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NASA To Send Luke's Lightsaber Into Space
Verunks writes "In honor of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, NASA will launch Luke Skywalker's original Jedi lightsaber into space along with the crew of the space shuttle Discovery. The launch is slated for October."
Fired... out of a cannon... into the sun.
Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
Basically, this is the equivalent of "first post", for this topic, at least.
Glad to see NASA focusing on the important stuff when it comes to space.
Using openSUSE instead of Windows since 9th of October, 2007 and liking it.
Hey, now. That's one of the great artifacts of geekdom, and they're risking it on a shuttle launch? I seem to recall NASA's shuttles being a little... what's the word... explody, at times. Losing another crew would be bad enough, but Luke's saber? C'mon!
Wouldn't that lightsaber cause problems? Like damaging the heat shield or such. You know, these shuttles are rather vulnerable.
What would be really cool is if some aliens found it and made operational and then shipped it to me using GalEx (GalaxyExpress). Then I could go up to my boss, rattle my light saber by saying "Look. I am your fodder." Khoo khaa.
At a cost of about $9,000 per kilogramme to get something into orbit with the shuttle, is this really the best use of tax payers' money ?
Glad to see our tax dollars hard at work for something so trivial.
If they really wanted to fire imaginations and send it where Geeks dream of going they should send it to a whore house in Nevada. It'd be cheaper, get more press, and inspire generations of Geeks to shoot for the stars, former porn stars but they're still stars damnmit!
The picture is of his lightsaber from Ep. 6 - "Return of the Jedi" which he built after losing his hand and his original lightsaber (inherited from Anakin) during his battle with Darth Vader in Ep. 5. //no thanks necessary - it's my job as a pedant and Star Wars geek.
How is Chewie getting on the plane? I doubt he has a driver's license, passport, or military ID. What about the metal detector? Hell, the bomb detector?!?! Wookies should not get preferential treatment in my not-so-humble opinion.
"You're awefully cute, but unfortunately for you, you're made of meat."
Think about it: Russia gets ~$20m for launching a 150lb person into space; by making itself popular, NASA gets _at least_ $20m in extra funding from Congress for sending a 1lb piece of pop culture into space. American efficiency at its best!
Is it going to come back?
I wish they'd launch George Lucas into space. Enough already.
If firing a Star Wars movie prop into space, is what it takes, to get the next generations attention and acceptance of continued funding of NASA programs, then perhaps we should rethink the whole thing. Isn't teaching the truth about outer-space enough? because I don't think another Lance Bass is the way to save NASA.
...now some alien civilization will find it and a) sell it on Ebay for a ludicrous amount or b) brag to various and sundry that they own the original prop. Or they'll just do with it what they'll probably do to the Voyager probes: Toss it in the trash.
I'm not much of the sort to care about this thing usually but I have to question what the point is of sending a expensive cultural item flinging off into space is? Shouldn't the thing be in a museum or something somewhere? Or perhaps sell it and get the Astronauts some new cupholders?
Guys, don't worry, I'm sure it's not the real lightsaber. The real one was lost years ago. This is a digitally remastered (better) lightsaber with added features and toys! Very soon you will be able to buy your own original (digitally remastered and better) lightsaber at your local convenience store and you too can shoot it off into space. And it really is a good buy, George Lucas has assured us the money will go to deleting the entire Obi-Wan Darth Vader duel of A New Hope and adding a new scene (digitally remastered and better, of course) with Ewan McGregor. It's going to be great!
Star Wars Fans: We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life.
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I was called Luke when I was 16. You know, computer guys called me Luke on BBSs. We had the dial up underground. Those were the days.
..... Could they maybe take the masters for these with them and er, loose them?
Now we may never know if ants can be trained to sort tiny screws in space.
What?
Will this replace Standard Operating Procedure for in-orbit tile repair.
