Lost Cause
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astronomy & space stuff
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Fagin
little fishie
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NASA managers formally set the launch of space shuttle Atlantis for Feb. 7 at 2:45 p.m. EST, pending analysis of a flexible hose in the shuttle's radiator cooling system.
During an inspection of Atlantis Tuesday, one of four hoses that carry Freon to the shuttle radiators in the payload bay was found bent and not properly retracted in its storage box. The others were fully retracted into their storage boxes, as expected. Teams are continuing to gather data and assess any potential forward work. Managers will convene Saturday to further review and analyze what, if any, remaining work is required before launch.
During the 11-day mission, Commander Steve Frick and his six crewmates will install the European Space Agency's new Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station. Columbus will expand the research facilities of the station and provide scientists around the world with the ability to conduct a variety of life, physical and materials science experiments. The mission will include three spacewalks, delivery of a new crew member to the station and the return of another astronaut after nearly four months aboard the complex.
Atlantis' launch date was announced at the conclusion of Wednesday’s executive-level Flight Readiness Review. The one-day video teleconference meeting was led from NASA Headquarters in Washington. Top NASA and contractor managers assessed any risks associated with the mission and determined whether the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready for flight. The first executive-level Flight Readiness Review for STS-122 was held Nov. 30.
The STS-122 mission was delayed in December 2007 after failures occurred in a fuel sensor system while Atlantis' external fuel tank was being filled. A tanking, or fueling, test on Dec. 18, 2007, revealed that open circuits in the external tank's feed through connector were the most likely cause of false readings in the system during launch attempts on Dec. 6 and Dec. 9. A modified connector was designed with pins and sockets soldered together. Both the original and modified connector configurations were subjected to testing that verified that the new design corrects the open circuits found in the original connector.
The sensor system is one of several that protect the shuttle's main engines by triggering their shut down if fuel runs unexpectedly low. NASA's current Launch Commit Criteria require that three of the four engine cutoff, or ECO, sensors function properly before liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Joining Commander Frick on STS-122 will be pilot Alan Poindexter and mission specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love and European Space Agency astronauts Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts. Eyharts will replace current station crew member Dan Tani, who has lived on the outpost since October. Eyharts will return to Earth on shuttle Endeavour's STS-123 mission, currently targeted for launch on March 11, 2008.
Source: NASA
During an inspection of Atlantis Tuesday, one of four hoses that carry Freon to the shuttle radiators in the payload bay was found bent and not properly retracted in its storage box. The others were fully retracted into their storage boxes, as expected. Teams are continuing to gather data and assess any potential forward work. Managers will convene Saturday to further review and analyze what, if any, remaining work is required before launch.
During the 11-day mission, Commander Steve Frick and his six crewmates will install the European Space Agency's new Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station. Columbus will expand the research facilities of the station and provide scientists around the world with the ability to conduct a variety of life, physical and materials science experiments. The mission will include three spacewalks, delivery of a new crew member to the station and the return of another astronaut after nearly four months aboard the complex.
Atlantis' launch date was announced at the conclusion of Wednesday’s executive-level Flight Readiness Review. The one-day video teleconference meeting was led from NASA Headquarters in Washington. Top NASA and contractor managers assessed any risks associated with the mission and determined whether the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready for flight. The first executive-level Flight Readiness Review for STS-122 was held Nov. 30.
The STS-122 mission was delayed in December 2007 after failures occurred in a fuel sensor system while Atlantis' external fuel tank was being filled. A tanking, or fueling, test on Dec. 18, 2007, revealed that open circuits in the external tank's feed through connector were the most likely cause of false readings in the system during launch attempts on Dec. 6 and Dec. 9. A modified connector was designed with pins and sockets soldered together. Both the original and modified connector configurations were subjected to testing that verified that the new design corrects the open circuits found in the original connector.
The sensor system is one of several that protect the shuttle's main engines by triggering their shut down if fuel runs unexpectedly low. NASA's current Launch Commit Criteria require that three of the four engine cutoff, or ECO, sensors function properly before liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Joining Commander Frick on STS-122 will be pilot Alan Poindexter and mission specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love and European Space Agency astronauts Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts. Eyharts will replace current station crew member Dan Tani, who has lived on the outpost since October. Eyharts will return to Earth on shuttle Endeavour's STS-123 mission, currently targeted for launch on March 11, 2008.
Source: NASA
Lost Cause
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Go for Launch...........crew in van enroute to Shuttle and Pad 39b.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/170421main_fit-0.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/170421main_fit-0.jpg
Lost Cause
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Lost Cause
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Here we go....
