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Space Shuttle's Final Mission


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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
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Posted
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks

yes it sure is the end of an era, man orbiting the earth for the first time, then the moon, landing on the moon, space vehicles building platforms in space, visiting far out areas of the known area of space and the start of going beyond that. The last 50-60 years have been full of space endeavours, and sadly one or two catastrophic accidents. Life will not seem the same without something being on the news at regular intervals.

One thing I'll never forget is peering at my smallish black and white Tv in the early hours to watch the landing on the moon or the trip where there very nearly never made it back.

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Posted
  • Location: Horsham, West sussex, 52m asl
  • Location: Horsham, West sussex, 52m asl

yes it sure is the end of an era, man orbiting the earth for the first time, then the moon, landing on the moon, space vehicles building platforms in space, visiting far out areas of the known area of space and the start of going beyond that. The last 50-60 years have been full of space endeavours, and sadly one or two catastrophic accidents. Life will not seem the same without something being on the news at regular intervals.

One thing I'll never forget is peering at my smallish black and white Tv in the early hours to watch the landing on the moon or the trip where there very nearly never made it back.

i watched a programme last night, The Horizon Guide: Moon, showing the history of space travel and the moon landings. apparently we are still on for an international effort to have a permanent moonbase in the next 10-20 years

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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
NASA's five space orbiters - Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour have been rocketing since 1981 from the Florida coast into Earth orbit.

The space shuttles have flown more than 130 times, carrying over 350 people into space and traveling more than half a billion miles, more than enough to reach Jupiter.

The shuttle, which was designed to return to Earth and land like a giant glider, was the world's first reusable space vehicle. More than all of that, though, the shuttle program expanded the limits of human achievement and broadened our understanding of our world.

It all started with STS-1, launched on April 12, 1981, just twenty years to the day after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.

When astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen launched on April 12 morning in Columbia, it was the first time in history a new spacecraft was launched on its maiden voyage with a crew aboard.

"For an entire generation, the space shuttle was NASA. We've watched a parade of firsts -- Sally Ride, Guy Bluford, Kathy Sullivan, John Glenn and others. We've seen astronauts float free, and launch and repair spacecraft like Hubble which have fundamentally changed our understanding of the universe," NASA said in a statement.

Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to lift off on the final mission of the shuttle program, STS-135, a 12-day program to the International Space Station on July 8 at 11:26 am EDT.

But weather officials are expecting a tropical wave from the Caribbean that will hit Florida with a lot of tropical moisture. The shuttle launch, therefore, has 70 percent chance of canceling on July 8. It has a 60 percent chance of canceling on July 9 and a 40 percent chance of canceling on July 10. In all, there is a 17 percent chance that it won't launch at all by July 10.

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More here:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/175766/20110707/nasa-space-shuttle-columbia-challenger-discovery-atlantis-endeavour-florida-space-shuttle-system-jup.htm

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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)

Current launch status here:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html

EDIT:

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Tourists on Florida's Space Coast who are hoping to catch a glimpse of the final mission on NASA's space shuttle programme face waiting a little longer after lightning struck just a third of a mile from the Atlantis spacecraft. NASA officials say they haven't detected any damage from the strike, but they are making thorough checks of all systems to be sure. However, the thunderstorm lingers over Brevard County, Florida, meaning the weather isn't making it easy.

While the weather is set to improve slightly over the weekend, Friday's forecast would have to get worse before he'd call off the launch, mission management team leader Mike Moses said. A rain-free, storm-free zone is needed 23miles around, among other things, in order for Atlantis to take off. Launch director Mike Leinbach doesn't just want a hole in the clouds for Atlantis to sneak through, he wants no clouds for this historic send-off - the last of the 30-year shuttle programme. Between 750,000 and one million people are expected to jam the area for the launch, rivalling the crowds that gathered for the Apollo moon shots. Perhaps millions more will be watching on television.

Referring to Endeavour's May lift-off when the shuttle quickly disappeared into the clouds, Mr Leinbach said: 'I hope it's not like the last launch where we only saw it for 22 seconds.' 'I'm hoping Kathy's really blown this forecast big time,' he added. The weather was the only uncertainty hanging over the 135th and final shuttle launch. At the mission management meeting yesterday, there were only a few technical items to discuss, all minor. The formal 'go' for launch came easily. Even so, Mr Leinbach stressed, there is no desire for delays that would push off those lay-offs. If Atlantis doesn't fly by Sunday, Nasa said it will have to wait until at least July 16 because of a scheduling conflict with an unmanned rocket due to lift off next week. Nasa was supposed to aim for the moon after shuttle, but President Barack Obama scrapped his predecessor's plan in favour of expeditions to asteroids and Mars. That's still years away, though.

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So are the astronaut ferry flights to the International Space Station planned by commercial companies. While things are going to be 'significantly different' around the launch site in the months ahead, it won't be the same either for the millions of people who grew up with the space shuttles, Mr Leinbach said.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2012493/Atlantis-space-shuttle-launch-NASAs-final-mission-stalled-bad-weather.html#ixzz1RV0iEdWD

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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)

Ironic that the thing that brings us in here, may be what delays the final flight!

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Nasa is going to give shuttle Atlantis every opportunity to launch on Friday despite a poor weather forecast. It rained heavily over the Space Coast on Thursday and meteorologists expect conditions at the 1126 (1526 GMT; 1626 BST) lift-off time to be a "no-go". Mission managers nonetheless gave the order to fill the orbiter's giant external tank with propellants. They hope fortune will smile on the last ever shuttle mission, and that a weather window will suddenly open. Four astronauts will make the historic ride to orbit in Atlantis: commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley, and mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.

