Shuttle landed this morning

[Stephen]

Congrats on a great mission guys! Welcome home! :beer:

-Stephen

 

[bvibert]

Woohoo!

:beer:

 

[ctenidae]

Glad they're back safely. Hopefully all of this will help push NASA to get a new shuttle. I want my Moon base!

 

[thetrailboss]

:beer:

 

[smitty77]

Glad they're back safely. Hopefully all of this will help push NASA to get a new shuttle. I want my Moon base!

I saw a recent political cartoon depicting the shuttle heading to the launch pad with the aid of a "walker". I got a chuckle at first, but it is amazing how much technology has progressed since those shuttles were first designed. I know they're in a constant state of change as new technologies emerge and are applied, but it could still use a redesign.

I am glad to see they made it down safely. Another loss of crew probably would have killed the whole space program altogether.

Smitty

 

[bigbog]

.....

...Enjoyed that Smitty, although the design of the tractor-style-launchpad is much more error-free and cost effective...and gets just as much science done....as the orbiter, NASA's billion dollar baby...
It was featured for a segment of a show lately(one of the History Channel engineering shows..). I'll take it's ability to move something over the Orbiter's function?? anyday...

 

[Jaytrek57]

Another loss of crew probably would have killed the whole space program altogether.

Not to mention the crew.

I can't wait for the sub orbital planes (ships) to start rocking and rolling. The majority have been privately funded, so the competition has been tremendous with a wide variety of designs.

http://www.bristolspaceplanes.com/projects.shtml

 

[Charlie Schuessler]

The shuttle was piggy-back shipped to Florida this weekend via a modified 747 aircraft....the photos of that spacecraft sitting on top of a 747 with landing gear down and in position to land is mind blowing...The Boston Globe ran a neat report with some illustrations indicating the connection joints and frame upgrade specifications that I found interesting...now if they can get the fuel tank insulation worked out...

 

[ALLSKIING]

The shuttle was piggy-back shipped to Florida this weekend via a modified 747 aircraft....the photos of that spacecraft sitting on top of a 747 with landing gear down and in position to land is mind blowing...The Boston Globe ran a neat report with some illustrations indicating the connection joints and frame upgrade specifications that I found interesting...now if they can get the fuel tank insulation worked out...

They did have some really nice shots of that. The price for the flight back...1 million.

 

[Brettski]

And if they had rain they had to land..the shuttle skin is that sensitive...

Saw the launch from New Smyrna Beach...about the 5th launch I've seen (Dad lives in FLA)..

I neve saw so many people watch a launch before...the beach was packed....

Any update on the grounding?

 

[Cannon Gray]

NASA relied on Russian Soyuz for 10 years, however, Soyuz is much older than Shuttle. Soyuz rockets have been flying to space for over 40 years. In 2020 thanks to SpaceX NASA will no longer depend on Russian Soyuz which increases the price for each flight for American astronauts constantly.

 

[abc]

A 16 year thread bump?

Some people must be getting really desperate for snow!

 

[ctenidae]

Ha - I thought Canon Gray was super prescient and called SpaceX way in advance. 3 years before they'd achieved orbit, even. Then I looked at the date.