Space Shuttle lift off

[glojo]

I wonder if this incident will stop the other craft that is on its' way there with only 2 professional crew onboard and a paying space tourist.
$25 million (maybe £'s, not sure) seems a lot, but if you've got it to spare, why not.

At present they so no,(It is already on the way!!)

The incident is confined to the Russian section. The US astronaught is now simply monitoring events in his own area. No suit, or any protective clothing.

The Russians are now translating everything.
John

 

[Rose Chap]

If I had a $25,000,000 kicking about I'd definitely pay to go into space - what an amazing experience.

 

[glojo]

atlantis is now preparing re-entry. All systems and the weather is go for landing. I believe this week has seen the most human beings in space?? Twelve in total.

Regards,
John

 

[glojo]

For those of us who are addicted, the Space Shuttle has finally launched. (Second time lucky) What a spectacular and in every sense of the word.... brilliant night launch.

I am told a night launch allows better photography of the launch and any debris that might fall off.

As usual there is continual coverage on NASA TV

Regards,
John

 

[wallingd]

Saw it last night on NASA TV - amazing as ever! The speed it clears the tower... One should make a point of seeing every launch, no matter what time it is. There's always something new to learn. The organisation + precision of NASA engineers is I think something we can all look up to.

 

[grober]

Global Surveyor lost.

On another tack it sounds as if Nasa's Mars Global surveyor has sent back its last pictures after its marathon run of observations. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6170778.stm

 

[glojo]

After every shuttle launch each mission now gives the craft a thorough examination with this:

The quality of picture they are releasing to the public is this:

 

[wallingd]

Do you think they are deliberately supplying a lower quality of image to 'fool' the public into thinking there is nothing wrong? It was nonetheless very impressive to watch this. Live. Media player is either tiny-screen or blocky full-screen on my machine though...

Might have my eye/ear(s) on the spacewalks this week. I think it's worth it to make the effort. And if it's late at night, leave one's PC on and let it lullaby you to sleep !

 

[glojo]

Do you think they are deliberately supplying a lower quality of image to 'fool' the public into thinking there is nothing wrong? It was nonetheless very impressive to watch this. Live. Media player is either tiny-screen or blocky full-screen on my machine though...!

Hi Dave,
I think it is purely a logistic problem. There is a time delay with the public feed so if there were any noticeable problems then the feed would be disconnected (just my personal observation)

Regarding my comment about being purely logistical. I dread to think of the problems of streaming a high definition video!!! I have a 2mb broadband connection, but no way would that cope. The images we are seeing are clear enough to see if any tiles are missing and the clever thing is the boom can see just about everywhere. It was quite funny when it went by a port hole. A crew member was clearly visible waving to the camera.

I keep the link running and hopefully the docking will be live, then as you say so will the space walks. Hopefully this time the space walkers will know the difference between 'clockwise' and 'anti-clockwise' The previous female astronaut got into a tizz when told to tighten a nut, and there followed a lenghty debate on the direction to turn it. This time both walkers are men

My remarks are very much tongue in cheek, plus a touch of envy. These astronauts are all highly trained and most if not all have some type of engineering degree.

Regards,
John the envious

 

[glojo]

Absolutely spectacular pictures of the shuttle rotating just off the space station. The shuttle came to a halt just before docking. then rotated to show its underside to the station to allow hundreds of pictures to be taken. Two photographers. One with a 400mm lens, the other with an 800. (I got some great pictures) From the distance they were I should imagine they will see a flea having a shave on the outer skin of the shuttle. I believe htey have noted slight tile damage around one door and also some cellophane!! type material trapped between other tiles. The next episode will be the space walk.

Regards
John

 

[glojo]

Yesterday saw big problems with one of the space stations solar array assembly's. The P6 array needs to be retracted to allow for work, modifications to be carried out. I watched them try thirty nine times but each time the operation had to be aborted. Fortunately the array has been retracted enough to allow another array to commence tracking the sun. By this I mean the array now actually rotates, getting maximum benefit from the sun's rays. It was fascinating to watch this operation because every approximate 65 minutes the station went into 'night' mode. Night lasted 35 minutes, then daytime recommenced for another 65! So I suppose a full 24 hours earth time is really 100 minutes

NASA is now going into 'Think' mode but at the moment it looks like an extra space walk is being planned to allow astronauts to actually assist the folding of the array. This folding should be an automatic concertina effect, but at present every so often this 'concertina' is getting out of synch.

