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The Last Atlas 2 Rocket Launch

Fiz Ocelot writes "Reuters reports that the last Atlas 2 rocket was launched on Tuesday. The rocket was the last to launch the old-fashioned way. For this launch, the 120-member team was inside a blockhouse 1,400 feet from the launch pad. It was also the end of an era dating back to the 1950s, when most rockets, including early manned flights, were launched from concrete blockhouses adjacent to the pads."

10 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. eh hem.... by maxdamage · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The rocket's secret payload belonged to the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the U.S. network of orbiting spy satellites."

    umm...

  2. Yes...but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does it run Linux?

  3. I love that... by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 3, Funny

    "national security satellite." Here's hoping this is the replacement for the one(s) that were used to "discover" Saddam's WMD...

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    1. Re:I love that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Meh. Who needs a satellite when they have Photoshop?

  4. Re:Replacement? by Soko · · Score: 5, Funny

    From TFA:

    The Atlas 2 is giving way to the Atlas 5, a more versatile and less expensive rocket that is in contention with the new Boeing Co Delta 4 and other systems to become the primary launch vehicle for NASA's new moon program, which is scheduled to fly in the next decade.

    Slashdot - the only place you can look like a genius just by reading, and then understanding, the whole freaking article. :P

    Soko

    --
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  5. Re:Replacement? by britneys+9th+husband · · Score: 3, Funny

    What about the Atlas 3 and the Atlas 4? Did these guys take counting lessons from the RIAA?

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  6. Re:Replacement? by Vess+V. · · Score: 4, Funny

    You mean Llamasoft?

  7. Re:Replacement? by FlipmodePlaya · · Score: 5, Funny

    You mean Fibonacci?

  8. Knowing this administration... by Black+Art · · Score: 3, Funny

    They will replace the Atlas rocket with the Estes rocket.

    Looks about the same as long as you don't look close and lack depth perception.

    --
    "Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
  9. Re:Missile house by mrchaotica · · Score: 3, Funny
    from the linked site:
    Very few of these first generation missile sites were built. All other sites decommissioned after 1965 are being destroyed to conform to international treaty agreements. No more structures of this size and strength are being built.
    Stupid G#&-D@#! F#*$!@& international treaties! Always foiling my plans!

    (Actually, I really would like to own a missle silo)
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