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Last NASA Spacewalk Marks End of Era
An anonymous reader writes "Astronauts embarked on the final space walk of the U.S. shuttle era at the International Space Station, where Atlantis is docked on the final mission of the 30-year U.S. program. Atlantis carries a year's worth of supplies — more than 3,600 kilograms — for the International Space Station. It will also bring up a system that will be used by Canada's Dextre robot to test a system for refuelling and repairing spacecraft and satellites in space."
Yes, this is the end of an era. It is worth noting, and we should have serious discussions about the future and direction of American space travel. But this is the last space shuttle spacewalk, not the last NASA spacewalk. Who approves these headlines, anyway?
(NB: the headline comes from TFA, so don't blame /. completely.)
It's our fault our government spends more money on lawyers than on astronauts. I hope the end of the space shuttle program is a tipping point in how involved we are in changing how our government works.
Don't believe anything I say. I crash test crack pipes for a living.
Doesn't stop the headline from reading 'LAST NASA SPACEWALK!!!'
Soon the toilet will flush on the Space Shuttle for the last time. The end of an era.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
You beat me to it. The last launch, the last docking, the last poop taken on the shuttle. Each of these (except the poop) has been hyped as the last thing or the end. Actually, the end should be when it lands, but then they'll bring it up again when it reaches its final resting place in a museum. I'd be glad to see it go, if only they had something better :-) Shame on NASA for not advancing human space vehicle design in 35 years. Lets flush this thing and move on.
i think that headline might be misleading. just want to be clear: this is not the last ISS spacewalk. The ISS has an airlock and can perform spacewalks with not shuttle support. (In fact, this spacewalk was actually carried out by ISS crewmembers and not shuttle crewmembers). This is, however, the last spacewalk while the shuttle is docked. Others will not have the extra shuttle assets to lean on.
Yes, I'm looking forward to the last of the "Last" articles now. I'm gutted that the shuttle era is over, especially as it won't be visible from the UK in its orbit (I was secretly hoping for a delay so I could see it go overhead one last time).
Ok. It's ISS crew. Are they not using their own suits? Or did they go over to the shuttle, use their suits and go out their airlock. And if so WHY?
End of an era? Yes. But the era that has ended is not just the shuttle program. It is the end of the U.S. Space program. The United States will never be prominent in space again.
Proverbs 21:19
Maybe you can pay for it by getting an extremely dangerous but very high paying job working a mining operation on the moon ;p
Seriously though... this is what I see being the ultimate outcome of the private sector in space. Tourism will be there, probably first, but eventually the focus will shift towards exploiting the resources that are out there.
I can totally see a company form up that takes nuclear waste (and other waste) and hurls it into the sun.
Is all this a good thing or a bad thing... I really don't know!
It's not the Last NASA space walk... It's the last space walk from the Space Shuttle..... I expect better from CmdTaco....
Read it carefully. It's the last space walk of the shuttle era. The ISS guys will probably be space walking again next month - it just won't be during the shuttle era then. So this one is really a big yawn.
I can totally see a company form up that takes nuclear waste (and other waste) and hurls it into the sun.
Not if you know anything about orbital mechanics.
Anything launched from Earth is in Earth's orbit of the sun. Which means unless your rocket is astoundingly powerful, it is going to keep crossing Earth's orbit over and over to get a gravity assist to slingshot it to the sun. Look at the orbit for MESSENGER, and that diddnt even go all the way to the sun.
Besides with as much uranium as coal power puts into the atmosphere it probably doesn't matter.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
u.s. space shuttle era is ending AND they are about to default on thier debt and plunge deeper into a global financial crisis. Wow, end of the United States empire? I think we may be seeing it.
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Which means unless your rocket is astoundingly powerful, it is going to keep crossing Earth's orbit over and over to get a gravity assist to slingshot it to the sun.
Uh, no. The only remotely viable plans I've seen for shuttle-based waste disposal (if launching nuclear waste on a shuttle could ever be considered viable) were based around rotary launchers that would cancel out most of the orbital velocity and drop it into the sun.
Using a rocket would be silly when you can use some solar panels, an electric motor and a few bits of spinning metal.
of the American Empire. Towards the end, I think Rome also used all it's money on armies defending rotting, ignored infrastructure.
Although space gets most of the attention, arctic and ocean exploration is way down, too. In the 1960s, there was talk of "undersea cities' and "cities under the ice". A few small underwater habitats were even built. The only one still operating, at Key West, is being used as a hotel for divers. No manned submarine has been down in the Marianas Trench since Trieste, in the 1960s.
That field, too, has been taken over by robots.
30 years of Space Shuttle.... 30 years of Donkey Kong..... Conicidence? I think NOT!!
--- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
Will there be a headline about the last time someone takes a dump in a space shuttle? We get it.... the program is over.