SRB falls back to Earth

[Vekseid]

Blast into Space, Spectacular Fall to Earth

[Indigo]

I always choke up a little bit when I watch one of the shuttles launch into space.

That was fairly awesome, thanks.   :D

[Inkidu]

I always choke up a little bit when I watch one of the shuttles launch into space.

That was fairly awesome, thanks.   :D

You too? For me it's like looking at the Statue of David in real life. Pure art. Thanks Veks, too bad they're retiring all the shuttles. Seems such a shame to mothball them like that.

[Vekseid]

They are ultimately relics of bureaucracy. People sometimes complain about the Ares V rocket design as being 'more primitive', but the Shuttle ultimately had less than a quarter of the Saturn V's power. It's ultimately a lot more efficient, and gets us back to doing useful + inspirational stuff in space again.

[The Overlord]

Poke into the NASA archives online and you can find a number of clips like this from various missions.


Constellation does appear to be taking a step backward but that’s only because of a superficial resemblance to the ships we were flying forty years ago. The Apollo and STS (shuttle) programs were enormously and overwhelming successful, and Constellation is taking what works from both of them; it is the aggregate of our experience in the Space Age as we turn our eyes back to the moon and beyond.


Curious to see recently is that NASA appears to be reviewing a possible cheaper build to the next spacecraft generation, this is going in negotiating with the White House as the Obama administration reviews the coming space budget. I want to see if the Jupiter class rockets proposed by the DIRECT team are going to be serious considered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIRECT

It's ultimately a lot more efficient, and gets us back to doing useful + inspirational stuff in space again.

The shuttle program and the construction of the ISS, the Hubble repair missions, etc. were anything but uninspiring. It is a testament to the men and women we send to space that they make such complex missions, many of them historical firsts, look relatively easy.

However, the men that went to the Moon are old men now, and most of the kids that watched them land there on their family TVs are pushing toward middle age. We’re overdue. It’s time that humanity broke free of earth orbit once more.

[Oniya]

Even watching the first shuttle take off and then - oh my god, land again! - are childhood memories to a lot of us.  Back then, a launch had us clustered around our TVs, and teachers were interrupting classes to watch the shuttle take off.  Nowadays, even after the horror of Challenger, a shuttle mission barely makes the news.  We need something that gets people excited and working together again, just like when the race to reach the moon galvanized people in the Kennedy era.

[The Overlord]

Even watching the first shuttle take off and then - oh my god, land again! - are childhood memories to a lot of us.  Back then, a launch had us clustered around our TVs, and teachers were interrupting classes to watch the shuttle take off.  Nowadays, even after the horror of Challenger, a shuttle mission barely makes the news.  We need something that gets people excited and working together again, just like when the race to reach the moon galvanized people in the Kennedy era.

That’s because the general public are pointless nitwits and cattle, easily amused but quickly bored. In our consumerist, instant-gratification society, even shuttle launches get passe for them. In some ways I feel most of them aren’t deserving of the coming space-faring future we could have if we get our act together.


We need to do something cosmic in scale, like a return to the moon. That will get everyone out of their self-induced stupor they call a life.

[ShrowdedPoet]

You know OL, every time you bring your rant on humans being stupid cattle into a conversation it really does nothing for the thread. 

I remember a few, two I think launches and I've seen video tape of the historical ones.  I loved my high school U.S. History class.  I had the most amazing teacher and the space race section was very exciting.

[Oniya]

I actually had the good fortune to be down in Florida for one of Challenger's launches (not the infamous one - that would hardly be 'good fortune').  There is absolutely nothing like seeing a launch as it happens from as close as a civilian can get.

[The Overlord]

You know OL, every time you bring your rant on humans being stupid cattle into a conversation it really does nothing for the thread. 

And every time someone jumps on my style here, it does nothing toward getting on my good side.


Is it the message you have a problem with or my delivery? Prove me I’m wrong on my statement.

[ShrowdedPoet]

And every time someone jumps on my style here, it does nothing toward getting on my good side.


Is it the message you have a problem with or my delivery? Prove me I’m wrong on my statement.

I really don't care about getting on anyones good side. 

My problem has to do with your insulting blanket statements.  And the fact that it doesn't matter what the subject it this is always your answer to the problem.  I don't care about proving your right or wrong, that has nothing to do with this thread.  It just seems like you're trolling with this humans are all stupid cattle thing.  *shrugs and walks away*

I actually had the good fortune to be down in Florida for one of Challenger's launches (not the infamous one - that would hardly be 'good fortune').  There is absolutely nothing like seeing a launch as it happens from as close as a civilian can get.

Oooo, that sounds like that was amazing!

[The Overlord]

I really don't care about getting on anyones good side. 

I see then that we have a common denominator.