Damaged tiles........evaluation in work..they look like leading edge tiles...
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
Damaged tiles........evaluation in work..they look like leading edge tiles...
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
Lost Cause
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Right wing leading edge tiles ala Columbia~
The Mutt
Cunnilingus Ergo Sum
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Jeez! This post was at the top of the page I opened. Scared the crap out of me until I went back a page.
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
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Total Lunar Eclipse
src
http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/lunareclipse/koehn_EST.jpg
On Wednesday evening, February 20th, the full Moon over the Americas will turn a delightful shade of red and possibly turquoise, too. It's a total lunar eclipse—the last one until Dec. 2010.
The Sun goes down. The Moon comes up. You go out and look at the sky. Observing the eclipse is that easy. Maximum eclipse, and maximum beauty, occurs at 10:26 pm EST (7:26 pm PST).
src
http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/lunareclipse/koehn_EST.jpg
On Wednesday evening, February 20th, the full Moon over the Americas will turn a delightful shade of red and possibly turquoise, too. It's a total lunar eclipse—the last one until Dec. 2010.
The Sun goes down. The Moon comes up. You go out and look at the sky. Observing the eclipse is that easy. Maximum eclipse, and maximum beauty, occurs at 10:26 pm EST (7:26 pm PST).
TurdFergeson
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Lost Cause
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Columbus saw it too...
About 500 years ago, Christopher Columbus was on his fourth voyage to the New World. His earlier voyages were the stuff of legends. Unfortunately there's an end to every good luck streak and on this voyage, bad luck would strike in the form of worms. In the days of wooden boats, worms would attack and bore holes in the wood which eventually would cause leaking and ultimately sinking if repairs were not made. Columbus had no choice but to beach his leaky ship on St. Anne's Bay, Jamaica, and make repairs. Chris and his sailors spent over a year there, most of it waiting for his lieutenant's ship to come and help him.
The local Jamaican natives were quite fascinated with Columbus and his men and were very nice to them. They provided Columbus and his sailors with food and other supplies and helped them build shelters. In fact, the Natives treated Columubs better than his own men treated him. The sailor's on this voyage were a pretty rough bunch and had repeatedly argued with Columbus, coming close to mutiny on several occasions. Unfortunately, the sailors gave no better treatment to the Jamaicans, and took advantage of them whenever they could, even cheating and stealing from the Natives.
Eventually the Natives grew tired of being treated so badly and decided to make a point and cut off the food supply to Columbus and his crew. The sailors were more than willing to try and fight with the natives to get what they wanted and they even argued with Columbus about it. But Chris thought there was a better way to deal with these issues and he asked the native chiefs to attend a meeting with him just before sunset on February 29, 1504.
Columbus opened the meeting with a somber announcement, "The Almighty was unhappy, He didn't like the way the natives were treating Columbus and his sailors. The Almighty would now show his disapproval by removing the Moon from the sky." One can only imagine the natives sniggering over this announcement. No one, in their opinion, could control the sky. Shortly thereafter, the full moon began to appear over the eastern horizon. As the Sun set, the full moon rose, and the sniggering probably continued.
And then, ever so subtly, the moon began to change. Sniggers were replaced by an uneasiness. The Moon began to dim and turn a blood red colour. Soon all eyes were riveted on the dimming orb. Clearly, as it rose, there was something wrong. Not only was the Moon the colour of blood, by the time the lunar disk was completely above the horizon, the lower half of the Moon was missing!
Over the next few hours, little by little the Moon became harder and harder to spot. A dim red orb hung in the sky where once the brilliant Moon had bathed them in moonlight. It looked as if the Moon had been reduced to a dim ghost of its former self.
Supposedly, the natives were terrified. It is doubtful that they had never observed a lunar eclipse before, but they likely believed the gods controlled such events, and now, here was a mere human who could not only communicate with the gods but could predict his actions as well! Clearly they were frightened by this display of power.
The natives pleaded with Columbus to return the Moon to its former self. They promised food and anything else Columbus or his men wanted. They begged for forgiveness With high drama, old Chris told the natives he would just nip inside and seek a bit of counsel with the Almighty and see if he was in the forgiving mood. In this particular case, "the Almighty" was most likely an hourglass clever Chris was using to time the 48 minute duration of totality.
