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NASA Readies Discovery Shuttle For Final Flight
gabbo529 writes "After 38 trips, 352 days in orbit and more than 5,600 trips around the Earth, the space shuttle Discovery is preparing for its final launch. Since its creation, it has flown to orbit more than any other craft. It has set a number of precedents including first craft to feature a female shuttle pilot and female shuttle commander (Eileen Collins), the first African American spacewalker (Bernard Harris) and the first sitting member of congress to fly in space (Jake Garn). In its final foray into space, the Discovery will set another precedent when it flies the first humanoid robot to fly in space, Robonaut2."
I would give it a good home!
Orion is cancelled, because it is thought competition between private companies will be better in the long term than huge monolithic government-run organisations. Sure, but err, what has that yielded so far? Are Lockheed-Martin ready to go to the Moon yet?
I don't think that GM has been in space since the moon rover! I was supposed to go see the launch, but it looks like I'll have to wait for the April one.
Sig: I stole this sig.
Launch... :'(
Park one or more of these puppies in orbit, next to the ISS. No, it isn't useful *now*. But it may be in 10/15 yrs. No, the internal systems will not last. Batteries will die quickly, etc. Here are 3 large pressure capsules, all ready for future use.
But once these are on the ground, that's it. They will never rise again. We needed to think of this a decade ago, it's far too late now.
Goddammit....these vehicles would be perfect for future orbital ops.
>>> when it flies the first humanoid robot to fly in space
This is the moment they've been quietly planning and waiting for. I for one welcome our new robot overlords.
what is the blue book value on a space shuttle with only 140 million miles on it?
First "first shuttle pilot" and "first female shuttle commander"? How is that any more different or special then "first female pilot" or "first female commander" both achieved by the Soviets in 1963? First African American is historic for America but not for other countries that came to their senses long before us. Putting a politician in space? People have been dreaming of that _long_ before rockets were even invented.
NASA is making the unpopular but correct call of killing this "ancient" (compare 20+ years of flights to Apollo) program and moving on. NASA's job isn't making social statements... it's to broaden our technical and scientific understanding. They've exhausted the shuttle platform and they're moving on.
What part of "we're broke" don't people understand?
We need to dissolve NASA, and a whale of a lot of other gov't agencies, and let the military handle all the space stuff, which should probably be restricted to enough spy and weather satellites to keep us safe, and then the navstar system. We're borrowing 40% of what we spend. If we don't stop it, we're going to have an Argentina / Wymer Republic style meltdown, where you're entire yearly salary won't be enough to buy a loaf of bread. That's coming, if we don't balance the budget, and pretty D soon.
As many others have pointed out... you can't "park" it in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Station keeping would cost too much. You could park in a Lagrangian Point but the question is why? At this point there's nothing sexy or special about the shuttle. It's a 20+ y/o technology that served it's purpose but is now outdated and expensive. We need to free the funds up for other programs.
And doing so will not "kill" space exploration. There are several commercial companies actively involved in putting objects in LEO and they are there b/c they are cheaper and arguably more reliable than the shuttle. These same companies can deliver supplies to the ISS and will soon be able to deliver people. If we need to do heavy lifting into LEO we have the Delta and Russian heavy lift platforms to fall back on. Which is exactly what we need for deep space exploration.
This is no different than all the explorers we've named our space probes after. They broadened our horizons and then moved on. Let commerce take over the "easy" stuff and let NSA, ESA, etc. go after "the stars".
You know who also rebuilds engines? Engine shops for Professional race car drivers. At least at the top end. I'm sure there are start and park teams that don't bother so much, but if you want to be on top of things, you're willing to take apart your engines, check everything out and then put them back together. I think some of the leagues even have rules limiting how often that can be done in order to level the costs. Heaven knows they put enough other restrictions on building the engines.
Sure, those engines run for a lot longer, but you could make an intensity argument too.
I know it's more a Tomcat tagline, but still.
Hope mothballing Discovery goes better than it did for the crew of the Battlestar Galactica.
soylentnews.org Go there to enjoy the people!
Robonaut1 was cut from the program after an embarrassing incident involving a long drive to Florida and an astronaut diaper.
That is a sad list of firsts. First congressman to fly in a space shuttle? Sheesh. People are too concerned with celebrity. There are probably plenty of scientific engineering firsts that should be applauded rather than "First [color|race|profession] to do X."
NASA technicians investigate fuel leak after rare nighttime landing
First female commander earns praise for "safe, if overly cautious" flying
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN) 7/28/99 - 419SPP
Even before NASA's first female mission commander touched down on the tarmac at Kennedy Space Center late Tuesday evening, investigators were speculating on the possible cause of the fuel leak observed at the launch of shuttle Columbia at the start of its historic 5 day mission.
