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Japanese Shuttle Crashes in Sweden

Posted by michael on from the lawn-dart dept.

spacecomputer writes "Japanese delta wing space shuttle crashes in Sweden field during high speed test. Another setback for the Hope-X program."

32 comments

  1. Helping the Dems commit suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    If Republicans want to make sure President Bush is reelected next year the best thing they can do is to get online and contribute $20 - to Howard Dean's campaign . You think I'm joking?

    Dean's phenomenally successful fundraising efforts this past quarter have catapulted him into the top tier of Democratic candidates and make him a legitimate threat to win the nomination. Despite the best efforts of Bruce Reed, Al From, and other DLCers to snap the party out of its current bout of hysteria, a growing portion of the base is looking more and more content with getting on the Dean train and riding it straight over the cliff . Republicans should be happy to give them a shove.

    By contributing millions of dollars to Dean's campaign over the next few months, Republicans can ensure the good doctor stays at the top of the pack and has as loud a megaphone as possible. Another $7 million quarter and Dean will be well positioned to win Iowa and to spend whatever's necessary to beat Kerry in New Hampshire.

    Don't worry, helping Dean isn't going to hurt President Bush: he just scooped up $34 million in the last six weeks and is on track to raise something close to $200 million for his reelection bid. Besides, allocating a small percentage of resources to try and engineer the best possible match up in the general election is smart politics - just ask Gray Davis. And George Bush is no Gray Davis.

    Tossing a few million Dean's way to help propel him to the nomination will be money well spent: the guy is flat out unelectable. He was against the war, has no military or foreign policy experience and doesn't even know how many people are in the U.S Armed Forces. He's against tax cuts. He's sort of against the death penalty and sort of for gay marriage - though it's tough to tell because his positions continue to "evolve" and he doesn't offer direct answers.

    If the economy improves over the coming year - and the indications are that it's going to - Dean will be lucky to win Vermont in 2004. And after his recent appearance on Meet the Press, you'd have to consider George W. Bush to be the favorite in any debate.

    So I'm off to Howard Dean's website to chip in twenty beans. I suggest you do the same. Political parties only commit suicide every so often, and if the Dems have decided they're going to stick their head in the oven in 2004, I'm ready to pony up a few bucks for a chance to watch it happen.

    1. Re:Helping the Dems commit suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "If the economy improves over the coming year - and the indications are that it's going to - Dean will be lucky to win Vermont in 2004. And after his recent appearance on Meet the Press, you'd have to consider George W. Bush to be the favorite in any debate."

      I've heard Dean speak, and I've heard Bush speak. I wouldn't bet on Bush's handlers letting Bush debate the guy more than once.

  2. Pearl Harbor! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    In response to this unprovoked attack, look for Sweden to declare total war against Japan within a day.

    1. Re:Pearl Harbor! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      they do not stand a chance against mass naked child events.

  3. Why are they having trouble? by GuyMannDude · · Score: 4, Funny

    You'd think Japan would be the last place to be having trouble getting a large, heavy, stiff object to fly at great speeds. Can't they just study how Rodan does it?

    Next you'll be telling me they're having trouble demolishing buildings...

    GMD

    --
    watch this
    1. Re:Why are they having trouble? by Tumbleweed · · Score: 1

      I'm thinking it was Ghidra who knocked it out. Ghidra always was a pissy little bitch.

    2. Re:Why are they having trouble? by smithmc · · Score: 1

      You'd think Japan would be the last place to be having trouble getting a large, heavy, stiff object to fly at great speeds.

      Obviously they didn't put enough fake "Type-R" stickers on it.

      --
      Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
  4. Not that bad by womprat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It doesn't sound like that much of a setback. It was unmanned, crashed in a field because only one of three parachutes opened.
    And this quote: "From a scientific perspective, it was a success because we collected the data we were looking for."

    1. Re:Not that bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      It was "unmanned", but there were five Japanese on-board. You can't forget that the Japanese are a sneaky, subhuman race.

    2. Re:Not that bad by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Funny

      "It doesn't sound like that much of a setback. It was unmanned, crashed in a field because only one of three parachutes opened."

      Japanese scientists are insisting that no wing damage occured when Godzilla took a swipe at it.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    3. Re:Not that bad by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      And this quote: "From a scientific perspective, it was a success because we collected the data we were looking for."

      I'll have to remember that one.

      "Well Boss, I know it looks bad that we forgot to turn off Register_globals and let the whole world have access to our customers' credit card numbers and age, but from a scientific perspective....."

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  5. NUKE!!!!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Japan is going to get nuked for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  6. Did anybody else read the headline... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...and picture a sheep standing in the middle of a field wearing a surprised expression on it's face and a shuttle protruding from it's rear?

