End of an Era: Shuttle program coming to a close
- Thread starter CodeRedR51
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And 9 minutes after that, it was starting to cross the Indian Ocean! Nearly five miles every second, wow.What got me was the fact that 20 minutes after launch, it was over the south of England. From Florida...
Anyone know when on Sunday GMT the Shuttle is scheduled to rendezvous with the ISS over my head? Wonder if it'll be visible from the ground
(edit: nvm, it's listed on the NASA homepage. 11:06am EDT)I know what you mean just to witness it in person would be amazing, but accepting that, it's only just powerful enough to get to orbit, if it had lots of power it would shoot on and be able to leave the solar system or visit one of it's planets.
Needs more power captain!
Although maybe in it's cargo hold it could carry a mini spaceship with it's own fuel and be able to escape the earth's pull I dont know.
BobK
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I watched the first shuttle launch in April 1981, several Apollo launches (and the immortal "one small step for a man..."), even Alan Shepard's Redstone ride. I remember seeing the banks of IBM 7090 mainframes they had in Houston.
The thought passed through my mind yesterday, while watching the Shuttle launch, that I was using more computing power to watch the launch than NASA had available to it altogether back then.
Tired Tyres
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(see avatar)Aside from that, I agree 100% with what you're saying - the Shuttle will always have a special place in the popular imagination, but it's day is done.
RIP Shuttle, and thanks for the memories.
PeterJB
Yes, nothing says 'We've equalled 1960's US technology' better than setting foot on the Moon!Robin.
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Had to share this, pictures assembled by a portuguese newspaper in hommage to the end of the Shuttle program. Some truly amazing pictures.
http://static.publico.pt/docs/ciencia/shuttle_ultima_viagem/
http://static.publico.pt/docs/ciencia/shuttle_ultima_viagem/
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In fairness, I have read that the moon could be used as a space dock of sorts, to launch from, to other planetary bodies. I'm not sure how plausible that is though.
Robin
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Yeah but nothing says 'we are the only nations left that have huge amounts of money and influence in this world' better than setting foot on the moon!
I really don't care about which nation does what as long as there is progress, if anyone can start building a lunar base then hats off to them.
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Depends whether you take the Top Gear polar expedition viewpoint - the challenge now is to see how easily we can land on the moon, since we know it's already possible.
Anyway, moon landings will likely be unmanned for the foreseeable future - the main incentive for going there now is discovering whether the planet is rich enough in elements to justify mining it. I think China is the nation closest to sending up an unmanned vehicle and you can bet your bottom dollar they're doing it to claim a stake in valuable materials.
That, and Stevisiov's suggestion that the moon would make a good platform from which to launch deeper space missions, since the fuel needed to launch of the surface is vastly less than is required to leave the Earth's atmosphere. So you may still get that astronaut on Mars, via the moon
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So sad its coming to an end.... Growing up in Tampa, FL I frequently saw the faint smoke trail going up into the air when it launched as a kid. Tried to see some launches at the cape with my pops but always ended up with delays and never saw it launch unfortunately. I did have the opportunity to see it land from about a mile away when I was at Space Camp when I was 11. Sonic boom was crazy... sounded like it was right above your head!
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Interesting article in today's Guardian, pretty much concurs with what Danoff is saying!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jul/21/space-shuttle-programme
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Manned space flight will always be a part of the future of space exploration, but I fear that the future of manned space flight may be less about the pioneering spirit of adventure and discovery of the 20th Century, and will more likely become more perfunctory and banal... from space tourism ("Kewwwl, I can see my house!") to earning your keep as a miner down some pit on Phobos, as an employee of the 陕西有色金属控股集团有限责任公司 Corp.
The discovery of life on another solar system body such as Titan, Europa, or even a passing comet, or some other evidence of life from outwith the confines of the Earth, will probably not be made by a human eye or hand, but by a spectrometer of some description. After that, the Chinese could stage the 2056 Olympic Games on Ganymede, and it still wouldn't make the front page of the newspaper.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jul/21/space-shuttle-programme
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Manned space flight will always be a part of the future of space exploration, but I fear that the future of manned space flight may be less about the pioneering spirit of adventure and discovery of the 20th Century, and will more likely become more perfunctory and banal... from space tourism ("Kewwwl, I can see my house!") to earning your keep as a miner down some pit on Phobos, as an employee of the 陕西有色金属控股集团有限责任公司 Corp.
The discovery of life on another solar system body such as Titan, Europa, or even a passing comet, or some other evidence of life from outwith the confines of the Earth, will probably not be made by a human eye or hand, but by a spectrometer of some description. After that, the Chinese could stage the 2056 Olympic Games on Ganymede, and it still wouldn't make the front page of the newspaper.
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