Endeavour Crew To Be Interviewed Via YouTube

gabbo529 writes "Thanks to YouTube, the space shuttle Endeavour's last crew will be available for questions live, while they are in orbit. NASA announced a partnership with YouTube that will allow people to send in questions, in the form of short video clips, to PBS's Miles O'Brien, who will direct them to the Endeavour crew live from space. The whole process will be streamed live on PBS' Newshour YouTube Channel. From the article: 'The interview is scheduled for Monday May 2 at 2:15 p.m. ET. However, it could be rescheduled if the Endeavour mission is running late. The deadline for submitting a question will be April 30 at midnight ET. YouTube users will vote on which questions they want to see answered.'"

Comments

[raises hand]

[elrous0]

How is this pathetic attempt to show your modern relevance any different than any of the thousand other carefully-orchestrated canned interviews with pre-screened questions that you've done on the last 133 space shuttle missions, and why should anyone give a shit about this transparently obvious PR stunt aimed at generating just enough public interest to keep NASA's budget at the same decrepit state it's been at since the end of the Apollo missions 40 years ago?

Oh, and could you please tell us what it's like to eat and drink in space?

Re:[raises hand]

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd also suspect most of the YouTube users who will vote for the most wanted to be answered questions, might vote for "Can you see the traces of Noah's Flood from the space".
I'd happily watch Neil Degrasse Tyson from PBS Nova ask some questions, rather than "The most voted questions on YouTube". Apologies, I'll skip this time.

Re:[raises hand]

[camperslo]

Well maybe, just maybe, someone will come up with some interesting questions. Not the what's sex like in zero G variety, but something really out of the box.

(putting on thinking cap)

Does the space station have any instruments that can "see" radiation in the air on Earth?
Could the space station being used to launch/release material for cloud-seeding following a nuclear accident? One of the impacts of releases that can affect a significant number (but still tiny percentage) of people long afterwards is from Iodine 131 carried by the wind, and brought down in light rainfall to pasture where it it taken in by cows then humans through milk. Those with smaller thyroids and those with consuming larger amounts of milk, and women in particular are most affected (namely the unborn through about age 15). Most of what affected Sweden from Chernobyl came down in a single day. Thyroid and breast issues 10 - 25 years out are the most common consequences.

So could cloud seeding by done by something sent down from orbit, or planes, to cause much of the Iodine to be brought down as rain into the ocean, before reaching vulnerable land areas. (It's nothing to panic over, but some U.S. cities have seen rainfall with levels far above what would be allowed in drinking water. Perhaps any small long-term effect could have been reduced. Of course feeding cows hay instead of letting them graze for a short period might have been something to consider also )

http://www.ccrcal.org/PDF/Regional_Registries/Reg2AnnualReport.pdf
See upward slope of graphs for women P 18 and P 46

Re:[raises hand]

[MoonBuggy]

Fuck that. There are people in SPACE. That's awesome. Just because it's not new and shiny any more, and just because they're engaging with the public in a somewhat contrived and engineered fashion, doesn't change how amazing it is even a tiny little bit. If clumsy PR is what it takes to sustain enough public interest to keep their budget going, then so be it.

Of course, if you're arguing that whatever money they spent on PR over the years would have been better spent bribing the Chinese to launch a harmless but ominous-looking 'secret' satellite that goes beep every thirty seconds, I will concede that they probably could've raised their budget by an order of magnitude by now...

Re:[raises hand]

[SlashV]

on the last 133 space shuttle missions

U mean 1337 space shuttle missions... oh wait. Funny how I really read that wrong when I quickly glanced over your post..

Re:[raises hand]

[demonlapin]

That's my money (and, if you're an American who pays income taxes, yours too) being spent up there. Sorry, if you're going to take my money away from me, I'm going to demand a better rationale than "That's awesome."

There are a lot of good reasons for people to stay the hell out of space, and not very many good ones to put them up there. Now, if we could drastically decrease the cost of putting things in orbit, maybe it would make sense. Until then, it's just a waste of money that could be far better spent on other things.

Re:[raises hand]

[bmo]

>Sorry, if you're going to take my money away from me, I'm going to demand a better rationale than "That's awesome."

Name a pet project that you like (including defense spending) and I'll come up with the same argument you just did.

If your argument consists of "you're taking my money for what I don't like" then I suggest you go back to Somalia where there aren't any taxes - or services.

--
BMO

Re:[raises hand]

[tftp]

Why do you want to bother astronauts? You can always ask on Slashdot and get mostly correct answers. For example:

Does the space station have any instruments that can "see" radiation in the air on Earth?

No, because air is not radioactive. If you ask about the radioactive dust in air (or on ground) you need a gamma ray telescope for that, and it doesn't need to be on the ISS. However from every point of view it's far more practical to use airplanes to take samples of air; this will pick up alpha and beta radiation too, and the resolution will be greater. Also it is important to know how high certain air streams with dust are because that tells you how far the dust is likely to spread. Observation from above won't tell you that.