Bye for now,
John the envious

 

[wallingd]

Absolutely monumental pictures from today's spacewalk.

First + foremost, The ISS is now under its own official permanent power source.

Afterwards, Suni Williams, on her 1st spacewalk, had a big of a tanglement with her tethers. At another point her digital camera became disconnected and started floating away. I did not hear any update on this situation so I think we can safely assume all was resolved.

Because they are ahead of schedule they have now started to look at the troublesome solar array that was failing to successfully retract into its storage box on Wednesday. Live on NASA TV one can see the 2nd spacewalker Bob Curbeam applying controlled manual oscillations to the end of the array to try and free guide-wires/grommits which are the possible cause of retraction failure. It is currently nighttime. In around half an hour's time they are going to try a fresh retraction of the array into the box. We will see how well it concertinas up this time!

The nomeculature for every tiny element + the clarity of communications is amazing + really something to look up to and inspire.

 

[SG CL500]

Currently watching them try to free the jam on the rays that won't retract. The 'spacewalkers' are 'jumping' up and down on the booms to try to jog them into place. All this technology and they still have to resort to brute force as well - anybody got a club hammer, a large old screwdriver and some WD40 handy - that normally fixes most of my mechanical problems.

Bit spooky watching them do this with backdrop of space.

 

[wallingd]

Very real cam from Suni's point of view as well. Nearly nighttime. And nearly my bedtime !

 

[SG CL500]

they're at it again - slowly getting there

 

[wallingd]

My question is if they can't get hme Fri and Sat, what do they do then? hey don't ahve enough fuel for a wee which is how long it will be until the next landing window. They have used up a backup-due-to-weather day for landing by doing this spacewalk (they cannot forgo the day required to inspect the shuttle's tiles on obvious safety grounds).

 

[glojo]

The pictures have indeed been stunning. It makes me laugh how we can have a laugh at the 'she males' On the last mission the ground crew were trying to explain in great detail to the woman how to turn a nut anti-clockwise. They must have practised it hundreds of times in the pool back on earth, but when push comes to shove, or clockwise comes to anti-clockwise, she got into a right old tiss. Earlier on this mission when the men were re-wiring the space station they carried out the space walk with an hour to spare!

I had absolutely NO idea just how big those solar panels were. They are gi-normous. I have been busy for the last 24hrs or so and have missed the last space walk. Did they manage to stow the panel?

Here is a picture of two astronauts. I have a closer one but because I have media player on full screen, the pictures is not as detailed.

This bottom picture shows the two 'swinging off' the panels. On the left is 'Beemer' and on the right is the 'she-male'.

Looks like they are getting ready to come home.

Bye for now,
John

 

[SG CL500]

John - not sure if they got it fully stowed, as i couldn't hang around watching it - but they got it a heck of a lot closer. They had somebody near the booms (as above) and another attached to a remote arm being swung around.

 

[glojo]

John - not sure if they got it fully stowed, as i couldn't hang around watching it - but they got it a heck of a lot closer. They had somebody near the booms (as above) and another attached to a remote arm being swung around.

Thanks,
That woman (Sunny Williams) with the long hair would drive me bonkers. They are all in a very confined space and she has insisted on not making any attempt to tie it down. She has always looked like she has stuck her fingers into the lives mains the way it all stands up.

Because of the confined area the hair gets in the way of everyone. When they have a TV interview, she has to stand right at the back, simply because that hair would obstruct the view of everyone else.

I note when she changed crews from the shuttle onto the Space Station, she now has the hair secured and is wearing a hat! Does this speak about the different standards of what is acceptable?

John

 

[Flyer]

Not seen it mentioned, and slightly short notice , but STS-117 is due for lift-off in c.13 minutes. As ever, it's on NASA TV.