Endeavour to Launch with Heightened Security

PyroMosh writes: "Well, NASA is scheduled to launch STS-108 today at 7:41 PM EST (0041 GMT). This will be the first shuttle launch following the events of September 11. As such, security is tighter than ever. There will be no public / press farewell to the astronauts as they leave for the pad. The FAA has NOTAMs covering the new airspace restrictions around Cape Canaveral. CNN is reporting that the Air Force has fighters flying Combat Air Patrol and roads and waterways on the surface will be tightly restricted. Also, Endeavour will be carrying nearly 6000 flags, which will be given to families of 9/11 victims, and organizations that helped in the aftermath. It's such a shame. I just moved to FL, and I've never seen a launch. I've seen two landings, including Endeavour's maiden voyage, so I was looking forward to this. I was in NJ on 9/11 and it hit close to home, now it's like the terrorists have taken one more thing from us. I may not be as close as I'd like to be (read: onboard), but I'll be watching anyway. Good luck, Endeavour."

Comments

It's a good thing...

[imrdkl]

that you can see the launch from so far away... it's a spectacular sight. Everyone should see at least one launch.

Sigh, this is another great American spectacle curtailed for the sake of our "safety". First fair trials, now this, whats next? Elections?

Re:It's a good thing...

[talesout]

(This may be slightly off-topic, so sue me.)

Have you noticed how quickly our administration jumped at the chance to start ripping away our freedoms after the 9/11 attacks? Everywhere you turn you hear another government official screaming that we must protect our freedom at all costs. Yet, as soon as they step off the podium they go vote another freedom destroying bill into law. I knew the government was paranoid, but I really thought they at least had the slightest bit of common sense left.

I fear the future more than ever. Not because of the possibility of attacks that come from without, but because of the obvious attacks that now come every single day, from within. We are in some serious trouble here. And no one seems willing to do anything about it. Support the government? Not as long as they keep fucking with us and our freedoms. And to do so in the name of "freedom everywhere" is the hieghth of hypocracy. We need new leadership. We need leadership that actually cares about the people. Hell, we need people that actually care about themselves. Oh lord, what a mess.

Re:It's a good thing...

[imrdkl]

Er, K5? Enlighten us newbies?

Launch Postponed

[PxT]

Launch has been postponed for approx. 24 hours due to problems with a Russian ship docking with the ISS (which is also the shuttle's destination. Yahoo News story here: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011129/ts/space_ shuttle_dc_6.html

Unlike most of the other security measures...

[Winged Cat]

...this is actually justified, IMO. The shuttle really is a high-visibility target with lots of national pride attached.

Would it be too unusual to wonder just how a terrorist could attack something like that, though? I mean, once it gets off the ground, it'll be able to outrace any missile, and crashing another plane into it is just about impossible too. Sneaking a bomb onboard would seem difficult at best, and it might not be able to ignite the fuel (one of the few ways to completely blow up the shuttle) since the main engines' fuel requires two components to ignite...unless maybe on a RC plane piloted up one of the solid booster's exhausts, igniting said booster prematurely.

...I hope that wasn't prescient.

Re:Unlike most of the other security measures...

[Yazeran]

Well it would not be that difficoult to hit the Space Shuttle with something that could destroy it.

Imagine what a hand held SAM would do to it. If i belive correctly, the Stinger has an effective range of 10 km and a top speed of mach 2. Just aim it at the fuel tank or one of the solid boosters.. The Space Shuttle fuel tank and the booster rockets are not that heavily armoured, as they have to be light, and a small hole in either the hydrogen tank or the oxygen tank may be catastrophic. Similarly with the solid boosters. thay are basically slow exploding bombs, as the fuel can detonate.

You only have to hit it before it reaches mach as it would otherwise be albe to outrun any missile as you say. But at the point where it reaches mack one is also at a rather high altitude, so the range problem would be there anyway.

Therefore i think it is a good thing that they has upgraded the security arround the launch. Remember that the terrorists may have russian or US SAM's at their hands for rapid use, and they may be in the US or Europe already.

Yours Yazeran

Plan: To go to Mars one day with a hammer

Re:Unlike most of the other security measures...

[caffeinated_bunsen]

You could also sit 3 miles away with a scoped .50 BMG rifle (available at your local gun show for under $3000) and put a half-inch hole in the liquid hydrogen tank just before the engines ignite. It looks like the ground restrictions are sufficient to make that impossible this time though.

I have to agree that this is a sensible move. At least watching shuttle launches isn't a constitutional right, like habeas corpus or public trials used to be.

Re:It's a good thing...(COMPLETELY OFF-TOPIC)

[talesout]

Kuro5hin.org

K5 has a lot of ex-slashdotters and a few others that hang out there. It's actually a very cool alternative to Slashdot. It's also amazingly funny to watch slashtrolls turn into semi-respectable netizens when they start an account there thinking they can "troll K5". It never seems to work out that way. K5 has a way of either beating a troll about the head and shoulders until they submit, or just flat out making them feel so welcome that the trolling doesn't pay off.

Anyway, it should be back next week. Come check it out sometime. Most people that do end up really liking it.