Atlantis Liftoff Still On Schedule
Here’s a thread for my fellow space geeks. The shuttle Atlantis is still on schedule for a 2 p.m. ET liftoff, beginning its mission to repair the Hubble telescope. You can watch the launch prep and the launch itself here.
There’s so much debris up there now that a stand-by shuttle is also on the launch pad in the event a rescue mission is necessary:
Still, some risks remain. NASA has estimated there’s a 1-in-221 chance the shuttle could be struck by orbiting space debris from past missions. Thousands of speeding objects litter the heavens, some as large as several feet in diameter, and the Hubble’s orbit is more crowded with space junk than that of the international space station, which orbits at a lower altitude, NASA said.
While the Atlantis’s shields would likely deflect a small piece of debris, a larger object could cripple the spacecraft, NASA said. Space shuttle Endeavour is on standby in the unlikely event that NASA will need to rescue the Atlantis crew members during their 11-day mission.
In related news, last week, NASA approved the partial privatization of the space program.
It’s a start. As Pope John Paul II said, “Where self-interest is suppressed, it is replaced by a burdensome system of bureaucratic control that dries up the wellspring of initiative and creativity.”
Walking down the beach with your significant other, pointing up to the night sky and saying, “There’s a beautiful ‘Red Bull/Applebees moon’ out this evening” will be a small price to pay.
Besides, if the space program were more open to the private sector, some financial burden could be lifted from taxpayers. I’d be willing to bet you could put a heck of a down payment on an entire mission simply by agreeing to have an astronaut step onto the surface of Mars, remark “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for Pepsi” and then pull out a cell phone, and say, “Can you hear me now?” Mission paid for. Cha-ching!
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To be accurate, he should probably say, “Can you hear me fifteen minutes from now?”
While we’re on this NASA privatizing thing…can we finally get rid of the left wing loon James Hansen?
Thanks Doug! Just call me a fellow space geek. I plan on watching, but I still have a goal to roadtrip down to Florida this year to see a launch in person before the shuttle is retired.
For anyone interested, the United States is favored for some bright fly-overs of the International Space Station this week; you can get predictions at http://www.spaceweather.com (click on the link for “Satellite Flybys”) and http://www.heavens-above.com. Predictions of times to see the space shuttle will be there, too, if favorable. It’s always fun to watch them fly overhead.
And I agree, I’m ready to see the private sector enter into the exploration of space.
The way bho is going to tax businesses, they won’t have the money to get a shuttle off the ground. If they do manage to get it done, you can bet bho will take all the credit.
L
A shuttle with a Penzoil or STP logo on it would be cool.
Joe Biden’s shuttle to be sponsored by Home Depot!
Hubble Images
One of the best expenditures of my tax dollars.Ever.
Space Launch brought to You By NASACAR? Adds a whole new meaning to the term SPACE RACE.
Rogue,
Years ago I kicked myself for not writing Maytag. In the 80’s the Russian space station Mir was constantly breaking down.
I thought, what a great way to advertise Maytag. Have the Maytag repairman sent to Mir to repair their appliances. In each ad, as he was repairing the item, he could have told the crew that they would not have needed him had they purchased a Maytag.
Don’t forget “Tang,” although I don’t even know if they still make it.
THAT is a MUST, agreed.
Of course, in Hollywood’s view, once you have the space program go into private “Enterprise” (pun intended, teehee), the Business will have some corrupt agenda and will send its crony onto some important space mission where inevitably something goes wrong and the (white male) crony will kill all of the crew, except one before he’s killed, trying to accomplish the corruption goal. The crony will finally be killed by the Hero, which so far can still be a white male himself, but the black crewman will be the first to die.
I am a Space Geek, too. My older brother was such a Geek growing up, built models of Saturn rockets. I can still recall seeing them all taped to a piece of cardboard in his room.
I’m not clever enough to think of Sponsor’s. I’ll leave that to others. I didn’t realize this Mission would be so dangerous, with all the Space debris. Can’t we get a Hoover or Magnetico up there to clean up? That would definitely have to be Private Industry. I suppose there would be radioactivity from being exposed to space, though.
I so think Hubble is worth it. The pics have been out of this world (teehee). I hear one of the Astronauts flashed the Vulcan sign as they were embarking. Yeah, Live Long and Prosper guys (gals?) Safe journey. Don’t let anymore tool belts get away from you.
If the original Star Trek taught us anything, it was never wear a red shirt. You were only in danger if you wore a red shirt.
Only a few minutes to go. I’m watching on the NASA Channel on the Dish.
You should checkout the special tools for this mission. They have one plate with over 100 little screws that must be removed. They came up with a device to ensure none so drifting off.
The tools are on the NASA website, I heard.
Gosh, I get a chill every time I see this lift off. I pray God will be with the mission and return home ok.
L
My fingers were crossed right up until the booster rockets separated. So far, so good…
Beautiful lift-off…I miss the Saturn V moon missions.