So NASA can save money by forcing the astronauts to lose mass ("weight"). Perhaps they will be sending waifs into space to save on money -- they'd have less mass, be more photogenic, and you needn't pack much food. Lastly, due to chronic malnutrition they'd have very little energy to engage in those lusty love triangles that seem to plague NASA. It's the perfect plan!
After Vader cut off Luke's hand, I thought the saber would be tumbling somewhere in the Bespin system.
The irony of that moment is that Luke's father "wanted him to have it", except Luke's father cut off his hand to disarm him of it. And apparently Obi-Wan's interpretation of "he wanted you to have it", is "I took it from him after I left the bastard for dead." Though, I imagine his phrasing seems a little more sentimental.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
The average cost per pound to send to Low Earth Orbit is $3632 - $4587. [1]
WoWz! So why aren't we training horse-jockeys to be astronauts?
And if each astronaught has a glass of water before getting onto the shuttle? That would be pretty expensive too!
I suspect the weight of the light saber safely falls within the margin of error they build into their fuel calculations and as such won't really cost them any more than they are already going to spend/use in fuel anyway. Well worth it in my opinion. There isn't any reason why we can't make all our endeavors a little more fun and inspiring, it's what humans are all about.
Don't drop that light saber laser down first...
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To study of the effects of weightlessness on tiny screws.
Chewbacca apparently said, "ARRRRGHHH ARRR ARRR ARRR ARRR!" when he heard the news.
Doesn't sound good. Personally, I think NASA are crazy to upset a wookie that can rip your arms off.
'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
...there will be a great battle between the Yodanians and the Jarjarites over possession of the staff of the great Lord Lucas.
You think the Star Wars geeks are scary now. You just wait.
One of the astronauts had better get filmed waving it around wildly in the space station so we can add on the 'light' bit and swooshy sounds.
perhaps the others could pretend to get chopped up by it for added fun.
First the StarWars Kid and now this!
:) Please, someone donate some storm trooper armor and other stuff as well! :)
I can't wait to see astronauts "training with a remote" videos and letting people here on earth do the video editing.
What an utterly pointless and futile act. They should have auctioned the light sabre off and donated the proceeds to something that promotes or furthers science in some way.
One of the crew members on a recent shuttle trip to the international space station brought the Firefly and Serenity DVDs up with them. Breaking Atmo
Surely they could have put a training droid on board so they could film it floating about and stick it on youtube.
Am I the only one sad that Mark Hamill isn't part of the ceremony? I'm sure it couldn't be a question of cost. Instead, the only "dignataries" at the send off and return are costumes. If Luke's saber is being used for publicity, the hand that wielded it should be as well.
-a.e.mossberg
Then they already have their perfect excuse: The crew have become more powerful than we can possibly imagine. Come on, give me a break here. During the last launch they also had some serious problems, things seem to be getting worse again. Why don't they pay attention to things which matter?
Obi-Wan: "That's no moon. That's the international space station."
star wars is dumb! and so is dnd! neener neener neener...
FOXTROT UNIFORM CHARLIE KILO
...a 1 x 4 x 9 flat black object.
2001 was a much better film. Though not nearly as profitable, I guess.
Does anyone know what material this is made of and how long it will last? I could see this being one of many items that space-faring treasure hunters will search for in the future. Though, if it gets sucked into Earth's atmosphere or melts under the heat of the sun, I guess not...
- Yes, I am posting at a -1, and no I will not use a proxy to bypass my circumstances.
So Darth Vader gets screwed again. Lets face it, the whole series is really about him but noooo, his glory robbing little snot faced kid has got to prance around and steal his thunder. Typical younger generation...
It take more faith to believe in evolution than it takes to believe in God
That's no moon....
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
They know it's not real, right?
The OV-101 'Enterprise' was orginally set to be named 'Constitution' but fans of Star Trek convinced the powers that be to use another name. Bringing a Star Wars artifact up is a sin! They should be bringing some Trek relic, like one of those old Klingon disruptors, or Michael Dorn.
The Evil Empire, having captured Luke, will send his weapon away?
