Shuttle launches with teacher aboard »
Posted by: TechnologyExpert 1 year agoSpace shuttle Endeavour roared into orbit Wednesday carrying teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who was finally fulfilling the dream of Christa McAuliffe and the fallen Challenger crew. Endeavour and its crew of 7 rose from the seaside pad at 6:36 pm, right on time, and pierced a solidly blue sky. They're expected to reach the ISS on Friday.
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entropy1 year ago
These guys really have a lot of courage to get into that shuttle and launch into space...I remember one time an astronaut said it's like sitting on a controlled nuclear explosion. I don't know about you, but I know I'de be a tad bit scared.
I wish them the best of luck and a happy voyage.
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chevydog1 year ago
IMHO this has the distinct smell of a PR stunt. From its inception, the Shuttle was never designed as more than an experimental program. Regretfully, we have shown that even with our technological prowess the program is far from risk-free. While I'd never wish anyone less than good luck in this venture, believe we'd be better served by sticking to trained military pilots and test pilots.
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joeblowe1 year ago
I would agree. The shuttle program has lingered way too long. It really, really should have been replaced 10 years ago. There were certainly IDEAS for good replacements. But, .... NO MONEY. Now, it seems like Burt Rutan or some other private concern is going to develop the next generation of space vehicles. Which is OK I guess, but it still leaves us 15 or 20 years behind. It's also true that space flight is risky. Very risky. But, military pilots and test pilots are NOT the only people willing to take a risk - obviously. Besides, why would we need 7 pilots for 1 spacecraft?
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ryan6011 year ago
Agreed. We could send a lot more shuttles on a lot more missions into space for a lot cheaper if we simply made them unmanned missions. Or least the majority of them unmanned.
My dad is an astronomer and has had extensive dealings with NASA. You wouldn't believe the percentage of the cost of the shuttle program that goes into simply keeping the astronauts alive. It could be done so much more efficiently if we used robotics.
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marlenebomer1 year ago
Joe -- It's true that the Challenger mission was purely a stunt done under pressure from the Reagan Administration, and the launch itself was approved under extreme duress from Morton-Thiokol (the SRB maker) via the White House.
I also agree that the Shuttle should've been replaced years ago, and the replacement was axed from the budget *I think* during the Bush I regency, but I don't remember.
Furthermore, there are only *two* who fly the Shuttle: the Commander and the Pilot. The rest of the crew are called Mission Specialists, and they're trained for the specific mission they're assigned to.
For instance, Morgan will be operating the Shuttle's arm to help transfer the new truss to the ISS, while the other MS will help in transferring materials to and from the shuttle and the ISS.
I respectfully suggest looking up the STS-118 mission on www.nasa.gov
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el-jefe1 year ago
"While I'd never wish anyone less than good luck in this venture, believe we'd be better served by sticking to trained military pilots and test pilots."
Poppycock. Barbara is not serving as a "spaceflight participant", she's serving as a full-fledged mission specialist, even operating the RMS. When I pointed that out to a NASA colleague a few days ago, her response was, "I guess that proves that you don't need six PhD's and a letter of recommedation from the Pope to be an astronaut!"
During the critical phases of flight, 4 of the seven crew members are nothing more than passengers, with no critical responsibilities should an emergency occur. A fifth is little more than a glorified flight engineer. The two people in the front seats are trained military pilots and test pilots, as they should be. But there is no reason whatsover why the rest of the crew should have that particular background.
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crespi1 year ago
There is no such thing as Global Warming
-Business World Magazine cover 1983
They were sure right about that, weren't they?
Now they say "OK, there IS some warming, but humans HAVE NO RESPONIBILITY AT ALL."
PUMPING BILLIONS OF TONS OF EXOTIC RAREFIED TOXIC COMPOUNDS INTO THE ATMOSHERE FOR 150 YEARS COULDN'T POSSIBLY HAVE ANY AFFECT.
Give us a break, Global Warming deniers.
Go back to telling us how much the Bush administration supports our troops...
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djrevelky1 year ago
No one denies global warming. We do question the effect man has on global warming though and think it is arrogant for us to say we are going to stop it.
Global warming and global cooling existed naturally long before industrialization or man in general.
As far as your comment about Bush supporting the troops...at least he doesn't tell them that they lost and aren't good enough to do their assigned job every single day like some Democrats in Congress.
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HS571 year ago
Watched the launch but had to listen to the inane yammering of the news reporter(Charlie Gibson). Can't these idiots just shut up for a minute and let the images speak? It was the same way on every station and then cut off the story in less than a minute. The "unbiased" media pulled the same thing with the Apollo missions. They decided these missions weren't newsworthy any more and reduced the coverage to nothing. They spent more time on a lousy drug filled baseball player than something that is much more inspiring and important!
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marlenebomer1 year ago
I agree, HS... which is why I try to watch the Shuttle coverage on www.nasa.gov as often as I can. This bypasses the inane comments from the mass media.
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