They are due to head down to the launch pad from their crew quarters a little over three hours before lift-off. Huge crowds have been making their way to Cape Canaveral since before dawn. Local police think as many as three-quarters of a million people may try to get close to the Kennedy Space Center to get a good view of the ascent. Nasa launch managers are mindful of the impact these crowds could have on their workers' ability to do their jobs. If they call off Friday's attempt close to the planned launch time, it is likely another attempt will not be made until Sunday. "If we get into a scenario where we scrub very late in the count, in order to provide crew rest we may elect to go 48 hours to give our teams time to get home and back to work," said Jeff Spaulding, Nasa test director.

"With the amount of [spectators] we are expecting - upwards of half-a-million to three-quarters-of-a-million folks in the general area - getting home is going to be very challenging." Nasa has Friday, Saturday and Sunday available to make an ascent. If the shuttle cannot get off on any of those three days it may then have to stand down until the 16th to make way for the launch of a Delta rocket on the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Delta has the launch range booked to carry a new GPS satellite into orbit. But discussions are taking place between Nasa and the US Air Force, and it is possible that if Atlantis needs a Monday opportunity, the military will oblige.

The shuttle's mission is to deliver more than 3.5 tonnes (8,000lb) of supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). A third of the load is food and it will ensure the platform has a year's worth of consumables aboard to sustain its residents. Friday's ascent would be the 135th and last in the 30-year orbiter programme. Nasa has decided to retire its shuttles because the vehicles are too costly to maintain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14074459

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Posted
  • Location: Irlam
  • Location: Irlam

Here's a thought, the space shuttle missions have lasted 30 years, thats 30 years out of the 50 years of human spaceflight. The first shuttle was launched 20 years after Gagarin's flight.

When you think about it, does it feel like human spaceflight has stalled? 30 years of actually just orbitting the Earth. The advancement in space exploration from Gagarin to Apollo 11 was just 8 years but since then human spaceflight has stalled somewhat whilst robotic missions have excelled.

Edited by Mr_Data
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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
When the space shuttle lands on 21 July, it will join the ranks of Nasa's mothballed programmes.

Along with it, more than 8,000 people will have lost their jobs at the Kennedy Space Center - a mixture of Nasa, space centre and contractor roles.

Most have already been laid off, with the final 2,000 going in the days after the shuttle lands - and the effects will be far-reaching along Florida's "space coast".

Officials say the lay-offs, coupled with the state's record unemployment rate of almost 11%, will create the "perfect economic storm".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14205887

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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)

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And here it is, last mission complete and everybody safe - goodbye space shuttle!

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Posted
  • Location: Camborne
  • Location: Camborne

Silhouetted against the Earth, Atlantis flies into the rising Sun in this photograph taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station on July 19, 2011. On July 20, the shuttle undocked from the station for the final time and began preparations to return home. During their 13 days in space, the shuttle astronauts supplied the International Space Station with a new logistics module, tested tools, technologies, and techniques to refuel satellites in space, and collected old equipment from the space station.

Astronaut photograph ISS028-E-017845 was acquired on July 19, 2011, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 28 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. The animation has been motion-stabilized.

ISS028-E-017845.jpg

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Posted
  • Location: Taasinge, Denmark
  • Location: Taasinge, Denmark

I just thought I'd put forward a few alternative considerations about the space age.

For example, though space-related technology has undoubted benefits, it doesn't seem to me that the broad swathe of humanity benefits so much from it. Sure, we have spectrometry, new weather systems and some spectacular photography, but drought and deforestation can be established without going into space! How much fuel has the space program burned up? How many scarce resources have been mined and refined, only to be left littering space or burned up in the atmosphere?

It seems to me that the USSR led the early space race - for political reasons - and as if it were some kind of techno beauty pageant, the USA took up the competition. Going to the moon is no longer of interest to us - been there, done that, got the tee shirt. No, the USSR and USA were primarily interested in military domination, not civil affairs. Take GPS for example. Okay, GPS is now used by civilians, but I would question that too. Years ago, mariners would keep a very good lookout at sea while navigating by observing their surroundings. Today many ships have a one man bridge, and the watchkeeper sits in a pilot chair staring at screens. The fact that some navigators never look out of the window is the cause of groundings - with marine pollution to follow - and collisions. I've even seen people using GPS to find their way across the moors rather than using a map and compass. My missus bought one so she could find her way around in the car. It was used twice maybe, and now rests in a drawer somewhere, the novelty worn off, common sense having returned.

Regarding the Gulf Stream, those who rely only on space technology are excused for their concerns over the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift. Mariners have known for centuries however that those currents are very inconstant, and at any one location, the set goes in all directions and at different rates at some time or other. Seamen must be shaking their heads at scaremongering stories about the Gulf Stream shutting down and a new ice age approaching for Europe.

The USA intends that henceforth, the space shuttle's role will be taken over by private enterprise. I'd say that if space projects were as valuable to a nation as we might hope, then the USA would intensify its public involvement, but it seems the emphasis is now on commercial ventures, such as telecommunications. Didn't I read of Richard Branson planning space tourism? I find that in really poor taste. Maybe the commercially interested missed an opportunity here. They should have ended the shuttle era a little more spectacularly..........fired the thing back up with a huge firework display and the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain playing "twinkle, twinkle little star". The video footage would have sold for a small fortune in today's fiduciary money.

Boldly going where no one has been before. Yep, I see certain benefits from the space-age, but a balanced view involves some negative reflections too.

Edited by Alan Robinson
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