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T-43 Hours and Counting
An anonymous reader submits "As seen on NASA TV, for the first time in over two years, the countdown clock has started at 6:00 PM EDT for the Wednesday 3:51 PM EDT launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on the first of the return to flight test flights. The launch is not for certain due to weather issues associated with hurricane Dennis. Currently it is estimated for a 70% chance of launch on Wednesday, with the chances lowering later in the week. If you are confused on how T-43 hours equals almost 3 days, perhaps you should read Countdown 101."
NASA TV certainly has come a long way since the days of CUSeeMe rooms. Anyone remember those?
Where you have short periods of time that somehow extend to 2-5x as long as they're 'supposed to', because of all the time stoppage in the middle!
Maybe NASA is leasing their timer from the NFL where the last several minutes really takes a half hour.
I am NOT putting my signature in this stupid little box! How do I know you won't steal my identity???
Worlds grow old and suns grow cold
And death we never can doubt.
Time's cold wind, wailing down the past,
Reminds us that all flesh is grass
And history's lamps blow out.
But the Eagle has landed; tell your children when.
Time won't drive us down to dust again.
Cycles turn while the far stars burn,
And people and planets age.
Life's crown passes to younger lands,
Time brushes dust of hope from his hands
And turns another page.
Yet the Eagle has landed; tell your children when.
Time won't drive us down to dust again.
But we who feel the weight of the wheel
When winter falls over our world
Can hope for tomorrow and raise our eyes
To a silver moon in the opened skies
And a single flag unfurled.
For the Eagle has landed; tell your children when.
Time won't drive us down to dust again.
We know well what Life can tell:
If you would not perish, then grow.
And today our fragile flesh and steel
Have laid our hands on a vaster wheel
With all of the stars to know
That the Eagle has landed; tell your children when.
Time won't drive us down to dust again.
From all who tried out of history's tide,
Salute for the team that won.
And the old Earth smiles at her children's reach,
The wave that carried us up the beach
To reach for the shining sun.
And the Eagle has landed; tell your children when.
Time won't drive us down to dust again
I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
Since we've got a Shuttle launch post here on slashdot, i think its time to show you the Cheshire Catalyst's Space/Launch stuff that pertains to this. FAQ: http://space.launch.info/faq.html Launch Schedule: http://space.launch.info/launch.html He also has a page about "How to become an astronaut" Enjoy The Info! 73 DE KI4GMB
What the "T" in "T Minus bla bla" means? Not knowing has always bugged me.
What the hell is wrong with your priorities? It's ok if people die if it causes an increase in a budget item?
Why don't you just start advocating killing seniors? All that saved medicare money might buy anther probe!
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
And, um, let's see.
Exactly how much did the NASA budget for unmanned probes increase by after the columbia disaster?
Hmm.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
People die every day. Lots of them. If 7 more deaths means that *real* science can get more money, then I'm all for it.
Especially if that *real* science can do things like find other planets sutable for humanity.
Face it, we need to get to the planets and other stars. This "circle the earth" shit just isn't cutting it.
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
And this is why people like you, dont run the country.
"If 7 more deaths means that *real* science can get more money, then I'm all for it."
I'm a "real" scientist (chemist), and I never should want anyone to have to die because of my work.
Excuse me, were you one of the Challenger managers who told the engineers to quit whining and launch or how do you justify saying such crap? Getting an increase in the budget for unmanned probes is not worth the loss of human life. Yes, the unmanned missions should get more funding, but the argument ends there. Don't go tossing in the "it would serve NASA right" garbage. I could almost accept if you said something along the lines of "I wish NASA would look at what they had to go through to get this far and realize what a waste the shuttle is," except for the fact that they already have looked at it and realized it. That's why the shuttle is being retired as soon as the ISS is done. It would be sooner, but too much has been invested in the ISS to have it's completion pushed back another 5-10 years while the remaining launches get redesigned or repackaged to fit on Delta or Atlas rockets.
