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Shuttle Atlantis Docks With International Space Station For the Last Time
The BBC reports, with video, that the shuttle Atlantis "has docked with the International Space Station for the final time. The shuttle has brought a year's supply of food and around two tonnes of other supplies and spare parts to the ISS," where the shuttle will remain docked for at least seven days.
how are more supplies going to get there?
Buanzo Consulting - 15 Years of GNU/Linux experience, for you.
russia
Yes, this is the last shuttle flight.
We had the last launch.
This is the last docking.
Up next are the last undocking, last reentry, last landing, last move to final resting place. Last meal? Last piss/dump on the space shuttle?
Yes, it is regrettable, but this is the last flight. A lot of things they do will be the last time.
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Shuttle Atlantis [insert verb or verb phrase here] for the last time.
Why not just leave the shuttle there? It went up with just 4 astronauts, surely a soyuz capsule can bring them back. Let's just leave the shuttle there as a large-scale escape pod and science area. Why not do that with all the shuttles? Do we really need that many of them showing up in museums? Is the shuttle any less space-worth over the long term than the rest of the ISS?
This is my humble request:
Taking stock of the 30 years of the shuttle program. I mean, I would like to know the benefits directly linked to the decades of this program.
The stock should include among other metrics; how much tax payer dollars have been sunk into the program, how else these dollars could have been used, what benefits we've obtained as a nation, any missed opportunities and other benefits if any. Specifically, I would like to see tangible things that can directly be attributed to the presence of the shuttle program.
Here's my take: There is not much we have benefited. I other words, the USA would not be that worse of if the shuttle program never existed.
You are *so* right. With the approximately $200 billion that we spent on almost 30 years of space science, we could have bought: One failed insurance company!
Oh wait, we did. Yeah, given the choice between owning a failed insurance company (AIG in case you hadn't guessed), and contributing 30 years of spaceflight to the world, I think I am going to have to go with the shuttle program on this one.
Bullshit, this isn't something that you can assign a few bean counters to and end up with a meaningful number. What about the various engineers that got fired up about creating the shuttle? Or the many children that grew up wanting to pilot the shuttle that grew up to be scientists?
This isn't something that you can readily tally up and deem to be unprofitable. There's areas like battery technology which received a huge boost because of research that NASA was doing, not to mention air and water filtration technology.
Here's my take: There is not much we have benefited. I other words, the USA would not be that worse of if the shuttle program never existed.
Tell that to every scientist that watched a space shuttle launch as a child and was inspired to learn. Not all rewards are obvious and tangible.
If you're looking for tangibles, you can try this:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-07/ten-tech-innovations-nasas-space-shuttle-trickled-down-non-astronauts
But in reality, the entire benefit of the space shuttle program isn't just in "stuff". Lots of the benefits can't be boiled down into metrics, like inspiring children, boosting national pride, etc. I'm not going to claim that with these benefits the shuttles were worth their cost, but you're missing a lot of the point if you only look at the tangibles.
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Yes, that's where the crude simile comes from. You are docking your penis with another persons penis, just like you dock a spaceship with a space station.
This is equally retarded to someone complaining about using the terms pitcher or catcher when discussing baseball.
Yay, thanks for taking my silly joke about docking and making it sound disgusting and sexist, ass clown.
Meh. Highly specialized requirements + unlimited funding = try to justify with a non-space use. Looking at the list I'm unimpressed. If Goodyear wanted tires that have a 10,000 mile greater tread life I think they could have done that independently.
1. Baby formula with supplement
2. Goodyear tires with additional 10,000 mile tread life
3. Tiny pump
4. Better tuna nets
6. Rescue equipment (think better jaws of life)
7. Biodegradable commercial lubricant
8. Better insulation
9. Infrared camera
10. Possible Solutions for Osteoporosis Patients
Taking stock of the 30 years of the shuttle program...how else these dollars could have been used...
The cost of the shuttle program over 30 years ($196 billion - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program) could have funded 0.163 wars in Iraq and Bumfuckistan ($1,218 billion - http://costofwar.com/en/). A much worthier cause, killing brown people, no?
There is not much we have benefited.
You must be a card carrying Republicantard, or at least, a bible humper.
