Safe Landing For Space Shuttle Discovery

dylanduck writes "Discovery is back safe and sound, despite minor problems with a leaky power unit and a last minute change of approach direction to the runway. The mission tested some post-Columbia safety changes, and also set up the space station for future construction. But in some ways, the tough job starts now - NASA has just 40 days or so to get Atlantis up."

Comments

Nice

[9x320]

I can't wait for the next mission.

Good news indeed

[Quasar1999]

It is good news that nothing major went wrong... but somehow lately when I hear of the space shuttle making a journey, I'm reminded of my first car... towards the end of its life, I was quite happy as well to make a long road trip without major problems... But unlike with Nasa, that didn't mean I was eager to go on a long road trip again, just because I got lucky... I knew not to trust push my luck...

Re:Good news indeed

[mrxak]

A 2% failure rate is to be expected, and that's what we've got. Right now they're being over-cautious and it's slowing up everything the Shuttle was supposed to do. Space exploration is dangerous. We can't let a couple of accidents throw away everything we've worked for. But I am looking forward to a new vehicle, that is for sure. I just hope we don't stop the Shuttle missions before any new vehicle is ready.

Re:Good news indeed

[MindStalker]

Technically the shuttles get repaired so extensively at each launch that they are as safe today as they were 20 years ago. That of course is the problem, they weren't safe 20 years age we just didn't know the extent of the problems and didn't have any other choice.

Re:Good news indeed

[BodhiCat]

The media tends to concentrate on problems with the Shuttle, but we forget that there have been minor problems and glitches with any of the prevous manned space programs. We hear about the missions where they had major problems, such as Apollo 13, but even John Glenn (The first American to orbit the earth) had a problem with his heat shield which could have prevented a safe reenty. What makes for a good space program is not that everything goes perfect, nothing ever does (ask Mr. Murphy), but how mission control handles problems as the crop up. The same could be said for any technological undertaking. A good programmer is not one who writes a program without bugs, but one who is able to find them and make the corrections before they cause larger problems.

Re:Good news indeed

[kabdib]

"Space exploration is dangerous"

Put on roller-skates, all your winter clothing, welding goggles, motorcycle helmet, then strap on fifty pound bags of cement until you can barely walk, and crossing the street is dangerous.

While I have a great deal of respect for the people who fly the thing -- astronauts, controllers, all -- the shuttle is a set of fatal compromises driven by budget and politics. The shuttle has done more to hold space travel back than any other spaceflight program. It needs to go.

I'm hoping for a dropped wrench in the VAB -- no lives lost, but we lose another shuttle to something mildly spectacular. That would put a thankful end to the program, whereupon we could start spending the money where it counts: Unmanned programs, and launch vehicles that don't suck.

(I used to be a big shuttle fan until I realized how much it was costing us).

Re:Good news indeed

[voice_of_all_reason]

Somehow, I don't think I thought my cunning plan all the way through.

Shuttle is successful

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a perfect example that STS program has fulfilled expectations placed on it. Astronauts are now able to go to low earth orbit, take pictures of the shuttle and land it safely.

Oh? The scientific experiments? We forgot about those. Maybe next time.

Congratulations!

[GundamFan]

Congratulations To the crew and all of NASA. I am glad to have our astonauts back home safely. And I am glad NASA is willing to overcome this chalange and continue our space program.

Congrats

[Chanc_Gorkon]

Congratulations to NASA on a very successful mission. Most slashdotters will whine about spending money on this, but what we have to realize is the internet and much of our communications infrastructure depends on satellites and other things that the shuttle either researchs or launches directly. Many improvments in many things we use today are a result of research NASA either has did in space or did to get to space. GO NASA! :D

Atlantis

[Anonymous Coward]

It won't be easy, the wraith will find it soon and the power cells can only last so long.

post-CAIB mission over

[helioquake]

This was technically the last flight to test the changes made for the CAIB recommendations.

In the next flight, the shuttle program resumes the construction of the ISS (not just delivery of the supplies and take back some garbages). So until the next mission is complete, I wouldn't say that we are back on track with this mission.

It's good to have her back safely, nontheless.

...the tough job starts now...

[Mondoz]

The tough job starts now?
Not really... The other orbiters are processed in separate buildings, by separate groups of technicians.
After Columbia, each flight requires a 'backup' orbiter be available to rescue the crew, should an emergency arise, so Atlantis is already nearly flight-ready.
The processing of Atlantis and the training of the next crew has been underway for quite some time.
It's not like KSC can only process one orbiter at a time...

Fun Fact!

[saboola]

Upon entering Kennedy Space Center, Homeland Security made the crew take off their shoes, belts, and put laptops into plastic bins before entering.

definitely

[peter303]

This was one of the fears of a too-long gap between shuttle visits. ISS needs a shuttle-assisted orbit boost at least every other year.

2% is a meaningless number

[Shivetya]

when that results in half your usuable vehicles being lost.

The 2% number might mean something if we didn't need the main piece back. As such, that number is only good for people who love to toss numbers around without including the context of them

Re:2% is a meaningless number

[mrxak]

Well, after Challenger was destroyed they built the Endeavour to replace it. If they wanted to, they could replace the Columbia as well. Not that they're going to, but the point is that one lost vehicle every 17 years doesn't have to kill off a program from lack of vehicles.

Re:Orbital Decay?

[cyclone96]

Are the shuttle dockings ever used to give the ISS a slight nudge to counteract a decaying orbit?

The change in the orbit from the docking itself is negligible (since the shuttle and station are in essentially the same orbit at docking - the closing rate at docking is ~ 0.1 feet/second).

That being said, the shuttle is occasionally used to reboost the Space Station by using up the excess shuttle propellant onboard. Additionally, in certain attitudes when the shutte is in attitude control the attitude control jets just happen to be pointed the correct direction to boost it slightly as well.

This is all secondary to the Progress resupply ships, which are the main mode of performing reboosts.