Frankly, I feel the manned portion of the program could use more funding, too, but only after it has a clearer sense of direction than "let's go to the moon again." Human beings in space create a much fuller sense of purpose and accomplishment than robots, as well as some unique scientific opportunities.
Linkeh.
Information about tuning in to NASA TV can be found here as well.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Is no one else surprised that they are possibly launching this mission on a 13th? I know that there is no real reason to the bad luck that NASA has had with that number, but I wonder about the possible affects of people on the project worrying about bad luck, and that causing a problem?
A self-fulfilling bad luck prophecy, something going wrong because they are worried about bad luck?
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
Tell you what then, kill yourself and I will donate a thousand dollars to the science project of your choice. I bet we could get some more people on here to kick in too. Could be a real windfall for some deserving program- think about it - and it only requires one death, not seven!
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
Basically, its come to somewhere nearby, and watch. If you dont want to spend a whole lot of time or money, i suggest Titusville (where I live) This place is right across the Indian River Lagoon from the Island NASA is on. There are many parks, and space-related memorial sites to view the launch from. While you're here, you can also visit the Space Museum, and take a trip out to the KSC Visitor's Center for a day. 73 DE KI4GMB
I believe you have to request a (free) pass ahead of time. 3 days might be cutting it a little short - I know that most night launches are 'sold out' well in advance. The NASA site should have all the info you need on requesting a pass.
I was given a pass from a friend who lived in Titusville at the time, back in 91 or 92. It was awesome watching the launch. Even from several miles away where you are allowed to be, the ground shook and the air crackled.
c.
drink beer, and let the water run the mill
One of those suggestions was an intelligent, well reasoned, well thought out proposal for improving humanity. The other was just silly! Where is he going to find a job?
I'll get started on the robots.
T-19 hours and holding This built-in hold typically lasts four hours. * Demate the orbiter's midbody umbilical unit I don't have any idea what this means, but it sounds really sexy. yb.
drink beer, and let the water run the mill
Assistant: Sir, the TV ratings for the launch are the highest in ten years.
Everyone: Yay!
Controller: And how's the spacecraft doing?
Assistant: I dunno. All this equipment is just used to measure TV ratings.
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
Strange, at nasa's nasatv page they list links for flash, realplayer, wmp, and quicktime. I can't see any use for the quicktime, as the nasatv appears to only be on realplayer and wmp. Is there really a quicktime link buried somewhere, or is that quicktime download link irrelevent?
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
You sir, have set a new low.
Wait, so, T minus 43 hours is NOT in fact 43 hours before the launch. May I ask WTF? Dude, I've got this crazy idea, I know it's radical, just follow me here!
Let's have a countdown. Right? Only it shows the actual time until countdown. Crazy right? A timer that gives useful information?
And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be bannana-shaped.
"Clear the blast danger area of all nonessential personnel" What kind of flight plan is that? Shouldn't they leave the nonessential people in the blast danger area, and the essential people get to spare their lives???
Can we stay at your place? Do you have spare beds? Does your Mom make good tuna salad?
How we know is more important than what we know.
There's a tropical system currently at about 42W and south of 18N that some of the models forecast to be a threat to Florida later this week.
Specifically, the Canadian models have it crossing Florida from the Atlantic side and going into the Gulf.
To have ambition was my ambition.
Well in a lot of ways NASA's manned space program is a jobs program and without it there might a lot of homeless aerospace engineers(all the ones not willing to get a top secret clearance and work for the DOD on antimissile defense). The only problem with it as a jobs program for the potentially homeless is the efficiency of the charity is horrendous.
