Atlantis Expected to Launch Today

PreacherTom writes "Following recent delays, NASA makes its fifth attempt to get Atlantis off the launchpad at 11:15 a.m. EDT today. NASA stopped Friday's launch try only 45 minutes before its scheduled departure for a faulty fuel tank sensor: the same glitch that thwarted two previous missions. The launch delay cost NASA $616,000, and if the mission is scrubbed again, the space agency must abandon for a few weeks its efforts to send the shuttle off on a construction mission to the International Space Station."

Comments

Cheesy, but true

[bgfay]

I just sat at my laptop watching NASA TV (we don't have cable) with my four-year-old and two-year-old explaining as much of the activity as I knew. They got excited and kept gushing "wow!" just at the sight of the shuttle on the pad. When it lifted off, they were both quiet, eyes wide and mouths open. I caught myself with my own mouth open both at the wonder of us going into space and the equally powerful wonder of watching my daughters get this excited about it.

When someone asks me why we have to spend so much money on space exploration, I should have them watch a launch with my daughters. It's all about the thrill of exploration, the daring of it, the wonder of fellow humans climbing up off this planet and touching the stars.

I can't wait to see what we do next.

Re:Cheesy, but true

[linzeal]

See if you can do it yourself, orbiter is a free space flight simulator and there are others less technical but most are out of print since the late 90's.

Re:Cheesy, but true

[bgfay]

My naive answer for the day as to why the government should pay for this sort of thing is that the job of government is to lead. Sometimes leadership requires that we inspire people. The manned space program, even with all its faults, inspires people.

I *would* have watched it, but nobody covered it

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, sort of. I'm in the LA area - and only NBC gave even half-assed coverage of the launch (breaking away for a *very* short period, from an unbelievably moromic show for brain-damaged three year olds). All I caught of the launch was the solid rocket boosters falling away, and a few seconds more, before NBC went back to their normal programing. Of course, the awful NBC coverage was just *slightly* better than the coverage offered by the other area broadcasters in the area (who didn't cover the event AT ALL). It's too bad I can't pull all of their broadcast licenses - if I could, I would: dead air would be an improvement over the absolute garbage on television.

Re:I *would* have watched it, but nobody covered i

[Moby Cock]

That's a shame. I watch the whole thing on CBC Newsworld. Odd that foreign countries are more interested in the space programs than America.

Re:Cost?

[cyclone96]

At best, it's a very rough estimate indeed. I don't understand why every story about a launch delay seems to have to include "it cost $XXX" for the delay. They do the same thing for landings at Edwards (which requires transporting the orbiter back to KSC on the NASA 747). Those costs are expected and budgeted for, and in the overall scheme of things - quite small.

While we are at it, the genius that wrote the article also included the following:

If Atlantis cannot lift off on Saturday, it will have to wait at least until late September and even then, NASA will have to waive a post-Sept. 11 rule that says launches must be conducted in daylight so that the spaceship can be photographed for signs of damage.

Post Sept. 11? WTF? That's post COLUMBIA ACCIDENT rule. Wow, that's really bad. Evidentally the news drone at ABC churning out web stories must have been working on a Sept. 11 anniversary piece about the same time and mixed up his disasters....

Re:I *would* have watched it, but nobody covered i

[MurphyZero]

I get NASA TV and 2 or 3 local channels ALWAYS cover Shuttle launches. Hmmm, probably because I live maybe 15 miles from the pad. Why watch it on TV when you can just walk outside and watch it?

Re:I *would* have watched it, but nobody covered i

[ultranova]

The only times programming should be interrupted is acts of terrorism or large natural disasters, not expensive scientific experiments.

Why ? The chances are that if you didn't already know about it, then neither will affect you directly in any way. There's no reason why either should get immediate coverage. Besides, terrorism thrives on attention; interrupting the programming for it is a great way of helping terrorists spread terror.

The best response for terrorism is to continue the programming as normal and then cover the event in evening news. Interrupting the programming will inflate the fear generated by the strike and therefore help terrorists. It won't help anyone else, except ratings.

As for natural disasters, again, unless you happen to be in their route the chances are that you don't need to know immediately. They, too, can wait until evening news.

Besides, in the end, natural catastrophes are basically just big accidents and terrorism is a few maniacs murdering people. Neither is likely to have a lasting impact, unless we are talking about an extinction level event. Shuttle launches - all space vechile launches - on the other hand are absolutely vital for the future of humanity as a species, and certainly deserve coverage.