Could the space station being used to launch/release material for cloud-seeding following a nuclear accident?

No. It's very expensive to launch any useful amount of materials. If, however, you do launch them and then release they don't fall onto the surface but continue orbiting the planet.

The discussion about Iodine is not a question. However if you want to form clouds, for any reason, the technology to do that exists already.

Re:[raises hand]

[demonlapin]

I can come up with a better rationale for defense spending than "it's awesome". Can't you?

As for ".... Somalia!", it's a dull mind that can't imagine a government that fits somewhere in size between the current US govt and anarchy.

Re:[raises hand]

[RadioElectric]

Because we can finally boss around some astronauts. "PUT SPACEBOOT ON HEAD!"

Miles O'Brien

[Hatta]

I'd be more interested in asking Chief Petty Officer Miles O'Brien questions about transporter technology.

Re:Miles O'Brien

[Seumas]

How much O'Brien?

Re:Miles O'Brien

[Thelasko]

You jest, but this Miles O'Brien used to be chief science correspondent at CNN, until they sadly disbanded their science reporting unit:(

Re:Miles O'Brien

[MillerHighLife21]

"His head's on backwards!"

here cometh

[Anonymous Coward]

here cometh the most elaborate and epic rickrolls of our time -- IN SPACE!!!

Need to reschedule the election

[msobkow]

They rescheduled the debates in Canada for the hockey fans. Surely the geeks can get them to reschedule the election now to make room for this broadcast...

Re:Need to reschedule the election

[camperdave]

Sadly, we don't get NASA-TV on this side of the border.

Re:Need to reschedule the election

[Anonymous Coward]

They reed to reschedule the erection?

Sex

[iONiUM]

That's all I want to know. How is the sex, and can I possibly get a video?

Honestly, if the Space program needs money so bad, why don't they just send a few porn stars up now and then and sell the zero-G porn movie to make money for the actual missions?

Re:Sex

[ModernGeek]

Probably because there is no way that it would be able to recoup the $300 million cost of sending up two porn stars.

Re:Sex

[x*yy*x]

And you can simulate zero-G on earth too...

Re:Sex

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably because there is no way that it would be able to recoup the $300 million cost of sending up two porn stars.

I think you underestimate the audience for such a thing.

Re:Sex

[JockTroll]

You can, but the Vomit Comet grants you max 25 seconds of freefall. That's scarcely twice the length of the average shot in a porn movie which is about 10-15 seconds depending on the director (Antonio Adamo goes for about 10 seconds ASL while Viv Thomas easily surpasses the 30 seconds mark). Considering that your typical porn scene averages 10 minutes from fellatio initiation to facial shot, you're racking up some valuable aircraft time. And we're not even talking about reshoots. Might as well send the whole cast and crew on the ISS.

Re:Sex

[SlashV]

If you don't mind a quicky..

Re:Sex

[Anonymous Coward]

You are, truly, a waste of human life.

Re:Sex

[JockTroll]

Prove me wrong, loserboy. At least I do the research while you weep yourself to sleep in the locker I shoved you into after beating the crap out of you. Say hello to the cockroaches.

views

[wsxyz]

This won't be enough to get in the coveted "Top 10 Views" chart at Youtube. They'll have to either add a public humiliation and beat-down, or just go all-out straight to "The Evolution of Dance" IN SPACE!

Important Question For Endeavour +3, Helpful

[Anonymous Coward]

Will the Alien be included in the Interview?

Thanks for your cooperation.

Yours In Akademgorodok,
K. Trout

Intelligent discussion will ensue

[Stratoukos]

YouTube users will vote on which questions they want to see answered.

I see no problem whatsoever with this statement.

Penis

[Anonymous Coward]

Penis penis penis penis penis penits

The Uranus Experiment

[Anonymous Coward]

Already been done.
They used a variant of the Ilyushin Il-76.

if its like every other youtube Q&A

[Anonymous Coward]

90% of the questions end up being marijuana related

Hams in Space?

[siriuskase]

Will there be any hams aboard? An awful lot of astronauts are hams and spend much of there downtime chatting on the ham bands. While you must be a ham or with a ham to talk, anyone can listen if they know how.

How many

[Osgeld]

billions is this PR stunt costing us, and what is its invaluable scientific discovery to mankind. .. second though I guess I shouldnt bitch, we did get a pathetic 138 mil for energy research, not like we need energy or anything

Re:How many

[bledri]

How many ...

billions is this PR stunt costing us, and what is its invaluable scientific discovery to mankind. ...

Huh? How does responding to a few questions on YouTube cost anything?

Re:How many

[elrous0]

The interview doesn't cost anything. But prepping the set cost $700 million.

Cats abord Endeavour?

[PPH]

If not, what's the video doing on YouTube?

Watch it blow up!

[Anonymous Coward]

7 up just like in 1986