You know its a jobs program because in a recent article on the new adminstrator and his attempts to get NASA redirected towards something that isn't a dead end like the Shuttle and the ISS, there were several blurbs about how Congressman wouldn't stand for any budget cutting during the transition to CEV that meant lost jobs in any of their states/districts. The implication being NASA has to keep both its civil servant and Boeing/Lockheed contractor army at the same levels from now to eternity. That means NASA will continue to pour billions of dollars a year in to supporting this jobs program, whether there is real work or not, and it will drain funding away from actually building new launch vehicles. Also if you keep the staffing levels the same as now when CEV starts launching the launch costs are going to astronomical too.
Unfortunately since the beginning, NASA and its contractor horde were spread across the nation so congressman would give them money and political support because it resulted in jobs in their states and districts. It was OK during the Apollo era because funding was vast and they had a purpose. Over the years the funding dwindled, and the sense of purpose disappeared. It became a jobs program instead of an organization pushing back frontiers. It resulted in the ISS in particular, a 100 billion dollar hole in space which has no useful purpose other than it created high tech jobs, kept aerospace engineers in the U.S and Russia employed, and made Boeing, Lockheed etc. a lot of money for very little.
You want to fix NASA's manned space program can everyon civil servant and contractor and start over and implement Kelly Johnson's 14 rules(he built the SR-71 and U2 and the Skunkworks) in particular:
Rule No. 3
The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people (10 percent to 25 percent compared to the so-called normal systems).
Basicly fire all the civil servants and all the contractors and start over. Put everyone in one place, and put someone in charge that can do more with less instead of less with more. Burt Rutan would be a great counterpart for Kelly Johnson though he would have to be completely freed of all the politics and bureaucracy that is strangling NASA. There are lots of people in the Russian Space Agency who would also be great for the nucleus of an all new manned space program. Of course they are already doing Kliper and it sounds like there is a chance Europe will team with them on it and kiss NASA off. The RSA is already building mockups of Kliper, while NASA is just pushing piles of paper from point A to point B on CEV.
You know the manned space program is fixed when Johnson is closed. It was insane to put a 1000 miles between the launch site and mission control just because LBJ wanted to give his home state jobs, see, a jobs program again. The bad communication between Johnson and Kennedy was a leading contributor to both shuttle disasters.
@de_machina
"we're at T-20 minutes and holding, we'll be back after these messages"
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
Here's a quick nitpick about the linked Countdown 101 from the summary - the clock in the picture reads +00:00:05, yet the caption says it was taken "before a Space Shuttle launch."
:)
I enjoy bloopers, and hopefully somebody else will too.
Sheesh, no wonder every time you guys get something from a foreign provider you always screw up the conversion... it's bad enough you have feet instead of meters, gallons instead of liters..... but, come on man, you guys just have to have your own special, unique number of hours in 3 days?!? It was all fine and good that you started spelling things differently after the War of Independance, but that's just wrong!
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
I live in Tampa and the wife and I are thinking of taking our baby to see the launch. How early do you need to arrive?
Oh, and yes, some of us here at slashdot have spouses and even (gasp) offspring!
(sarcastic comment overload)
You lucky americans! Up here in Canada, I'll have to fallback to that damn Windows Media stream :(
Oh well, at least we have good beer!
However, many eminent scholars have various informed opinions as to what it stands for:
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
You know that someone has either done too much cociane, is stupid, or has read too much Rand when they try to apply a theory made up in an ideal situation to a real world on going issue. Challenger was caused by an Senile republican, and Columbia was caused by multiple failures and basic design flaws. Neither of these were distance related.
First, we do not live in a world where distance matters. Even in 1960 distance did not matter that much. Yes JSC is in houston becuase of LBJ, but if it weren't in houston, it would be somewhere else nearly equally far away.
I can generally tell that people are clueless about spaceflight, and real world events in general, when they complain about the locations of the space centers. KSC is where it is because it is the most southern part of the US. This allows us to save a bit of fuel on launch. It is not a good location for many other things due it exposure to threats, both natural and man made. If everything was in one place, a single bomb could take out everything. JSC is stout set of buidling that can work even in dangerous weather.
