Comments on: A Mission in Pictures

By: Henry Hayes

Henry Hayes — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:03:36 +0000

I tried to signup for your RSS feed but it didn't work. How can I do this?

By: Burzycki.org - Tech and Interesting Facts

Burzycki.org - Tech and Interesting Facts — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:42:39 +0000

[...] 2008 | Category: Astronomy, Contributors We haven't had time to catch our breath after STS-122 touched down on February 20th, only nine days ago, and yet the next launch date to the International Space [...]

By: Kevin M.

Kevin M. — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:59:25 +0000

In agreement – there is plenty of need left for the shuttle for any forseeable future. We will always need a shuttle type craft as long as we have a station and more working telescopes up there. The Orion mission is the red herring here. I'll bet there will be a few spectacular Orion disasters, too, if it flies.

The photos are stunning, but it makes we wonder how much longer we will be able to spend so much money just to get pretty space images.

On this mission, we got the first taste of what it could be like to start inviting squabbling Europeans aboard our projects. Hans Schlegel's prickly and prissy attitude was in contrast to the US tendency for accountable, and friendly, transparency. You don't get to have absolute privacy on the ISS. It makes the taxpayers feel that you're trying to hide things.

By: Dennis Baer

Dennis Baer — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:16:35 +0000

If I was a betting man, I bet money that the next administration will reverse the order to scrap the shuttles. They were intended for a 100 mission lifespan. The shuttle retirement order was probably given so that money that would have been used on the shuttle could be earmarked for designing and building the Orion. If so, this is a short-sighted, shabby budgeting trick and will make it harder to build and maintain structures in LEO in the future. The current administration is treating the space program like a carnival concession:"Who cares what we do, we're never going to have to answer to these rubes after January 20th 2009 and by then it will be someone else's problem."

By: marcellus

marcellus — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:14:12 +0000

Stargazerdude is right. Once the ISS is complete, mankind will still need to build a spaceship to go to Mars. I can't see something like that launching from the ground.

Building the Mars ship in orbit by sending its components up via the shuttles would be a good way to go.

By: stargazerdude

stargazerdude — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:30:18 +0000

Ya know… it took 25 years and two horrible accidents, but I think we finally worked the bugs out of the shuttle, and at times it almost seems a shame to force them into retirement. I know it needs computer upgrades, and the basic configuration (aside the main fuel tank) is pretty dumb in hindsight (not allowing escape) and God knows why we need to send 10 astronauts up at a time… can NASA sell the fleet and equipment to a private party???

By: K

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:57:38 +0000

Ha, I thought I was dreaming this morning. The sonic boom must have woken me up because all I remember were rattling windows and sort of an echoey kind of noise in the air. I fell back asleep thinking, "That's just like when the shuttle lands…when does it launch? Soon? Maybe I heard the launch…no, can't hear the launch from here…look at the pretty purple llama…"