Strolling casually back out from his ship, Columbus reappeared just before totality ended and announced that the Almighty Power was indeed in a forgiving mood and if the natives would thusly promise to provide food for Columbus and his crew, the Almighty Power would have the Moon reappear. Of course the Natives agreed and with much nodding, smiling and posturing, the deal was sealed and quite soon thereafter, the Moon was its former brilliant self.
Thereafter, it is doubtful that Columbus had much trouble with the Natives. He probably even gained a bit more respect from his sailors but one thing is for sure, Columbus did have a good bit of knowledge from Persian, Greek, Islamic and European science. He reportedly had an almanac which he used to schedule the meeting with the Natives based on eclipse times!
http://starryskies.com/The_sky/events/lunar-2003/lunar.eclipse-a.jpg
About 500 years ago, Christopher Columbus was on his fourth voyage to the New World. His earlier voyages were the stuff of legends. Unfortunately there's an end to every good luck streak and on this voyage, bad luck would strike in the form of worms. In the days of wooden boats, worms would attack and bore holes in the wood which eventually would cause leaking and ultimately sinking if repairs were not made. Columbus had no choice but to beach his leaky ship on St. Anne's Bay, Jamaica, and make repairs. Chris and his sailors spent over a year there, most of it waiting for his lieutenant's ship to come and help him.
The local Jamaican natives were quite fascinated with Columbus and his men and were very nice to them. They provided Columbus and his sailors with food and other supplies and helped them build shelters. In fact, the Natives treated Columubs better than his own men treated him. The sailor's on this voyage were a pretty rough bunch and had repeatedly argued with Columbus, coming close to mutiny on several occasions. Unfortunately, the sailors gave no better treatment to the Jamaicans, and took advantage of them whenever they could, even cheating and stealing from the Natives.
Eventually the Natives grew tired of being treated so badly and decided to make a point and cut off the food supply to Columbus and his crew. The sailors were more than willing to try and fight with the natives to get what they wanted and they even argued with Columbus about it. But Chris thought there was a better way to deal with these issues and he asked the native chiefs to attend a meeting with him just before sunset on February 29, 1504.
Columbus opened the meeting with a somber announcement, "The Almighty was unhappy, He didn't like the way the natives were treating Columbus and his sailors. The Almighty would now show his disapproval by removing the Moon from the sky." One can only imagine the natives sniggering over this announcement. No one, in their opinion, could control the sky. Shortly thereafter, the full moon began to appear over the eastern horizon. As the Sun set, the full moon rose, and the sniggering probably continued.
And then, ever so subtly, the moon began to change. Sniggers were replaced by an uneasiness. The Moon began to dim and turn a blood red colour. Soon all eyes were riveted on the dimming orb. Clearly, as it rose, there was something wrong. Not only was the Moon the colour of blood, by the time the lunar disk was completely above the horizon, the lower half of the Moon was missing!
Over the next few hours, little by little the Moon became harder and harder to spot. A dim red orb hung in the sky where once the brilliant Moon had bathed them in moonlight. It looked as if the Moon had been reduced to a dim ghost of its former self.
Supposedly, the natives were terrified. It is doubtful that they had never observed a lunar eclipse before, but they likely believed the gods controlled such events, and now, here was a mere human who could not only communicate with the gods but could predict his actions as well! Clearly they were frightened by this display of power.
The natives pleaded with Columbus to return the Moon to its former self. They promised food and anything else Columbus or his men wanted. They begged for forgiveness With high drama, old Chris told the natives he would just nip inside and seek a bit of counsel with the Almighty and see if he was in the forgiving mood. In this particular case, "the Almighty" was most likely an hourglass clever Chris was using to time the 48 minute duration of totality.
Strolling casually back out from his ship, Columbus reappeared just before totality ended and announced that the Almighty Power was indeed in a forgiving mood and if the natives would thusly promise to provide food for Columbus and his crew, the Almighty Power would have the Moon reappear. Of course the Natives agreed and with much nodding, smiling and posturing, the deal was sealed and quite soon thereafter, the Moon was its former brilliant self.
Thereafter, it is doubtful that Columbus had much trouble with the Natives. He probably even gained a bit more respect from his sailors but one thing is for sure, Columbus did have a good bit of knowledge from Persian, Greek, Islamic and European science. He reportedly had an almanac which he used to schedule the meeting with the Natives based on eclipse times!
http://starryskies.com/The_sky/events/lunar-2003/lunar.eclipse-a.jpg
Lost Cause
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A tight schedule!