Furthermore, no practical politician is going to build that much money into one location. It would make the economy too dependent on the government teat. Just look at the communities that have dependencies on the dole created by the military bases.
And, as mentioned, distance is not that much of an issues. Even in the 60's we had these high tech things called telephones and aeroplanes. This allowed us to have the launch facilities in a very good location, and mission control in much more protected locations, and other centers in other locations to maximize the availablity of resources.
It is not the ideal solution, but no real world solution is. It is better than some commercial solutions, which carry the launch vehicle to sea, or launch from the texas desert, which means that we are going to have a fully fueled aircraft exploding, dropping burning peices and combustables from Dallas to Atlanta, instead of over the ocean.
As I have mentioned before, the private commercial sector has done little more that the Soviets did over 40 years ago. While your points are somewhat valid, they hav not produced an infrasture to send people to space, merely LEO, which can really be done with a hot air ballon.
I believe that the private sector can do, and will do it, in the next 10 years. But look at the ineffeciencies and waste in any large corporations. It matches or exceed governments. The same will be true for space travel.
And, btw, without government handouts we would have very little industry. Some of these handouts lasted a long time. The government funding of the taking of land from the native americans, and the giving of land to the new immigrants. The government handout of land to the railroads. The government handout of spectrum. The government support of the early airlines through the air mail. NASA is a government handout, one that is going to pay off when the private sector gets off it's ass and startes investing. Now, thanks to the dot com bubble, there is enough money to so do.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
T- stands for "Time minus". "Time" is when the main event occurs (the shuttle liftoff). All other times are specified as relative to this event. Thus, T minus 3 minutes is (theoretically) three minutes before the shuttle lifts off, and T plus 6 hours is 6 hours after the shuttle lifts off. The military uses this convention for operations too (e.g. D-Day plus 6 is 6 days after D-Day). This system is good because it allows things to be scheduled without knowing exactly when the main event is going to occur (the launch could be delayed by weather, etc).
The system isn't perfect though, which is why you have "holds" for some things. These "holds" allow time for activities whose duration is really difficult to predict.
T stands for "Time Until Launch". Check out http://space.launch.info/countdown.html for a nice overview about a launch countdown.
You've obviously never worked on explosives then.
There's this thing called "weather", you might have heard of it.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Actually I worked with a bunch of meteorologists.
Anytime you see "70% chance of rain" it means that of all the noted times that similar weather conditions occurred, 70% of those times the weather conditions resulted in rain.
"It's a very tangled subsystem." --Windows kernel guru
It is the destiny of the US to lead the exploration of space. Whether you like it or not, Congress will see to it that this is always true. If China, Japan, ESA, etc. ever appear to be surpassing us in space technology, there will be a boost to NASA's budget so that we don't loose national prestige. Accept it. Robotic spacecraft will supplement human spaceflight, but never replace it.
Heh heh, perhaps the supporter of the mighty empire should learn to spell 'lose' : ) Perhaps the US will lead space exploration in the next few centuries, but all the evidence points to China, India and an expanded EU being the economic growth areas in the next century, and thus the technological leaders. To be blunt though, who cares? Why all the jingoism? Personally I hope we get over personal rivalries and all contribute a little more together to complementary efforts (not using the ISS as an example : ).
Re Robotic versus human space-flight, while you are correct to point out that humans *prefer* to see other humans exploring, it may be that robots are our first emissaries to the stars for more practical reasons.
They are after all eminently suited to the long periods of boredom and repetitive tasks such trips would entail. The only problem they currently have is reproduction/repairs, but we probably will create robots who can create copies of themselves given the right workshops to do it, at which point they're just as useful as humans, and more reliable, though not as flexible in unforseen situations.
The shuttle is really just a drain on NASA's resources now and is clearly not the future of space-flight, however it's impossible to cancel because of national pride. It's just helping to contribute to the huge US deficit.