Comments on: Soyuz Rockets to Space; 13 Humans Now in Orbit

By: Jon Hanford

Jon Hanford — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:13:53 +0000

@ Brian Sheen, here's a link to a GMT – local time page: http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/ . Hope this may help you.

By: Simon Douglass

Simon Douglass — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:42:46 +0000

I think the cops would give you a ticket if they caught you trying to squeeze 9 people into a 7 seater shuttle!

By: Sili

Sili — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:07:19 +0000

Those old Russian rockets are still oddly aesthetically pleasing.

They just look good.

By: Jon Hanford

Jon Hanford — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:28:03 +0000

All space agencies use GMT, for obvious reasons. The confusion comes in when someone somewhere attempts to convert GMT to their own local time. Try looking online for simple software to convert from GMT to your local time. I believe NASA has a page with a conversion calculator.

By: Brian Sheen

Brian Sheen — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:40:04 +0000

One a different topic. As a simple soul I get confused with all the different time zones in the UK and US.

Astronomers created Universal Time to overcome this problem is it too much to ask if all the Space Agencies could use it too!

This weekend in the UK we change from GMT to BST.

Brian Sheen

By: bobfoot

bobfoot — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:48:49 +0000

oops, sorry, for some reason I kept looking at your number 13 and reading 11… getting old is Fun!

By: bobfoot

bobfoot — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:46:40 +0000

A quick google shows that there were 12 people in orbit at the same time in December 1990.

By: Clayton

Clayton — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:06:37 +0000

I'm pretty sure the seating configuration on the orbiter is not like a mini-van. You can't just re-arrange the seats to make room for a few more.

Besides, the seating inside the Soyuz is custom molded to the butts of the cosmo-astronauts who ride in them. If you dont send up a new Soyuz with the right seats, then the cosmonauts have to take new seating on the shuttle, replace them with the old ones, drag them back down…. a big pain probably.

By: Jon Hanford

Jon Hanford — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:09:27 +0000

Great to see live suitup & liftoff of Soyuz on NASA TV. Best of luck to all in orbit now and best wishes tom all involved.

By: Salacious B. Crumb

Salacious B. Crumb — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:52:24 +0000

Good to see two Americans using good old reliable Russian technology.
Also, odd question. Why didn't these new astronauts travel on the last Shuttle mission. Surely adding a few more seats would have save one less mission into space?