bell... then we (as Americans) have done a great evil.
I am Jack's HTTP Server
The space fungus, from what i have read was simply a earth based fungus, but because of the conditions, humid and warm and inclosed it was allowed to spread rapidly and rampently, allowing for a great enought mass of fungus to do damage, so perhaps you already have it growing in your back yard.
so i wake up this morning turn on the tv and cnn is reporting how Mir has just past over Japan and how the goverment was issuing warnings , and im eating my flakes, and they are building the tention up for over a hour, interviewing the guy who used to be the plumber back in 87 to the guy who makes Mir Comenarative underpants and sells them on e-bay , i stategically time a quick trip to work, run inside and turn back on there satalite , and what does the short little American from CNN say ? " looks like Mir is in the drink " thats it all the hype the coverage and they get Beavis to say it's in the drink , where where the pictures ? the religios cults chanting the end id night , the pieces of the station breaking up and taking out Japanese fishing trawlers causeing massive movie explosions, a space virus comming down and causing a fog of death over japan ? i mean talk about a let down , and why where there no pictures ? and how much sea life did that thing crashing down kill this morning ?
http://space.cnn.com@000321.000321.061.00000312/ne ws/mir.descent/index.html
Well at least they did not fuck up a simple conversion from meters to inches. DOOOOOOOOOOOH!
In 15 years shit is bound to happen on a pioneering space station designed to stay in orbit for 15 months and it is really amazing how well it went and how well the Russians dealt with it. Mir is arguably the greatest accomplishment in space so far greater than the Appollo missions and right up there with Hubble. Can you point to anyone who did better than Mir in the last 15 years with his space station? NASA perhaps? Oh... wait... Mir was the only Space Station in orbit after Skylab was scrapped. And darn it.. if it isn't the experiences with Mir that make the International Space Station possible in the first place! Dammn communists and their stupid ideas!
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
As I was driving to work this morning I was listening to the radio. St. Louis's morning radio show on 107.7FM is the "MJ and BJ show". These two schmucks were laughing about how they put up three online auctions that were totally bogus. I thought it was pretty funny until I realized that people thought that it was legit and were willing to pay +$2,000 for fake Mir pieces... oh well...
Some people think the MIR parts would immediately sink to the bottom of the ocean, well, think again. As we know from most airline-related sea crashes, parts may still be afloat after days, just waiting to be picked up by a radiation-not-fearing fisherman. I would suspect that large pieces of hull covered with insulation materials, pipes and more will stay floating. Although finding these pieces would be statistically impossible (like finding your car in a car park as big as the US) and more 'earth' debris will be floating around.
Now how much money do I got to bid at the scrap...
Uh oh! The russians broke the Mir! I guess that's 7 years bad luck for them!
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
Did anyone else notice that Yahoo's picture of the reentry is upside-down?
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/nm/20010323/ts/mdf2 6924.html
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
Baikonur is still largly under russian jurisdictions, despite the fact that it is being "rented" from Kazakhstan. Besides, Kazakhstan has no obvious need for it - it doesn't even plan a space program. Plus there are two more space launch sites in Russia, one is capable of manned launches.
I don't know what media says - I tend to ignore it. But this event gives me a sence of loss and sadness. Most of my concious life I lived with knowledge, that up there there is "Mir". Now it is gone and not much is left. I did not view it as a part of communist Russia, I view it as a proud achievement of russian people and "Mir. I'll go drown my sorrow in vodka (guess stereotypes were right).
Anyone else notice that cmdrtaco_bids_a_million was the high bidder for at least a moment on the mir pieces? Here's the current bid
In reading some articles and watching some of the news stories about MIR on TV it's become apparent that the Russians are looking upon this event as a solemn moment. With this being one of the few remnants of communist Russia, they view it as the end of the successful Russia, the Russia which rivaled the United States in it's space program. Being as I'm not Russian, I'm curious to see if there are any Russian slashdot readers that can confirm or shed some light on the mood in Russia. Part of me can see the logic behind what the media is saying but part of me sees some sensationalism as well.
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silence is poetry.
It should be said that the Russians have a few things that they're quite good at, and bringing large space components out of orbit and not destroying anything is one of them. Apparently they've done quite a few controlled re-entries with the ships they used to bring down Mir. Plus, from what I've read here and there, they've already taken down a space station or two in the same way. I for one am quite confident in the abilities of the Russians to drop massive things out of orbit and not hit large populated areas.
Of course, if they wanted to hit large populated areas I bet they could probably do that, too.
- Relativistic? That's barely Newtonian!
It appears Ebay has removed all the MIR remnants from their system.
How would one authenticate such a thing anyhow?
Some people have no damn sense of humor -- as of 16:30 PDT, the item has been pulled from eBay. I'm sure there will be more. (I'm sure people are making them in their garages even now.)
I'm the one responsible for All your Mir parts are belong to us. I figured, I see this phrase all the time and people auctioning MIR wreckage 25 minutes after splashdown are fakes. If you notice that one auction said that some fisherman picked up a 3 meter object? Splashdown was at 1 AM EST and this guy manages to haul a heavy piece of metal, call the states for some guy and have him post an auction all in 28 minutes? I also doubt that any sea captain would risk his ship and crew on falling debris. So I just took it upon myself to purge this faggotry.