Some Jedis y'all are.
mark "bad Jedi! Trying! No lightsaber!
Tragedy is when I cut my finger, comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die
Considering the tremendous amount of fanfare that the article describes will take place in transporting this old movie prop, and its overall shape, one could be forgiven for mistaking it for an inanimate carbon rod.
the NASA crew will be coming back I hope...
May the force be with them.
Hope is the currency of fools
ok that would be freakin' funny.... if one of the guys smuggled up a stormtroper helmet and perhaps the upper body stuff, for when they send a video feed back. I know there is no way they could smuggle that much stuff on undetected, but what a practical joke that would be. "Unnn sorry this isn't the spacecraft you are looking for, what are you doing on the imperial channel!" lol
Wait, didn't NASA just freak out a couple of missions ago because someone dropped a screw? If I remember correctly, they were quite worried that this tiny object would hit the shuttle and cause some damage.
So now they plan on dropping a stage prop out there?
I guess they can toss it away from earth. I wonder how fast it will be traveling if someone throws it?
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Don't tell me the odds!
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They're gonna have to be extra careful not to blow this one up or anything, that saber's irreplaceable.
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Okay, this deeply concerns me. We have already lost two shuttles due to accidents, and now NASA is inviting a third. Astronauts will get bored in space and will undoubtably engage in horse play. One of them will invariably remember the light saber and procure it from its handy storage bin. Once he has it in hand, he will likely activate it and start swinging it about---like we all do with a toy light saber. Except, this is _Luke's_ light saber; so it's real. I expect that he'll probably cut some critical component or cut through the shuttle's hull.
What were they thinking?
What those who want activist courts fear is rule by the people.
I think it is pretty lame just to send up 1 lightsaber.
That is no fun at all.
Now if there were two lightsabers they could have some real battles!
In honor of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, NASA will launch Luke Skywalker's original Jedi lightsaber into space along with the crew of the space shuttle Discovery.
Hopefully this includes the space shuttle Discovery itself as well.
So now even NASA is putting weapons in space. When will the madness end?
This is not a self-referential sig.
Scotty's ashes get the equivalent of a ride on the vomit comet and a movie prop gets the shuttle?!?
Is JarJar running NASA now?
Why, oh why, didn't I take the Blue Pill?
Oh, wait, they gonna check it in the cargo hold...
An oldie but strangely, still topical in these circles.
You know at NASA there's some SW geek who's thought this plan through.
1.Get on the LLIS (Launch Lightsaber Into Space) Program
2.Acquire or fabricate reasonable facsimile.
3.Play switcheroo with copy and real one
4.Watch as fake launched into space.
5.Mount real lightsaber over headboard
5a.(more likely) Mount real lightsaber over stairs leading to basement.
If you read the article, they're not throwing it out in space, just taking it up there and back.
- Dog - Skylab - Philip J. Fry (in a dream on a cartoon) - Bender Bending Rodriguez (in real life on a cartoon) - A sword made out of a laser
From the article, it is apparent that they are taking the lightsaber for a ride, not jettisoning it into space.
> NASA will launch Luke Skywalker's original Jedi lightsaber into space
Note to Simpsons writers. Your sarcastic joke was not stupid enough:
Buzz, on board the Space Shuttle, checking cargo: Children's letters to God, check!
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Honestly, I blame the public. Our space program is boring, so NASA resorts to this stupid stuff just to remind people that we still HAVE a space program. The only way to stop this ridiculous stuff is to make the people appreciate the science and exploration that our space program does. In other words, until exploration and science is popular, NASA is going to continue to make a joke of itself with silly pranks like this.
I tell ya, you folks are really start to dissapoint me.
You KNOW you're not supposed to cross Star Trek with Star Wars!
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
It's good to see that NASA is focusing on what's important. Sure, the astronauts might be hitting the sauce a little hard, and every once in a while one goes bonkers and tries to kill someone. Yeah, maybe they still can't quite get a handle on that whole "make sure the Shuttle gets into space without suffering potentially catastrophic damage" bit, but you know--at least they can send a movie prop into space!
