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ISS Expedition 9 Crew Finally Returns to Earth
neutron_p writes "International Space Station Expedition 9 crewmembers, Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Science Officer Mike Fincke landed on target in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 8:36 p.m. EDT Saturday after 188 days in space."
That's almost as impressive as surviving a flight from New York to LA... in fact, I think they might even have been allowed a knife and fork for their inflight meal... ;)
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Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
Because he went up in a Soyuz capsule???
Jeroen
Secure messaging: http://quickmsg.vreeken.net/
First congradulations and glad you are back safe. However I am curious as to their state of health. Space has no gravity, and the environment provides little resistence for your muscles. I remember reading somewhere that your muscles literally waste away from lack of use in space. Since they spent a lengthy time up in space, how are they finding the adjustment to earth gravity again? Is this health issue a barrier to long space flight?
I guess it is good to be back. Now, they must get used to Earth again. I wonder if the 4 hours of exercise per day they must do in orbit is enough for them to walk on Earth without feeling exausted.
The Russians have been funding yours for two years.
You're funding the Russian space program because NASA is utterly incapabale of finding its own asshole, much less lauching rockets into space.
I know that you find this jarring to your "national pride", but fact is that your own space program is bankrupt and outdated by several decades. You don't have much choice here -- either pay us or stay at home on earth.
well.. maybe he would agree because he looked at the safety records and put 1 and 1 together.
sojuz works.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
They said that the new crew is getting ready for the first Shuttle visit since the accident. I'm glad the shuttle will be flying again.
OK, do you mean the same country that had racial divides and was involved in the Korean war and Vietnam and somehow found the time to send men on the Moon, invent the internet and perfect computers?
the 'free ipods' link is a scam and should be modded down
Unfortunately, your comment is 100% factually false.
Pls die thx.
However, if you meant to imply that the U.S. is some sort of pioneer in space and computer technology, then you are an complete idiot.
"At this point, the International Space Station (ISS) is just a photo opportunity for the press" Couldn't agree more - in an article yesterday in a UK broadsheet (might have been the Times, can't really remember) it stated "the new crew will be researching AIDS vaccine"...my immediate thought was that the crew would probably be a bit too busy trying to repair the station, and this was just an attempt to get Joe Public to believe the ISS was at the "cutting edge" of research...
Brazil launched its first successful rocket Saturday from their Alcantarao base in Maranhao. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3948531.stm The two stage rocket, VSB-30, reached a maximum height of 250 km Good to see their program getting back on its feet after last years disaster http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/brazil_failur e_030822.htm which killed 21 of their top people
Watashi wa chikyubutsurigakusha desu.
I would like to know if these guys did anything worthwhile other than float around and consume resources? I would love to see a comparison of the number of high impact journal papers (Science, Nature, Physics Review Letters...) produced by the Hubble telescope and the International Space Station.
The US could send Ken & Barbie to Mars. Have them driving around in a robot buggie flying an American flag with a "vote bush" bumper sticker, and the American public probably wouldn't notice the difference.
If you're talking about computer tech -- almost all of the pioneering technology has been developed in Britain. If we're talking about continental Europe, computer technology first appeared in Russia.
The U.S. is not even a player -- all U.S. so-called "technology" is basically cheap clones of British inventions. You were always second place.
I won't even comment on space tech; the U.S. has been playing catch-up for the last 60 years, and with time the disparity grows even larger.
P.S. I don't know about you, but I, personally, am typing away on a Taiwan-designed, China-produced machine. Seems like your slant-eyed neighbours are more successful than you at cloning British inventions.
So, I guess "real" cutting-edge of research is dreaming in your basement of Star Wars launching Americans to Mars. (Ignoring the fact that the U.S. has now lost any ability to launch something into orbit, nevermind going to Mars...)
Forget it, your space program is dead. It exists no more -- what's left is just a pale shadow busily providing an unending source of cickbacks for the Bush clan.
I was following the story of the malfunctioning oxygen generator, and how the ISS crew was working around it by using up the reserve O2 supply. Then, the story fell out of sight.
Did they ever fix it? Or at least discover why it wasn't working? Dunno 'bout you, but I'd sure feel less than safe going to a station with low reserves and no working air supply. I'd hate to be there, depending on NASA getting their act together for a replacement generator for my survival.
Lemon curry?
EXACTLY! Well, almost. Let's support those nations that will give something back one day. They are everywhere. I always wonder, why the hell don't we sink all that money into Mexico or S.Amer? China was not set up for quality manufacturing... we set them up with our technology (thanks, Clinton). Why didn't we pour that into a nation that would actually reciprocate? And still we have not learned our lesson.
But I disagree... Taiwanese cannot be included with the generic "Chinese" label. Yes, some Taiwanese are brainwashed and support China (or they came from there originally), but a great many of them would sooner lay with a dog than someone from China, my girlfriend included. (Yes, she is real. No, I'm not the dog) I admit though, the "cheat-or-be-cheated" attitude of Chinese culture is seeping out of their borders and infecting places like Taiwan too.
10% of Taiwan supports Westernization. The other 90% supports all the interests of mainland China. The Taiwanese are scum. Ditto for the Koreans.