As someone else posted, an engine cut-off just before launch happened several times during the Shuttle program. There was even a case where a main engine shut down during flight, forcing an abort to orbit (ATO) - do a Youtube search for the launch of Challenger mission STS-51F.

One of my favourite space-related quotes came from STS-41D (Discovery), which had a main engine cut off at T-6s. Apparently the situation was rather...tense, with a fire starting after the engines shut down. One of the crewmen broke the tension: "Gee, I thought we'd be a lot higher at MECO!" (Main Engine Cut-Off).

Thanks so much for your reflections, everyone. I've been coming here since 1998 (and, like many, registered far too late to get a cool, low UID). What's amazed me is the nature of the community and the discussion that happens here. Certainly, there are the usual trolls but more often than not I see really good, even deep discussion on here. This is a testament to the people who come here and - especially - to the great moderation and meta-mod system that's encourages that type of discussion. When I compare the discourse here to that on most news sites, /. is consistently far ahead of what exists elsewhere.

So thanks for that, Rob! We'll miss you. And I saw that you were musing about writing a book. Please do so! I, for one, would be very interested to read about your time in /. from your own perspective.

I have to agree. I know I took a while to reply... about 45 minutes, actually... after I had watched the video, spellbound by what I was seeing.

Wow.

Even as a Youtube video, the views and detail was amazing. If the people who put this video together happen to read this thread, thank you for creating this. If you could upload it as a high quality version and/or make a DVD available, that would be even better! But as it is, I'm simply amazed at what I saw and loved the explanations along the way.

Not only that, but if we can establish a low-level warp field around the station, then we can move it to the mouth of the wormhole really quickly.

And the 6 fingered man killed Inigo Montoya's father...

Agree with Commander Keen! Smooth scrolling on an 8088/CGA machine? That was incredible back in the day.

The other game that took many, many, many hours from me was the original Wing Commander. That game was incredible for it's time, from the graphics, music, and storyline. It put my old Adlib card to good use. Many, many fun times!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbzioZBTUIU

I'd be interested in finding out how to do a double-blind, visual test. ;-)

FWIW, I fully agree with you and the GP about higher frame rates. I remember back in the day when I had the latest Need for Speed game (I think it was NFS III, which ran at 640x480x256 colours), and the original, EGA graphics IndyCar game from Papyrus (320x200x16 colours). The graphics quality was much lower in IndyCar, but my computer ran it at a much higher frame rate than NFS III. As a result I found IndyCar much more playable.

And you're ok?

Hehe... that's good. I like this as well:

Felis catus, is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature;
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion,
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.

Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.