Slashdot Mirror
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!
SpaceX is almost ready to fly people and to dock with the ISS, which is much farther than any other private organization has done. The Space Shuttle can't go to the moon, so the shuttle's replacement doesn't have to either -- it just has to be able to get people and cargo up into low-Earth orbit. Moon rockets and beyond come later.
Aikon-
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.
False. Orion has not been cancelled. The most recent NASA authorization act passed last year authorizes over $3.6 billion in funding to develop the vehicle over the next 3 years. The Ares I/V launch vehicles are what was cancelled.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:3:./temp/~c111kXpLQV:e14982:
Orion+Ares 1 wasn't going to be finished until 2017 at the earliest.
The first test-article of Dragon has flown, and its launch vehicle (the long pole of the system) has flown twice. Everything I hear about the Boeing offering is going well, and will probably be on a Delta IV (a flying vehicle). Orion is even still alive, and Lockheed is planning to fly a version on an Atlas V (again flying).
No one is ready to go to the moon yet, but developing a real multi-supplier infrastructure to get to LEO is a critical first step. Even more importantly, if the next administration changes plans again, the infrastructure will remain in place and make it easy to do whatever the powers that be decide.
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.
While I agree that austerity measures make sense, let's be honest about the numbers. NASA is such a tiny percentage of the budget that canceling their program isn't a realistic way to save money or pay down our debts.
Realistically, the mandatory budget and the defense budget are what will have to be (painfully) trimmed down if we want to stabilize the deficit.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Or, dare I say it, raise taxes on those most able to pay higher taxes.
Gee, that would solve a whole bunch of problems, wouldn't it?
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."
If the USA is broke, then might I suggest a few areas to cut? How about farm subsidies. You are paying a bunch of foreigners to take your food, that's just dumb. And if you could get over the idea of being in charge of everything then maybe you could have a UN army do all the global cop stuff. It would mean no more american sons and daughters getting sent off to third world battlefields, or at least not with american flags on their uniforms so it would be harder to spot them. If you transfered half your army/navy/airforce to the UN then the world would split the cost, and you'd only have to pay a little bit of it instead of all of it. That right there would end your budget deficits. If you taxed gas like europe does there would be plenty of money for renewable energy (and the political will to make it work). Oh yes, and if you had cost controls on your medicare system (like everyone else does, with much lower medical costs as a result), you'd save billions a year. There are many places you can eliminate deficit spending, it's not the how that's stopping you- It's lack of political leadership that's sinking your boat. Your country has spent decades letting the politicians/bankers/oil companies run around unchecked, and now you're finally getting the bill.
Yeah, because NASA is such a huge overall expense, doesn't employ anyone or provide funding to contractors (Keynesian economics, ever hear of them?), and doesn't at all create technologies that have implications in civilian and military life, and numerous commercial applications far in excess of NASA's funding.
Just because you heard it on Rush doesn't mean it's a good idea.
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
Wow, and I thought I saw a lot of teabagging on XBox Live playing Halo.
Working for a DoD contractor that did work for Orion, I can say for certain it was cancelled (even if they do not call it that). There's no more work being done for a very critical portion of the capsule right now that our company was responsible for, and that stuff is now sitting in the corner of the lab, the responsible engineers are off working on other things.
The two words that are a death knell for any project are: "Stop Work"
Gotta post AC, simply because I cannot speak for my company, but I have eyes and can plainly see what is going (or not going) on.
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.
So, aside from the fact that Social Security is on a different income/expenditure stream than the rest of the federal budget, and thus doesn't contribute to the budget crisis...
What you're proposing would lead to an extremely poor quality of life, homelessness, or outright death for millions of Americans. My husband and I would be among those affected. Um, no. I don't think so.
The military is the biggest single money hog, between the official Defense section of the budget ($685B) and the various other programs that all fall under the heading of military research, defense, counterterrorism, etc., the government spends somewhere between $1.0 and $1.4 trillion. If you cut these items by 75% across the board, that's around $900 billion, and it still leaves the US as the largest military spender in the world. Trim the Discretionary fund ($660B) back by the same factor, and you're looking at almost $1.4 Trillion. If it weren't for the interest on the existing debt, that would be more than enough. Otherwise, we need to trim another ~$830 billion to get to a clearly break-even status (actually, a slight surplus, if I figure it right). Others have pointed out already that there are tons of other programs that lead directly to money spent with no genuinely worthwhile outcome, so start cutting those back too.
Medicare and Medicaid (part of the Health and Human Services section of the general budget) could be trimmed back some, but only after the ridiculous cost of medical care in this country is brought under strict control, and only with extreme care. Otherwise, too many people will lose critically-needed services.
Expenditures are only part of the problem, as we still need to find ways to increase revenue, or the existing debt is going nowhere. At 8% interest, it takes about $1.13 trillion in what would otherwise be a surplus to cover the $14.1 trillion debt, so $2.4 trillion worth of cuts to the current budget, if that's even possible in a sane manner, would only pay for the interest on that debt. More revenue is needed to avoid excessive budget cuts and to bring the principle part of the debt down in a timely manner. I see four ways to do that, in theory:
* Raise taxes: A bad idea outright, because the low and middle-income folks are the ones who would be hit hardest by such a thing, regardless of which specific taxes get raised, and right now is the worst possible time for such a thing to happen. Besides, the rich will just find ways around it.
* Find ways to increase the number of new taxpayers: Not much prospect there. Short of a population explosion, the only other sources I can see are illegal immigrants, but those folks are hard enough to track, let alone tax.