Y'know...I'm as pro-space-exploration as the next geek. I really am. But sometimes I think someone needs to go to every individual member of NASA's board of directors, smack him or her upside the head, and yell "FOCUS!!!"
Gifts for Geeks - Stuff that really matters!
They should shoot it up my ass, what a waste of existance. People actually sat in meetings discussing this.
crap.
Are they going to remove its power supply, or at least put some safety trigger lock on it? I mean, if they aren't careful, they could burn a hold right through the shuttle with it!
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
those bullshit $400-500M are only counting costs over the last four years, taking the total cost of the space shuttle program it's over a BILLION DOLLARS per launch.
Trying to figure out how to activate the alien device they discovered in deep space 9 decades ago. Unfortunately they have failed to even identify which component is its power source, and what purpose the device serves.
The Prime Minister of R&D Bleepblock Zubortsliivit is quoted as saying "Although we cannot actually see any working parts, it is clear that this is from an advance civilization, and when the time comes that we actually reverse engineer this technology it will take all of Glibbonkind to the next level of Gilbbon advancement!"
(If at first you don't succeed, do it different next time!)
that was passed on to Luke...
So this is where all the taxes are going.
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I initially thought they were going to eject the saber into space. That actually made my heart stop and I thought, "Wow! That's totally cool. Who would have thought back in the 70's when they were shooting Star Wars that the humble saber prop would one day be screaming endlessly around the planet faster than a rifle shot? In orbit, for goodness sake!" (Yeah, it was a thought quickly followed by, "Humans are kind of nuts," but it was nonetheless enough to stop me in my chair and made me grin.
Then I discovered that they were just taking the prop for a ride and that it would safely be returned to the Lucasfilm vaults. Wouldn't want to lose an attachment to a piece of valuable stuff. Oh. Just a normal publicity stunt. No wow. Just calculated and corporate and Coca Cola Mac-boring.
Ugh. Does anybody else find that they actually feel sort of gasse and bloated when exposed to corporate Happy Happy PR bullshit in the same way they do after eating corporate fast food? Or is it just me?
-FL
http://www.blizzard.com/starcraft/sis/
Sounds like fun - where do I sign up?
:)
I'll finally be able to tell everyone exactly how long someone can live in space without a suit, what the weather is like and so on.
Star Wars was just an elaborate hoax created by the US Government. Luke never used the force or had a lightsaber. All of that was staged in a studio.
But is his original hand still attached?
It happened last night. Unfortunately the effect only lasted a couple of hours.
-- All your bass are below two Hz
...and while you're at Wikipedia, you might also cruise on over the List of Human Spaceflights.
Among the interesting things you may learn there and in the daughter links is that the space shuttle has flown almost four times as many missions as all other US manned programs combined. It's also 19 flights ahead of the Soyuz count (with the same number of fatal accidents, BTW), and a complete Soyuz TMA with crew could be carried in the cargo bay with room to spare and with a full complement of shuttle astronauts. You will probably also note that the Soviets were interested enough in the idea to further bankrupt themselves by building their own.
In the end anyone should recognize that the shuttle was a compromise and could never be perfect. It was shockingly complicated, yet it also had some capabilities that are unmatched by any other vehicle, like its ability to return large cargo to earth, a 2000 mile cross-range landing capability, and its functionality as a large work platform, which has been utilized in building the ISS, servicing the Hubble, and numerous other missions. Heck, it's even the only launch vehicle capable of getting more than three people into orbit, and it can get them there with over 20 tonnes of cargo without requiring a second launch and a rendezvous.
And it's beautiful to boot!
The criticism is extensive, but it is also controversial. However, the shuttle has had it's time and we got some good use out of it.
Guess it does fall under the 'News for Nerds' part of the slogan cause it sure as hell ain't any 'Stuff that Matters'.