Flyoverman (how appropriate a topic for that Handle), I caught the end of a TV program over the weekend Hubby tuned thru. They could have mentioned it,not sure. I did just go and review a lot of Hubble’s pics just last week. Didn’t think to review this Mission’s “nuts and bolts”, so to speak.
Letget, from what Rush has said this AM, sounds like God definitely needs to be Co-Pilot on this Mission; space debris up to several feet in diameter traveling at what, 17,000 mph? Yikes. Hope these guys get hazard pay. Capt’n said he won’t feel relieved until his wheels are all back on the ground. Apparently the Capt’n was the one who did the stunts for Top Gun, Rush said. I think I’ll be adding something to the Prayer List, for sure. Will Obama take credit? HAH! Is God in His Heaven?
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spin_order_form.html
Free copy of the NASA magazine, anyone?
I hope there aren’t any from-the-future alien space craft up there…unless they can change the timeline for Obama to lose his senate race never to be heard from again!
This will be a mission to watch carefully, and pray for often. The captain said he won’t breathe easily until they touch down on landing.
Behiker, I couldn’t agree more! The private sector is where ideas come from, not government! The shuttles are ancient technology, and NASA being gubmint will not be where creative new ideas come from! Government efficiency is the classic oxymoron!
Flyoverman, that is a typically Navy thing. Google “red shirts on aircraft carriers”, you’ll find they had the most dangerous assignments on deck. Armaments, if memory serves me. (hat tip: the U.S.S. Lexington tour in Corpus Christi, TX).
Bones: (as he turns away from another red shirted body) “He’s dead, Jim!”
Michelle,
You’re assuming that these companies will escape the great Soros/Xerxes/SEIU takeover of the private sector.
How many privately owned companies will “the One” allow to remain untouched after his grand social experiment destroys our great Republic?
It is more likely we will see Xerxes’ image plastered on the side of the next space mission and billboards just like the other tyrants of the world do!
Part of the reason why private space industry hasn’t taken off can be traced back to the UN. The UN Outer Space Treaty essentially says that no person or government may own part (or all) of another heavenly body. There is a cornucopia of wealth out there to be mined. Oil, Nickel, Iron, aluminum, carbon, silicon, platinum, gold, copper. You name it, some heavenly body has it in abundance, even diamonds. How much would Exxon-Mobil pay for the amount of hydrocarbons on Titan? Now much would Special Metals (INCO) or Haynes International pay for the nickel in some of the asteroids?
There is enough wealth to be had out there that you could literally crash the markets if you brought it all onto the market at once. So you can bet that if it were legal for someone to go get one of these rocks and mine it, they would figure out a way to do it because the payoff would be so high. But since it is all off limits, the only private participation you’ll get is as a subcontractor to the government.
NASCAR-type sponsorship for a shuttle?
For space debris: Waste Managment
Tires: Goodyear or Firestone (whoever makes the tires)
Toilet facilities: Roto-Rooter
Paint: DuPont
Cereal: Wheaties
Repair insurance (extended warranty): Fidelus
Phone service: Boost
Military: US Space Command
Just some ideas. Man, I can see some fancy paint jobs now with the major sponsor the biggest with lesser sponsors listed in front of the door just like on the cars.
ECS
Rorschach, perhaps we could be like Russia: Proclaim this asteroid or that Planed as ours. Hey, it worked for them with the North Pole. If no one listens to us, like no one listened to them, we can mine for Diamonds. Okay, okay, Hydrocarbons first. But if we aren’t working on it on our Continental Shelf, I can’t see getting it from Titan.
We KNOW how to do that, the technology and equipment already exists and is in use elsewhere. We could have first oil by the time we kicked his sorry butt out of the white house, but Obama just won’t let us. Stupid freaking Demoncrap. makes me so mad I could puke.
We need ‘Quark’ now more than ever!
Best pun on TV ever: Richard Benjamin was the captain of a garbage collection spaceship. His science officer (a la Spock), was 1/2 human, 1/2 plant (a vegeton), was named (are you ready?) – ‘Ficus’. And real twin sisters played clones.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077066/
And for those who still don’t get the joke, go here.
Has anyone ever heard of a hit on the Hubble during it’s many years in orbit?
Love this stuff – my first professional job, at age 22, was as a scientific programmer on the Surveyor project. We had a champagne party on the first of 5 successful landings out of seven launches. Second job was on Project Corona – classified until 1995.
I had a sobering thought today, thinking about this relatively hasty (from some of heard) shuttle launch.
I remember watching the Columbia disaster, and I remember wondering if this was the act of one of our enemies.
9/11 was a not-distant memory then…
Strange how time affects our thinking.
After Challenger, I still experience a little anxiety when I hear:
“Go at throttle up”.
I’ve got lots of ideas for monetizing space. I don’t tell people because I don’t want people to steal my ideas.
On a sillier note, when I was much younger I used to think a big golden arches painted on the moon would be a great marketing idea for McDonald’s. I guess it’s not seeming so silly anymore, though I’d hate it.
I’ve got more practical and better ideas. . . .actually it has a lot to do with removing space debris. . . or that could be one function of my idea.