You gotta love false dichotomies. Either you are for the shuttle or you are for welfare to billionaires. Brilliant!
Fine, pick and choose your comparisons. How many teachers, policemen, and education programs for at risk youth could we have bought?
http://www.idlewords.com/2005/08/a_rocket_to_nowhere.htm
Clowns everywhere are disappointed at your "ass clown" slur you insensitive clod (with the possible exception of that one in Tripping the Rift).
Shuttle Atlantis Dances the Lambada for the Last Time!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
"finally... some peace and quiet!"
Guess they'll go home the same way they came up... using the Soyuz capsule.
This is blinging
LOL, I wonder if they will be saying "Shuttle commander uses shuttle toilet for last time ever...."
It's not a clown slur, it's a Michael Bolton slur. So, as long as your name isn't Michael Bolton, there's nothing to worry about...
* Last time Astronauts leaving shuttle and entering ISS
* Last time reentering the shuttle
* Last time use of a space toothbrush on a shuttle
* Last time use of shuttle toilet
* Last time farted on the shuttle
* Last time hit by a pillow after farting in the shuttle
* Last time energy bar picked from astronaut A consumed by astronaut B as a revenge action due to the fart thing earlier
I am waiting for the news: Atlantis landed successfully for the last time. All other last time message are just useless. Just hope they get back safely in that flea trap.
Let me guess, you have an MBA, and your children have to justify why they should receive love and support from you.
The benefits of the space programme are numerous, and the funding is a drop in the bucket financially compared to most things the US sinks money that don't have to "justify" themselves nearly as much.
The shuttle itself is a big bus that was expensive to run, but we didn't start out making cars that released no pollution, had high reliability and could be effectively mass produced, did we?
Just off the top of my head, there are composites used in the motorsport and regular auto industries that came directly from NASA research. So I'll submit "modern cars that use composites" as a "tangible thing" that can directly linked back to the shuttle.
Another angle to look at, that maybe the population on /. is now too young to have experienced:
The Cold War.
Part of what the Shuttle Program represented was American ingenuity, pride, craftsmanship and patriotism. At the time, the Shuttle was top titty when it came to LEO and space exploration. The Soviet Mir was great too, but the Shuttle is what America had. Many here have mentioned the youth that was inspired by the Shuttle Program to become scientists and engineers. This is true (and good, really) and it is complemented by a big fat "we're still beating those Commie Reds" as well.
do() || do_not();
Tell that to every scientist that watched a space shuttle launch as a child and was inspired to learn.
And? I bet we could have bought "inspiration" for a lot less than was spent on the Shuttle. The fundamental rebuttal to sentiments such as you express is opportunity cost. When intangible benefits are given an arbitrarily high price tag, then they become very expensive to obtain.
And what about every serial rapist who watched the space shuttle launch as a child and was inspired to rape and kill?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Why didn't they just keep the shuttles up in space when they were done with them? They could have been used as extra rooms on ISS, a new lab, etc etc.
While I think the Space Shuttle was perhaps not the best way of achieving the last 30 years of US manned spaceflight... it does sound like you know the cost of everything but the value of nothing. A programme like the Shuttle should not be measured purely on tangible profit and loss, there's more to it than that.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
How does a space shuttle launch inspire rape?
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
Taking stock of the 30 years of the shuttle program...how else these dollars could have been used...
The cost of the shuttle program over 30 years ($196 billion - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program) could have funded 0.163 wars in Iraq and Bumfuckistan ($1,218 billion - http://costofwar.com/en/). A much worthier cause, killing brown people, no?
There is not much we have benefited.
You must be a card carrying Republicantard, or at least, a bible humper.
Its a shame you used that word to describe Afghanistan, it no doubt gave someone an excuse to down mod your post as flamebait even though you are actually making a very worthy point: The amount we spend on wars far exceeds the amounts we spend on space exploration, especially when you consider that the money spent on Shuttles took 30 years whereas we have spent the money on Afghanistan and Iraq far more quickly.
Also, insulting all republicans probably didn't help your point. Hopefully this post will now actually show up to people browsing at 1 and above so they can still see your post and make up their own minds. In future though, you might want to try and make the same point in a more level headed manner if you actually want to convince anyone that your point has any merit.
I dont read