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Shuttle Discovery Lifts Off
An anonymous reader writes "CNN is reporting that the Space Shuttle Discovery has lifted off, marking the United States' returned to manned space flight for the first time since the Columbia disaster in February 2003"
I'm guessing they'll be doing maintenance and repairs to the space station? How many missions before they get back to doing scientific research?
Sorry to rain on the parade, but why exactly am I supposed to be excited about this?
I remember being excited back in 1981 when Columbia first launched. Oh man. I was an eight-year-old boy, and I sat in awe in front of my TV set as Columbia rose into the sky.
But it's 2005. I'm thirty-three years old. I see grey hair when I look in the mirror. I have a son of my own. Sorry, but I just don't give a toss about Columbia taking off, again, and orbiting the Earth, again.
The whole Universe is out there, and rolling a vehicle built in the 1970s out of the garage and driving it around the block a few times is supposed to be exciting? I'm supposed to call it exploration?
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PGP Key ID 0xCB8FF658
The sensor is the part of the VALVE that failed. Making the valve fail.
Read your post again to yourself. NASA would only launch if the sensor works, or it failed reproducably. Neither of those conditions occurred, yet they launched. There are indeed redundant sensors in the Shuttle - for a reason. NASA doesn't add any "extra" weight or complexity, when they design properly. That redundant sensor is necessary, as you yourself stated. Without reproducability, how does NASA know it won't fail in space? How do they know the other redundant backup sensors won't fail? They don't. But maximizing the media schedule window they created for this launch is PRIORITY #1. So they're willing to risk the launch, the mission, the astronauts, NASA itself, on being ready for their closeup - even if they're not ready.
And their media priority is working: they've even got NASA boosters like you defending their cavalier regard to safety failures, even while you point out exactly why they shouldn't.
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make install -not war
Boring! You should've seen some of the launches back in the good ol' days. They really put on an amazing show, with massive explosions and everything. This thing just had a boring, unchanging tail of fire trailing behind it. Nothing interesting happened at all. No plot; no character development; nothing.
The RIAA is always complaining about piracy hurting sales, but if this is the best blockbuster they can come up with using that billion dollar budget, then I have no sympathy for their plight. Now I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in the cinema.
Not acceptable. I'm not willing to settle for the same "exploration" we had 25 years ago. It's not sufficient.
Yeah, it's exciting for little kids, that's great and all. What about my generation, whose dreams of colonizing space are now dead?
Sorry, NASA totally fails to inspire me anymore.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Because you're gay.
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make install -not war