    1. Re:Did anybody else read the headline... by hengist · · Score: 1

      No. It crashed in Sweden, not New Zealand ;-)

    2. Re:Did anybody else read the headline... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      "No. It crashed in Sweden, not New Zealand ;-)"

      I didn't say it killed a man!

      =)

    3. Re:Did anybody else read the headline... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      The place where it crashed is inside a huge area in northern Sweden set off for rocket experiments. There are no sheep there, but probably quite a few reindeer. They launch rockets from this site (Esrange) many times a year, and they all fall back inside this area where the shuttle crashed (except for once or twice where a rocket missed and fell down over the border into Norway instead. But that area is pretty barren as well, not much chance of hitting anyone there either.)

  7. SWEDEN FIELD? by dl248 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I vote we get this poster some grammar lessons:

    "Sweden field" should obviously be "Swedish field".

    And if you actually read the article, the test was a success but the parachutes didn't deploy properly, resulting in some damage to the craft. The scientific data, however, was gathered successfully.

    1. Re:SWEDEN FIELD? by NanoGator · · Score: 0

      "I vote we get this poster some grammar lessons:"

      I vote that you worry about what he was said instead of how he phrased it.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    2. Re:SWEDEN FIELD? by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      "I vote that you worry about what he was said instead of how he phrased it."

      Too bad you were modded as overrated, I thought you made a good point. I probably have a different reason for not wanting to pick on people for grammar and spelling: people visit Slashdot from all over the world, not just the english speaking countries.

      If we're going to be so anal about how people speak english, then how can people just learning english participate? That's a pretty shitty way to discriminate against people expanding their ability to communicate.

    3. Re:SWEDEN FIELD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      If we're going to be so anal about how people speak english, then how can people just learning english participate? That's a pretty shitty way to discriminate against people expanding their ability to communicate.

      Right, and the best way for people to become better at speaking English and thereby "expand their ability to communicate" is for them not to be corrected when they make mistakes. Best to let them keep making mistakes until the mistakes become habits. Certainly, they shouldn't, as the original poster suggests, take grammar lessons. That would be crazy.

    4. Re:SWEDEN FIELD? by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "is for them not to be corrected when they make mistakes. Best to let them keep making mistakes until the mistakes become habits. Certainly, they shouldn't, as the original poster suggests, take grammar lessons. That would be crazy. "

      Rationalization Error:
      Insulting != Correcting.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    5. Re:SWEDEN FIELD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      being from a not english speaking country, I can tell you that it is very hard to understand texts with bad grammar or bad spelling.

  8. When I first read the headline... by Higman · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..I thought isn't Sweden a little far from Japan? Gave me the impression that the "high-speed" portion of the test was a success...

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    -- [insert sig here]
    1. Re:When I first read the headline... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure enohugh, Sweden and Japan is quite far apart. Problem is that those japanese guys also did take off in Sweden ...

    2. Re:When I first read the headline... by Apa · · Score: 1

      Yup, it sounds as if it (the shuttle) took of from Sweden. Most likely from Esrange in northernmost Sweden. And that's why it's neither strange nor very dramatic (no sheep for example) that it crashed in a field in Sweden. You see, Esrange is positioned in northern Sweden just because there are vast uninhabited fields where rockets can fall down without causing any problems.

  9. hmmm..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I bet their shuttle gets a lot better mileage than American shuttles do though. :)

  10. 1 in 3 (in five-minute plunge) by Muhammar · · Score: 0

    Tall blondes may participate in two more tests that had been planned

    --
    I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
  11. .8 mach is SLOW by Dolphinzilla · · Score: 2, Informative

    Just for reference an ancient Boeing 707 can do .85 mach or better.

  12. many jap planes did this in 1940's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    called kamikaze

  13. Japan and Sweden... by PHAEDRU5 · · Score: 1

    ...cooperating on the development of a space shuttle. Who would have thought it?

    I mean, I know that the Japanese have their F-2 and manufacture F-15s under license, while the Swedes have their Saab fighters.

    I'd just never thought about the two of them getting together and into the space race.

    Wow!

    --
    668: Neighbour of the Beast
    1. Re:Japan and Sweden... by w42w42 · · Score: 1

      Is it Japan and Sweden, or Japan and the EU? Or, is it Japan taking advantage of a contractor that happens to be from Sweden?

    2. Re:Japan and Sweden... by fredrik70 · · Score: 1

      Probably Japan just made use of esrange's facilities for launching the japanese test shuttle. Quite a good place to test things that are likely to crash, they got a 120 x 75 km large test area for things to crash in.

      --
      if (!signature) { throw std::runtime_error("No sig!"); }