"At first we thought maybe she left the gas cap off," reported Chief Inspector Gerald Schmitt during a post-mission press conference yesterday. Schmitt was referring to mission commander U.S. Air Force Col. Eileen Collins, who led STS-93 to a complete success despite the glitches that plagued the start of the mission.
However, the inspectors ruled out that scenario after an exhaustive examination of the video launch records. They are now considering alternative theories, as well examining the shuttle engines for possible damage, such as a burned-out clutch. "We'll get in there and take a look," explained Schmitt, "but the real test will come on the next flight for Columbia, when the next mission commander can let us know if the shuttle still handles the way it did before."
Schmitt went on to explain that the launch is usually performed in an "Automatic" mode, but the shutdown of 2 flight computers just seconds into Friday's launch required Col. Collins to switch to "Manual" mode, which she may have had less experience with in the past.
Shuttle failed to reach "nominal" altitude
By the time main engine cutoff, or MECO, took place at the end of Columbia's vault into space, the shuttle was about 7 miles beneath its intended orbit. At the time, NASA had not yet confirmed the fuel leak, so ground control was at a loss to explain this result.
Launch controller Peter "Pete" Castle recalls, "For a few minutes I was beside myself. Did [Collins] fail to advance the engine throttles to 104 percent as called for in the launch sequence? Everyone knows you can drive those engines a little bit over the limit. There aren't any cops in space. Why are we here staying under the limit? We'll never get where we need to go like that."
Fortunately, Columbia had sufficient fuel onboard to boost itself to its full intended orbit, and the mission objectives and the crew were never in danger.
"She really took us by surprise"
Mission controllers at the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, Texas, were very complimentary of Col. Collins. Third shift controller Michael Childs recalls one incident in particular:
"During orbit 15 of the mission, Col. Collins called down for directions on the next scheduled maneuver. At this point in the schedule we had not expected any communications from Columbia. Past shuttle commanders always ran through this sequence without asking for directions, even if they had lost track of where they were. It is a little known fact that on STS-96 [when shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station (ISS)], Mission Commander Kent Rominger reached the station three orbits late, basically because he insisted on 'just flying around in circles until we found it', to quote Mission Specialist Patty Jernigan."
Most call the landing 'flawless'
The touchdown of shuttle Columbia in the final minutes of Tuesday evening was called "flawless" by ground controllers at the KSC. However, U.S. Air Force Col. Jack "Cracker Jack" Jackson, the last mission commander for a Columbia mission, was more critical.
"That's not where I left it," Jackson said of Columbia, noting that Columbia rolled to a stop on the runway over 500 yards earlier than it did when he landed the same vehicle back in February, 1998. "When you take that baby out for a spin, I expect you to put it back where it belongs when you're done." After a moment, Jackson added one final thought, "God, I don't want to think what happened to those brakes."
419SPP - The Associated Press and Reuters did not contribute to this report.
RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
first woman commander...check
first afro american space walker...check
first gay jew pilot...comon NASA, WTF is the hold up?
It has been my lifelong dream to see a shuttle take-off in-person. I don't have the opportunity to see the Shuttle take its last voyage. For those that have had the opportunity to see a launch how would being in-person to a comparable sized rocket launch be like?
There will likely be future rocket launches for satellites. I'd just like to experience the rumble and hear the sounds. I grew up living near an airforce base and I've always been fascinated in watching planes and space shuttles, rockets by extension. I know this can also be waiting game. If they say they will launch at 9:00 on the 1st of March it might be a week before clear weather patterns show up. But I'd like at some point to budget some time and be able to travel to see a launch.
I swear this is the fourth time I've seen a 'final shuttle flight' story online.
How many final flights did it have ?
Who wants to bet there will be at least another one ?
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
It would be a significant link IMHO.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
We're broke because foreign and multinational corporations paid us to believe that access to the U.S. market is worthless. Never in any of these discussions are tariffs mentioned, even though a 20% tariff on imports would both balance the budget instantly and pay off the national debt in a single decade. We are the world's largest importer and the weakest exporter in the industrialized world. Tariffs used to pay for the entire federal government, and there was no need for an income tax. But the rich and powerful make their money selling out to China these days, and their profits come from lack of tariffs on imports and handing out hundreds of thousands of student visas so cheap labor countries can use our universities to train their engineers. We don't need to cut NASA, we need to decide to stop handing our industries away, and raise tariffs so that we can pay off the debt and stop spending tax money on bond payments to our foreign dictators.
Discovery will set another precedent when it flies the first humanoid robot to fly in space, Robonaut2
Uhm... what exactly happened to Robonaut1?!
... become third world countries.
mfwright@batnet.com
Discovery and ISS should be visable in the night sky this week in MN. Saturday 6:45 both will be visable at the same time seperated by a few seconds apart.
God speed boys....Gods speed.
Joe Investor
I read that as "... Final Fight"