My problem has to do with your insulting blanket statements.  And the fact that it doesn't matter what the subject it this is always your answer to the problem.  I don't care about proving your right or wrong, that has nothing to do with this thread.  It just seems like you're trolling with this humans are all stupid cattle thing.  *shrugs and walks away*

Trolling for someone on this forum? No. Trolling and ranting at the unenlightened masses that are the focus of my ire? Yes. The response was to Oni’s post; my point being is we get focused on completely trivial crap and not the important stuff.


Now, I say this with the understanding that not everyone has my knowledge base and spirit for the topic of space and astronomy, but you don’t really have to. Fact is, more people are likely to know what Britney Spears did with the past week than those who realize the scale and details of the next generation of spacecraft that will take back to the moon after the shuttles are retired. Nor are they likely to be aware of the good that space research and development is doing; things that can improve the quality of life, including their own.

There are a lot of uneducated dolts out there, and I feel pity for many of them. The true focus of my wrath should probably be the system at large and the media. If you can skim off all the slag that floats on the visible surface of the miasma we call popular media, there’s some good stuff down in there. But I also blame the masses for perpetuating this bullshit; the National Inquirer likely has more buyers than Scientific American (for example, and I would love to be proven wrong on this one).

It’s also as Dr. Carl Sagan said a few years back; kids ask why because they generally don’t know better. He said this to make his point that even our school systems are fucked, and actually discourage empirical learning. Many of us are slowly being turned into vegatables.

[Oniya]

As the comment was in response to my post, I'm just going to chuck in my two cents.  Writing off the 'general public' or 'humans' as 'stupid cattle' is an allness attitude, which lowers the persuasiveness of the statement.  After all, I consider myself human (most of the time) and as a homeowner with a child, a car, and a job, I think I'm about as general a part of the public as anyone else.

By making such a sweeping dismissal of a large part of the world, it seems to deny the possibility for betterment, or even for the current existence of the next John Glenn, Carl Sagan, or Christa McAuliffe.

It's hard to reach the stars when you tie that kind of lead weight to your own hopes.

[Inkidu]

*Flips the track switch* Anyway, I find the taking off of such space craft, as well as the landing, monumentally dull, and trivial at this point. If you look at a launch or landing and want something different to happen well that's rather morbid don't you think?
The actual part where the spacecraft is in space is the greatest part in my personal opinion.

[Oniya]

It's not that you want something different to happen.  It's that you know the people on board are off to parts still mostly unknown - much like a sailing ship going on a transoceanic voyage during the colonial eras.

[Myrleena]

That was pretty darned cool.  I remember when my dad took me to Cape Canaveral to see a shuttle launch.  He was part of the re-design team after the Challenger blew, and was the Mission Control Manager from Thiokol for about 4 years.  It was pretty amazing, though.

[Kurzyk]

I actually had the good fortune to be down in Florida for one of Challenger's launches (not the infamous one - that would hardly be 'good fortune').  There is absolutely nothing like seeing a launch as it happens from as close as a civilian can get.

That's wonderful Oniya. I'd love to be able to see that.

[Indigo]

Me too! I'd clap and be all happily fuddle minded.   XD

[OneOfAKiind]

I was lucky enough when i was little to have parents that made me do shit that i didn't want to because of the experience within itself, and forced me to go to Space Camp. it was awesome, aside from your typical teenage drama... *rolls eyes*

but really. We got to simulate our own space launches, we had two to do, the first I was the PR spokesperson, the one who gave all the updates to the public during the launch, and the second time i was on a space station running tests. it was seriously one of my best memories. space exploration rocks.

[Maeven]

I was lucky enough when i was little to have parents that made me do shit that i didn't want to because of the experience within itself, and forced me to go to Space Camp. it was awesome, aside from your typical teenage drama... *rolls eyes*

but really. We got to simulate our own space launches, we had two to do, the first I was the PR spokesperson, the one who gave all the updates to the public during the launch, and the second time i was on a space station running tests. it was seriously one of my best memories. space exploration rocks.

You went to Space Camp... and twice? As in "Bring Max Home" Space Camp?  I am SOOO incredibly jealous right now it's not even funny. 

I must have watched that movie a hundred times when I was a kid.  I wanted to go so badly. 

[OneOfAKiind]

You went to Space Camp... and twice? As in "Bring Max Home" Space Camp?  I am SOOO incredibly jealous right now it's not even funny. 

I must have watched that movie a hundred times when I was a kid.  I wanted to go so badly.

oh no, lol, i only went once, we just had two missions within the one time.
not to further fuel your jealousy, but it was really neat. I hope that I have the money and the wherewithal to force my children into doing that someday too. it was a really neat experience.

[Trieste]

Oooh, that made me dizzy, it was great!

[The Dark Raven]

OK, you guys are inspiring me to make a space pictures thread....off I go to dredge through my 15 years of accumulated pics. ;-)

[Avis habilis]

Speaking of falling back to Earth, this Boards of Canada music video starts with footage from Joseph Kittinger's 1960 parachute jump from 102,000 feet.

boards of canada - dayvan cowboy