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STS-119 Finally Launches Into Space
Iddo Genuth writes "After several delays, including twice over the past week, the space shuttle Discovery has finally been launched into space. The spacecraft took off at precisely 7:43 p.m. EDT, embarking on the STS-119 mission, which will provide the International Space Station with the fourth and final set of solar arrays — and which will make the ISS brighter than Venus. The shuttle will also deliver to the ISS its newest crew member, Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, who will replace flight engineer Sandra Magnus at the station."
I hope I don't blind myself looking for it
I hope there will be no footage of blown O-rings or damaged tiles. Shuttles are getting old. On another note, where could one get data on when the ISS will be overhead? I live in North-Eastern America and would love to catch a glimpse.
I really liked that line.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
Can somebody recommend a website or an application which can be used to calculate the fly-over times of the spaceshuttle and/or the ISS from a certain location on this planet? I would love to show a special "star" to my little boy.
bash$
And it will even have arms!
That's a space station! And it really is, too!
Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
Tonight was the first time I've gotten to see the shuttle launch. I went out to walk the dogs and saw half my neighbors standing in the street. They pointed up and I was like "Woah!" It was a really cool sight; huge smoke trail and super bright.
my boyhood dreams of dueling space mecha warriors will come true after all.
Strangely enough, one of them is a transformer that morphs into something that resembles the old International Space Station...
"Koichi, this is Sandra."
Beautiful launch, and I am very much looking forward to the mission, But what I want to know is why was did CNN and Fox have better/more interesting coverage than NASA TV? (Leave it to NASA to make something as spectacular and awe inspiring as a launch and make it so boring/mundane. I ended up having NASA TV, FOX and CNN all on.
NASA should kick them a couple bucks (or whatever) and let them do the coverage... We need to get more people interested in Space, and with that boring coverage, you are not going to get the common person excited about Space.
Still, even with all of that, I was again inspired... Great Job on the launch NASA.
Your Moon, Your Mission, Get involved! http://www.openluna.org
The spacecraft took off at precisely 7:43 p.m. EDT
Having watched NASA's official feed, I can inform you this is incorrect. The precise time was 7:43:44 EDT.
Your father reeks of gasoline and your mother is a whore.
I videotaped the launch from Titusville and it was pretty amazing even from 10-some miles away. The horizon lit up, and all of a sudden it was flying. Then the sound hit, and it sounded like ... well, a rocket. Nothing quite sounds like a rocket.
The precise time was 7:43:44 EDT.
How precise could that time be when the Shuttle takes a second or two to get moving? It's not exactly a quicky off the pad in the way the Saturn V's were.
This is my sig.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
What's "EU-style socialism"? It can't be anything like socialism, since the EU isn't a socialist state.
And remind me again, how exactly did the US "lead in space"? Was that through private means of production, or a Government funded organisation?
I'm in Florida and was able to walk into the street to see the launch. Absolutely gorgeous. It happened at sunset so the plume was colored just like clouds would be during a sunset - white, yellow, pink, and orange. Here's a pic of how it looked (not shot by me, but that's how it looked where I was. Search Flickr for STS 119 for more.) Also, it was a perfectly clear day and you could easily see the boosters for a long time after separation. Thanks for the great show NASA, and good luck spacemen!
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Was that through private means of production, or a Government funded organisation?
Both. The Government didn't build spacecraft. It gave a mandate to private industry to do it.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
By "mandate" you mean money as well as the decision. I'm aware that companies sometimes build parts, but in a socialist state, the work is still done by the people or organisations - the point is that the decisions and the money come from the state. And NASA are not private industry in any meaningful sense.
My point being, if someone is going to make a troll-ish statement about capitalism versus socialism, space exploration right now is the last example you want to pick! (And I speak as someone who is pro-capitalist for the most part. Living in the non-socialist UK.)
2) What is zero-g ejaculation like? Does it make floating semen balls?
Actually zero g ejaculation has been done in a porn
Funny as it may sound the film was called Uranus Experiment.
-Which I guess is something you trolls do a lot (experimenting with Uranus that is)
They made it zero g the oldschool way in a plane that dropped altitude very fast
Some pornstars are fucking amazing (no pun intended)
Chuck Norris could be brighter than the Sun if he felt like it.
Well doy. "The Government" doesn't run a national health service- it pays doctors to. "The Government" doesn't run an army- it pays soldiers to.
"The Government" is just a fancy term for about 1000 people who make laws and dish out money. A "Government Project" isn't one where politicians do all the work, it's one where the Government is the principal financial backer.
"The Government" built spacecraft in that the scientists who designed it were paid by the government and the companies who assembled it were paid by the government and the fuel that ran it was bought by the government and the astronauts who flew it were government employees. Whether some parts of that chain also involved corporations is neither here nor there.
And remind me again, how exactly did the US "lead in space"? Was that through private means of production, or a Government funded organisation?
Well, both, actually. NASA didn't build most of the stuff that went into space; private companies did.
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
By "mandate" you mean money as well as the decision. I'm aware that companies sometimes build parts, but in a socialist state, the work is still done by the people or organisations - the point is that the decisions and the money come from the state. And NASA are not private industry in any meaningful sense.
Just because the initial entry into and exploration of space was done by public institutions, doesn't mean it had to be that way. If we'd let the porn industry find a way to commercialize it, we'd have fry cooks on Venus by now.
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
The wife and I stepped out into our driveway and watched the shuttle until it disappeared to the east. We weren't the only ones, about half of the neighborhood was out watching.
Kind of reminded me of the rocket launches back when I was a kid in South Carolina.
No matter where you go... there you are.
We don't launch so you can see a crash! NASCAR is all about that, and don't even bring up F1 back in the days. The space program is 100x safer than car racing. Besides, that thing orbiting Jupiter will still be there in 3010. And Arthur C. is dead, and I would think, buried. Sorry about Scotty's ashes. We don't win them all!
NASA didn't build most of the stuff that went into space; private companies did.
And food stamps are not socialist because the food was manufactured by private companies.
I wonder what happened to it...
NASA didn't build most of the stuff that went into space; private companies did.
And food stamps are not socialist because the food was manufactured by private companies.
In a really truly socialist country, the food isn't manufactured by private companies; it's manufactured by the State Ministry of Nutrition or whatever.
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
No, I got you, I just don't buy your position. "Socialist" is a term that gets misused a lot. Food stamps are not socialist. State ownership or control of the means of production is socialist. If the government told the food manufacturers, "you must give away 20% of your annual production to the poor", that would be socialist. Nobody forced the Apollo program contractors to participate; their work was not forcibly expropriated. NASA (and food stamps) may be Keynesian in nature, but they're not socialist.
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!