NASA Deep Space 1 Mission Is Over

Ashran writes "The Nasa DS1 site has the blurb: 'With highly successful primary, extended, and hyperextended missions behind it, the Deep Space 1 mission is over. The spacecraft continues to function, but engineers held a bittersweet retirement party for the veteran explorer today. The guest of honor was, of course, unable to attend because of travel commitments.'"

Comments

I feel sad in a small way

[arkham6]

I was living in florida at the time it was launched, and myself and some friends of mine took an impromptu trip to go see the launch. It was a very cloudy morning, but man, even still it was an awsome experience. The light from the rocket was very bright, so much that you had to shield your eyes, and the sound, even from five miles away was so loud it shook your chest. If you ever get the chance to see a launch, go for it. It is worth seeing.

Maudlin'

[m_evanchik]

Reading that farewell brought to mind the first Star Trek movie, the one where a Voyager probe is recovered by an alien robot society and comes back to earth.

When Slashdot had the, "Which was the best Star Trek movie?" poll up recently, I thought they should have the put that first movie up for consideration. While it had it's failings, at least it didn't degenerate into the Space Westerns of the rest of the series.

With all the attention given to technical details of physic and engineering, with DS1, it was also human love and curiousity that ultimately drove it as much as its ion drive.

A year old notwithstanding

[Trane Francks]

In light of several posts made regarding several space-exploration-related articles in recent weeks, I thought this comment was particularly insightful:

Now with no further technology objectives and no further science objectives, there is not sufficient justification for keeping the spacecraft operating.

In the comments posted regarding the recent space-station article, for example, several posters alleged that NASA simply chooses to throw good money after bad. The italicized quote from the above-linked article indicates that just isn't reality. When the science for a particular project is complete and no further useful information can be gleaned, the project is abandoned.

This continues to give me hope for the space program. As much as the penny pinchers do have a say over things, the scientists still obviously manage to make good decisions and carry through with them.