Space Shuttle Heading Home 62
Reuters is reporting that the shuttle has been prepping for a return to Earth, stowing gear and checking systems. Their expected return is tomorrow morning, around 9am EDT. From the article: "During tests on Sunday a leaking power unit for the shuttle flight control system appeared to be in good enough shape for landing and the jets that steer the spacecraft worked fine, NASA engineers said. The shuttle crew was still awaiting word on whether Discovery's heat shield had passed a final inspection performed on Saturday, but scans conducted with cameras and sensors throughout the flight had so far turned up no damage."
Re:Cojones (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Cojones (Score:1)
Re:Cojones (Score:1)
I would have offered my first born if I had any kids.
Re:Cojones (Score:1, Funny)
Yes, it's proven a wise strategy to send a monkey up first to see if it's safe.
BOOM!
"Uh, guys, can I interest you in my second born?"
KFG
Re:Cojones (Score:2)
Re:Cojones (Score:2)
It follows along the lines of the fact that if you lost someone you were firends with in a car accident, would you get into a car again? The answer is yes, as the risk is minimal enough to not worry you every time you dr
Re:Cojones (Score:2)
But.. um.. could you describe the mechanism by which you came to the conclusion that it's safer than the airline flight and drive?
'cause it seems to me that if these guys [planecrashinfo.com] are right about the "per trip" statistics, and you figure drive, flight, drive, your odds of being in a fatal accident on the way to the pad are something like, 3.8 million to one against, whereas the odds of being in a fatal trip to space and back have
Re:Cojones (Score:2)
going on that data the risk per mission sounds quite high to me. certainly worse than driving to the airport and taking a flight.
now the risk per mile is very low but thats mainly a result of the insane number of miles done in the relatively safe LEO environment, its launches and landings that are dangerous (for any spaceship not just the shuttle).
Re:Cojones (Score:2, Funny)
Pointless mission? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Pointless mission? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Pointless mission? (Score:1)
Re:Pointless mission? (Score:1)
I completely agree. Which is why I think TV news
Re:Pointless mission? (Score:5, Informative)
I'll save you the trouble of clicking on it. Equipment delivered to the ISS:
1 new astronaut on board the ISS, Thomas Reitner from the European Space Agency, to stay with the current crew for six months.
80 C Freezer: This freezer is known as the Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). The French-built unit comprises four independent drawers which can be set to operate at different temperatures (image). Initially, temperatures of 80 C, 26 C, and +4 C will be used during on-orbit ISS operations. Both reagents and samples will be stored in the freezer. As well as storage, the freezer is designed to be used to transport samples to and from the ISS in a temperature controlled environment. The total capacity of the unit is 300 liters.
The European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) for biological experiments. This consists of a gas tight incubator in which there are two centrifuges, each able to carry four experimental cartridges. Two "Ground controls"--exact copies of the equipment and experiments--will be run on the ground. One will be in Europe and one at NASA's Ames Research Center.
New oxygen generation system. This device is considered a test for an equipment design with potential for use on postulated future long durations to the Moon and Mars. The system will initially run below its maximum capacity, though it is designed for enabling the ISS to support a crew of six in the future. It will supplement the Russian-built Elektron system operating in the Zvezda module.
New cycling machine for the ISS crew. A Danish built device, the Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation System (CEVIS). (They have to exercise or else they'll dramatically lose bone mass due to lack of gravity, of course.)
Replacement common cabin air assembly heat exchanger used to control the internal air temperature of the ISS.
All of the above equipment is to be installed in the Destiny Laboratory Module. Additionally the orbiter and ISS computer printers will be swapped.
Re:Pointless mission? (Score:2)
Thanks for the info.
Re:Pointless mission? (Score:2, Informative)
the printer (Score:2)
NASA probably wishes it could get normal (almost empty) ink cartridges for only $60.
I bet the ISS is getting plastered with Dilbert cartoons.
the freezer in non-French units (Score:2)
79.3 gallons
Re:Pointless mission? (Score:4, Insightful)
That's the problem...what the media focuses on and what the purpose of most of the mission is are entirely different things. Sure, many of the goals (and indeed, the highest priority goals) of this particular flight is to help establish on orbit inspection and repair techniques, but there are a lot of other things.
In particular, within NASA I think the most significant part of this mission (besides the tank repairs and the on orbit inspection techniques) is the return of ISS to a three person crew. Even more significant, that third crew member is an European Space Agency astronaut and the orbiter dropped off a major European payload rack (MELFI, which is a giant low temperature freezer).
Unfortunately, that really doesn't come up in the coverage, it's very much geared towards "so, what happened today that could have killed the crew". The spin of "constant danger" the press puts on the mission is what gets people to watch, not the fact that we just dropped off a German guy on the Space Station. The press conferences and coverage are dominated by what is almost excruciatingly detailed discussions of what are in reality very minor problems. It's what gets people to watch.
Detailed landing timeline and get your camera out (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Detailed landing timeline and get your camera o (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Detailed landing timeline and get your camera o (Score:2)
Re:Detailed landing timeline and get your camera o (Score:1)
I'm hoping we'll get a look-see here in Houston.
Somewhere on NASA site is the Ground Tracks to see the flight path. I'm to lazy to Google it.