* Change/enforce the tax laws: All existing citizens (and businesses) who don't already do so should be forced to pay their fair share of taxes like the rest of us do. Rich or poor, pay your fair share, even if it's by withholding $5 a month from your paycheck. For the over $250,000 crowd, make it extremely unpalatable to dodge taxes. We all know such folks manage to find all kinds of ways to avoid paying taxes by way of write-offs, loopholes, offshore accounts, dummy corporations, etc., so eliminate the loopholes and make it really *really* suck for those who try to live above the law.
* Find new revenue streams: I'm sure there are all kinds of legit things that the federal government could do here that people wouldn't mind. Hell, set up theme parks, amusements, etc. where all proceeds go into the general fund. If necessary, raise admission fees on national parks and the like, or establish new fees where appropriate (but without getting stupid, lest you cut off your income stream from those sources entirely).
As for Social Security, everyone including SSA themselves keeps saying Social Security will go broke in 25 to 30 years. You can start by heavily forbidding any government project, program, agency, etc. from dipping into the Social Security budget for things that belong in the
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/01/us/budget.html
That's how the budget is spent. NASA, if it were a square on here, would be relatively small. With a budget of $17 Billion, it would be a little smaller than "Border and Transportation Security Directorate Activities".
Discovery will set another precedent when it flies the first humanoid robot to fly in space, Robonaut2
Uhm... what exactly happened to Robonaut1?!
Not to rub it in or anything, but seeing a shuttle launch in person is fucking amazing.
My mom was on contract to NASA developing a data management system for the Shuttle's payload telemetry up/downlink. For the first flight of the Shuttle with the new software, the engineers who worked on it were invited out to the forward press bleachers to watch the launch. I got to tag along, and it also happened to be the last time those particular bleachers were populated during a launch. (Ground Safety determined that they were too close, ya know, in the event of a 'failure')
Anyway... clear your mind and imagine that you're sitting on some hard, old, worn wooden bleachers. You're excited and packed tight with a bunch of programmers and engineers who are also excited and talking in excruciating detail about the thing you're about to witness. You've been sitting there for three hours.
The countdown finally hits T -10 seconds and suddenly you and everyone around you is on their feet, answering some unspoken urge to strain upward. You're close enough that you can see the American flag and the name "Columbia" clearly on the wing of the orbiter. About a hundred yards in front of you is a wide creek that is so still and black that you can see a perfect reflection of everything. A long legged bird wades slowly, ponderously through the vegetation on the edge of the bank.
A loud voice calls out "T minus 9..." and it feels like a damn eternity has passed. Everything is vivid and sharp. You can feel the warm, moist, salt-laden air prickle against your skin, the heat and straining muscles of the people pressing in on you, the electric anticipation of something monumental.
People are chanting. "EIGHT!" "SEVEN!" "SIX!" and you realize you're yelling these numbers at the top of your lungs.
"FIVE!"
And there is this thump, and some sparks start shooting out from under the Shuttle. Someone yells something about engines but your ears are ringing from the rushing of your own blood and this spectacle that now includes these cones of fire is happening in utter silence.
There is a loud woosh and the air turns cold. The pad cooling system has come on and millions of gallons of water are being pumped in at high speed to keep everything from just melting.
"THREE!" "TWO!"
Oh god
"ONE!"
And the whole fucking world just stops.
There is a collective intake of breath.
The long legged bird takes one more ponderous step in painful slow motion.
There is a rumbling, low, felt more than heard, just on the edge of your perception.
A flash, two pillars of fire rise from the base of the pad, and on top, a squat, ulgy, orange slug.
You can only hear your own heart hammering away in your chest.
It is magical and ethereal and the closest I've ever been to a religious experience.
Then, from the corner of your eye you notice the stillness of the water is broken. The long legged bird squawks in alarm then takes to shaky flight.
The bow front of the shock waving coming from the pad has passed over the water and turned in instantly to churning foam. The bleachers are suddenly swaying, rolling, shuddering, and then the wave breaks over your body.
Your lungs are a bass drum beaten by a hyperactive maniac, throbbing in time to this crazy juju dance of solid ammonium perchlorate converting 1:1 into Holy Fuck! There is no world, no you, no nothing but the noise, the raw fury of millions upon millions of pounds of thrust being delivered straight to your soul via every nerve in your body. The bleachers are too close. They are going to collapse. The air temperature spikes and your slow mammal brain realizes that all the fire in the world
IS
RIGHT
FUCKING
THERE.
As this glorious moment fades you're left with this deep sense of longing and regret. All that fire and sound made you whole, one vibrating particle at the resonance frequency of the entire universe, and all you can see is the hind end of that impossibly tiny speck carr
Just a thought, but if the US was in it for "securing oil" .. then shouldn't oil be way less expensive now that it is?
No.
They are securing oil by making sure that some of the world's largest remaining deposits are controlled by governments friendly to the U.S., so when the oil supply begins to dwindle and there isn't enough to go around, the U.S. can be first in line to buy what is left. Ideally there would already be large U.S. military bases in these areas to help ensure that they remain under friendly control, to ensure the military continues to have the oil it needs to function. This is the long-term strategic goal.
In the short term, oil is still a fungible commodity sold on a world market and whose price involves speculation about the stability of future supplies. The very actions the U.S. takes to secure the oil for the long term will necessarily cause instability and thus rising prices in the short term. Also, the long-term supply of oil is clearly in doubt and so you should only expect the price to go up no matter how much the U.S. secures for itself.
Of course for oil companies, this is fantastic for you especially if they aren't pumping oil from one of the unstable areas, because their oil doesn't cost any more to pump but is selling for much more. You see high prices at the pump, the oil companies see ridiculous profits.
What, you didn't think this was done to benefit you, did you?
The enemies of Democracy are
... become third world countries.
mfwright@batnet.com