The Last Space Shuttle - July 8th

[Troy Spiral (13)]

All of the other shuttles have already flown for the last time, Atlantis is scheduled to go up on its final mission July 8th, thats it, done. STS-135 , all shuttle missions have these STS names, starting with STS-1 by Colombia in 1981. (And Nasa has canceled its manned space flight program) /rage

I remember watching this youtube video last year of this guy with the odd sounding voice making his homeade video of (what we thought) was the last mission, but , unfortunately there is no "reprive" this time, its over.

The Space Shuttles:

Columbia (Destroyed on reentry)

Challenger (Destroyed on liftoff)

Endeavour

Atlantis

Discovery

Enterprise (only used within earth's atmosphere) and was named for exactly what you think it was, after massive fan push to get it named so.

The First Mission

The Last Mission <--- whole page about it with nearly hourly updates.

Nerdy? Suck it. NASA outstrips the importance of any "cool stuff" aka , <my or your favorite bands name here.>

SpaceVidCast usually does a good job of not doing what nasa does.. that is make horrible broadcasts of their missions:

Spacevidcast.com <-- Highly Suggested Link

[Nightgaunt]

I haz a sad.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I haz a sad.

[Shaun]

http://news.yahoo.com/video/science-15749654/after-atlantis-what-s-nasa-s-next-frontier-25855684.html

I guess they want private companies to step up and take over the space industry. Why does everything have to be commercial?

Edited July 7, 2011 by Shaun

[Troy Spiral (13)]

http://news.yahoo.com/video/science-15749654/after-atlantis-what-s-nasa-s-next-frontier-25855684.html

I guess they want private companies to step up and take over the space industry. Why does everything have to be commercial?

Yeah that has been a long time in coming, although its not "really" a space program as they all have smaller-time goals. There is an arguement that says if it would have been privatized long ago, we would be further along (although that opinion is not widely shared).

Generally nasa has been primarily (although not only) "the managment" and private companies have been contracted for the space program since the earliest days, but the no MANNED missions focus is going to kill the press coverage, and thus at least for awhile anway, kill the "inspirational" factor that many, many scientists list as one of the key things that got them interested in science that is, the manned space coverage.

People dont give a damn as it is, if there is no human component and its just probes and such mostly (which are far more cost effective) it saves money, but it is widely predicted this will cause our already declining tech-industry base to get even smaller. The main reason we are still a superpower is our science/tech is far ahead of most everyone else (along with our historical industrial dominance which is now almost gone) but we are rapidly losing even the tech edge due to lack of people going into science and engineering. Really that is the USA's only way forward to maintain global leadership, (science/tech) we have no hope of competing with the large developing countries any other way.

[aequorea]

I am heartbroken over the end of this era.

There will still be manned space flight, and American astronauts will still be involved in the ISS project, but we will be dependent on hitching rides with the Russians and Europeans.

I teach high school science, and I always take the time to tell my students about shuttle launches. It is still mind-boggling to me that people climb to the top of the shuttles, strap in, and basically get blown off the face of the earth.

That said, I think that retiring the shuttles is the right thing to do. We, as human beings, are at a point in space research where we can collect and analyze massive amounts of data from telescopes, remote sensors, and space probes. All of the current research on exoplanets, dark matter, and the history/fate of the universe involves remote sensing. And let's face it, it's hard to justify spending money on manned space flight when unemployment and underemployment are so high.

One ongoing project that I find absolutely fascinating is the European Space Agency's Mars500 "mission." Mars500 official site Sending a manned mission to Mars would entail locking 3 to 6 people into a confined space for years. YEARS! I mean, think about a 3 day family road trip, and then think about it lasting years. Psychology becomes a significant issue. The Mars500 mission is an on-Earth simulation, complete with built-in communication delays of up to 15 minutes. There have been other simulation attempts, but none have been successful. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out!

(a moment of silence for the American shuttle program)

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I am heartbroken over the end of this era.

There will still be manned space flight, and American astronauts will still be involved in the ISS project, but we will be dependent on hitching rides with the Russians and Europeans.

I teach high school science, and I always take the time to tell my students about shuttle launches. It is still mind-boggling to me that people climb to the top of the shuttles, strap in, and basically get blown off the face of the earth.

That said, I think that retiring the shuttles is the right thing to do. We, as human beings, are at a point in space research where we can collect and analyze massive amounts of data from telescopes, remote sensors, and space probes. All of the current research on exoplanets, dark matter, and the history/fate of the universe involves remote sensing. And let's face it, it's hard to justify spending money on manned space flight when unemployment and underemployment are so high.

One ongoing project that I find absolutely fascinating is the European Space Agency's Mars500 "mission." Mars500 official site Sending a manned mission to Mars would entail locking 3 to 6 people into a confined space for years. YEARS! I mean, think about a 3 day family road trip, and then think about it lasting years. Psychology becomes a significant issue. The Mars500 mission is an on-Earth simulation, complete with built-in communication delays of up to 15 minutes. There have been other simulation attempts, but none have been successful. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out!

(a moment of silence for the American shuttle program)

I think its hard to justify the cost , thinking shorter term, politically. But generations of American scientists say that one of (if not THE , some also sight Star Trek believe it or not) reason they became scientists was the wonder of the manned space program caught their imaginations as children. Similar to the (short signed) thinking about why the Large Hadron Collider (which is even MORE of an assinine move) is in Europe and not here, short term thinking.

For us to remain "number one" the only what that will continue is via Science / Tech innovation (no chance at continue to be industrial production leaders) and we have a serve lack of young people wanting to go into Science/Engineering/Mathematics.

Congress is also thinking about scraping the James Webb telescope (replacement for Hubble) *faceplam*