Re:So no disaster. Any successes? (Score:2, Insightful)
Because shuttle flight is pretty mundane when it comes down to it. Not to take away the technical hurdles of every flight. I'm a bit more optimistic then others. Only because NASA has been so succesful in making shuttle launches seem so mundane do we all flip out when a disaster occurs and start questioning NASA's capab
Re:So no disaster. Any successes? (Score:3, Informative)
Now did/will the shuttle do anything beyond that? Any delivery? Any research? Any discoveries? Anything more than launch, orbit, landing?
They also delivered supplies and performed vital repairs on the ISS. Also they dropped off a third crewman, who will spend the next few months on the station, and tested out a new extension to the shuttle's robot arm, which should make it easier to perform repairs to the underside of the shuttle.
So it was more than just going into space, then landing again.
Re:So no disaster. Any successes? (Score:2)
Discovery launched with seven astronauts on board, but left one of them -- Germany's Thomas Reiter -- at the space station where he will stay for six months.
The Discovery delivered a 3rd crew member to the ISS. Without shuttles it were impossible to have 3 people on board.
Unappreciated pioneers. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Unappreciated pioneers. (Score:2, Insightful)
Because at that point the lush forests of Mars and the pristine atmosphere of Venus will prove irresistable targets.
KFG
Re:Unappreciated pioneers. (Score:2)
Re:Unappreciated pioneers. (Score:1)
Yup - AND, at a cost of a bazillion $$$ for each group of half a dozen or so: prepare to be disappointed.
I guess since it's not all shiney lights and space babes like Star Trek, no one seems to care.
Even better [zortic.com]: purple space chickies, green-skinned heroes, cyclopean space engineers, and, occasionally, sitcom TV show themes and 80's pop lyrics!
Re:Unappreciated pioneers. (Score:2)
Apparently, Earth is at the bottom of the universe.
Re:shoot the white elephant (Score:1)
Space walks... (Score:1)
Re:Space walks... (Score:1)
KFG
Re:Space walks... (Score:1)
Them ol' boys at the ol' NASA (Score:3, Funny)
"Yep, them there space trucker fellers been flyin' Ol' Betty since way back when, yessir. Now she may not have all them new silly-cone chips or them there onboard DVD players folks always talkin' 'bout, but you take her for a spin, I dare say she'll surprise you. Got some bite under the bonnet yet, that's what ol' Mark Kelly said when he first flew her. Jerry Morgan, he chimes in, he says, 'Yep, that's from when we picked up them snak
Re:shoot the white elephant (Score:3, Interesting)
It is not at this time believed that the shuttle can be landed without a human pilot for the simple reason that the autopilot is not good enough to land on a runway.
Well, that's just wrong.
This mission is actually the first where the shuttle can be landed remotely, as reported here [space.com]. Basically a cable was built that allows the ground to actuate some functions that orginally the crew had to do switch throws for.
What is interesting about the cable is that (if I recall correctly) it only cost a couple hundred
Re:shoot the white elephant (Score:5, Interesting)
Pointless Story? (Score:1)
"This just in, shuttle is to do a barral roll in space for up comming landing... Now watch as the shuttle goes through the atmosphere, drama unfolds in the cockpit as the astronauts try to reassure NASA that everything is okay... Now lets play the landing in slow motion so as to gather info on a leaky brake... Now we will p
Beam me up (Score:5, Funny)
Operating a freezer in space... (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the mission goals was to set up a -80 C freezer on the ISS. We have a couple in our lab (most bio labs do) -- they're primarily used to store biological samples. The -20 C freezer and 4 C refridgerater are also standard operating equipment in biology (or chemistry, I suppose), so it looks like they're gearing up to do some life sciences work.
Now, this brings up an interesting issue -- How do you operate refrigeration equipment in space? Especially that -80 C...it's a real power hog and probably outputs a lot of heat (in a closed air environment, is this a problem?). Does anyone know how cooling is done in space? Is it still based on condenser coils? Can they somehow utilize the "cold" of space for this purpose?
Re:Operating a freezer in space... (Score:1)
Re:Operating a freezer in space... (Score:1, Informative)
Nothing there to take the heat... So you can discharge superheated gasses or something. Until you run out of gas.
Re:Operating a freezer in space... (Score:1)
Re:Operating a freezer in space... (Score:3, Funny)
That's it! the -80C freezer is a screen door!
Re:Operating a freezer in space... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Operating a freezer in space... (Score:5, Informative)
A space radiator is very effective: it can get things extremely cold just by circulating the fluid without any active refrigeration (i.e, no compressor, no phase changes). The only hitch is that you have to keep sunlight off it, by a combination of sunshades and spacecraft attitude control.
We tend to lose sight of how effective radiation is here on Earth where we have air redistributing heat, but the moon is a good example: its surface temp is about 110C on the dayside and -180C on the nightside.
rj
Re:Operating a freezer in space... (Score:1)
Re:Operating a freezer in space... (Score:3, Informative)
The payload racks in the US segment laboratory are water cooled, there are two internal water cooling loops in the laboratory that circulate through the racks. The internal water system dumps heat through a heat exchanger to an external ammonia loop, which gets rid of the heat through the radiators you can see deployed as some of the external ISS appendages. Basically, they are the big white panels that aren't solar arrays.
What did they do (Score:3, Interesting)