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Shuttle Launch Postponed To July 4th

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the very-patriotic dept.

mkosmo writes "NASA has yet again delayed Space Shuttle Discovery from launching due to growing weather conditions. Next launch attempt is the afternoon of the 4th of July." From the article: "Windows of opportunity are determined by the path of the orbiting international space station, the shuttle's destination. With each passing day, the time for a launch gets earlier by 22-1/2 minutes. That could be good news for NASA because summer thunderstorms are less likely to be a problem earlier in the day."

8 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. In Soviet USA, Shuttles launch you? by apathy+maybe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I find it funny that the Russians pick a date and launch on that date, but the Yanks pick a date and launch 5 weeks later. The USA worries too much about wind and rain, sure a hurricane might upset the launch, but a bit of rain? It is a massive thing the shuttle. Does anyone know how many deaths the Russian (and USSR) space program has had? Is that more or less then the USA one?

    --
    I wank in the shower.
    1. Re:In Soviet USA, Shuttles launch you? by Ruie · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Another interesting tidbit that you might not know, is that Soviets never made their own ballpoint pens - they had quality issues with the size of the small metal ball that goes into one.

      Instead, the balls were manufactured in East Germany (which was under communists not as long as Russia).

      Even then, one sometimes had to file away a little metal at the end of the tube so it does not scratch paper when writing. This got resolved with time - either they fixed the process or (just as likely) switched to imports.

    2. Re:In Soviet USA, Shuttles launch you? by Jeremi · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Every person at NASA feels like they're sending their children into space. If the conditions aren't PERFECT, they'll stop the countdown.


      Or at least when they try to stop the countdown and management refuses to do so, they'll resign in protest...

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    3. Re:In Soviet USA, Shuttles launch you? by AJWM · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The Russians have also been known to launch in the middle of a blizzard.

      That's one thing that basing your launchers on ICBM technology gets you. After all, if it comes down to it, you can't hold up your ICBM launches for a little inclement weather.

      Designing a vehicle with a safe abort mode in all phases of flight would help too (think "commercial aircraft") -- but vertical takeoff/horizontal landing just doesn't do it, and especially not when you've got SRBs that have to burn for two full minutes once lit -- and you can't separate them (or from them) while burning.

      --
      -- Alastair
  2. Re:So by cooley · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The "space program" doesn't end in 2010, the "shuttle program" is scheduled to be over in 2010. Folks are working on other vehicles to take over. Also yes, other countries (Russia) can make trips to the ISS also.

    Of course, the shuttle can take a much, much larger payload than anything else currently available (I think).

    --
    Just then the floating disembodied head of Colonel Sanders started yelling Everything You Know Is Wrong!-Weird Al
  3. I imagine the weather is a bit different... by ChePibe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As someone who grew up in Florida, I can attest to the fact that random, intense thunderstorms occur practically everyday in the summer. It's amazing to watch. One moment, all looks well outside. The next, gloomy and overcast. Then, it appears that the very wrath of God has come down upon you - these are serious storms with very strong gusts, lots of lightning, heavy rains, and a bit of hail from time to time. Thirty minutes later, the storm ends, the sun comes out, and it's all good and fine - only even more humid. It's fairly unpredictable. This is why native Floridians don't take Tropical Storms all that seriously - they leave through miniature versions of them frequently in the summer, and they know how to handle them. It's the snowbirds that freak out.

    I imagine weather patterns in Florida are a lot more difficult to predict than they are at Russian launch sites.

  4. Re:Tempting Fate by Chris+Daniel · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The way I look at it, the more rockets you launch in one afternoon that explode, the less likely the shuttle will go boom. That's how probability works, right? Right, guys? Guys?

    --
    Don't blame me -- I voted for Roslin.
  5. lightning is the problem .. Re:In Soviet USA .. by rs232 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Shuttle has to worry about rain because .."

    It isn't rain but lightning that is the problem. The column of ionized gases ejected from a vehicle in assent is highly conductive and makes for a very good earth. Apollo 12 was hit twice in just such an incident. The strike affected the parachute deployment system among other things. They didn't know for sure if it would actually work until the final moments of the descent.

    --
    davecb5620@gmail.com