1.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Atlantis are hoping for clear skies over Florida tomorrow as they near the end of a successful construction flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
Shuttle commander Stephen Frick and his six crewmates are scheduled to land Wednesday at 9:07 a.m. EST (1407 GMT) here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), though the space agency has also called up a backup runway at California's Edwards Air Force Base.
"We're certainly very hopeful that we'll be getting home tomorrow at the Kennedy Space Center," Frick told ABC News today. "It sounds like we'll be very likely to land at Kennedy or Edwards."
2.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has issued aircraft advisories for a large area of the Pacific Ocean for the evenings of Feb. 20 and Feb. 21, setting off speculation that it will attempt to shoot down a wayward U.S. spy satellite on one or both of those nights.
3.
Today through Feb. 22, USA 193 will make a number of evening passes over North America and western Europe. It's orbit is inclined 58.5-degrees to the equator, a setup that makes it readily observable from most of the Northern Hemisphere.
http://www.heavens-above.com/usa193.aspx?lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=CET
http://www.heavens-above.com/
4.
Date: March 11 +
Mission: STS-123
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 2:28 a.m. EDT
Description: Mission STS-123 on Space Shuttle Endeavour will deliver the pressurized section of the Kibo Japanese Experiment Logistics Module (ELM-PS) on the twenty-fifth mission to the International Space Station.
1.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Atlantis are hoping for clear skies over Florida tomorrow as they near the end of a successful construction flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
Shuttle commander Stephen Frick and his six crewmates are scheduled to land Wednesday at 9:07 a.m. EST (1407 GMT) here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), though the space agency has also called up a backup runway at California's Edwards Air Force Base.
"We're certainly very hopeful that we'll be getting home tomorrow at the Kennedy Space Center," Frick told ABC News today. "It sounds like we'll be very likely to land at Kennedy or Edwards."
2.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has issued aircraft advisories for a large area of the Pacific Ocean for the evenings of Feb. 20 and Feb. 21, setting off speculation that it will attempt to shoot down a wayward U.S. spy satellite on one or both of those nights.
3.
Today through Feb. 22, USA 193 will make a number of evening passes over North America and western Europe. It's orbit is inclined 58.5-degrees to the equator, a setup that makes it readily observable from most of the Northern Hemisphere.
http://www.heavens-above.com/usa193.aspx?lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=CET
http://www.heavens-above.com/
4.
Date: March 11 +
Mission: STS-123
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 2:28 a.m. EDT
Description: Mission STS-123 on Space Shuttle Endeavour will deliver the pressurized section of the Kibo Japanese Experiment Logistics Module (ELM-PS) on the twenty-fifth mission to the International Space Station.
Cathleen
Summer breeze...
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The liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-123 mission remains on schedule for 2:28 a.m. EDT Tuesday, March 11.
Endeavour’s Countdown Proceeding Smoothly
It's a beautiful planet
Endeavour’s Countdown Proceeding Smoothly
It's a beautiful planet
Lost Cause
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Lost Cause
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It's going to be an awesome launch!
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
http://space.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn12240/dn12240-1_600.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
http://space.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn12240/dn12240-1_600.jpg
Lost Cause
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A little over 30 minutes left to liftoff........
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
http://boingboing.net/images/321071046_db66f82fdb.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
http://boingboing.net/images/321071046_db66f82fdb.jpg
Lost Cause
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Almost ready to go!!!!!!!! 
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/213834main_engines.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/213834main_engines.jpg
Colonel Hogan
Madness
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I'm there! Thanks for the heads up. I would have missed it.
TurdFergeson
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The liftoff was nice last night. I only wish I had a better viewing opportunity for the ISS in my area for tonight.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/skywatch.cgi?country=United+States
Lost Cause
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Analysts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston are examining video of what appears to be a bird slamming into the nose of the space shuttle Endeavour during its launch early Tuesday morning. It is unclear if that is the same incident that Mission Control mentioned to crew members when it told them that "We have observed one piece of debris passing the right wing at 83 seconds — no impact was seen."
The astronauts will spend tonight using the orbital boom attached to the space shuttle's robotic arm to examine it inch by inch for any signs of damage to the orbiter's fragile heat shield.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4431904&page=1
http://media.monstersandcritics.com/galleries/1107737/0128142350085.jpg
The astronauts will spend tonight using the orbital boom attached to the space shuttle's robotic arm to examine it inch by inch for any signs of damage to the orbiter's fragile heat shield.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4431904&page=1
http://media.monstersandcritics.com/galleries/1107737/0128142350085.jpg
Lost Cause
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