Next shuttle launch
 

They are supposed to launch tomorrow afternoon for the ISS.

They said that they will watch the launch, and if any foam falls off and breaks the shuttle, the astronauts will be able to just wait at the ISS for another shuttle to come up and get them.

But wait a minute. What if foam falls off of that one? Then they have another set of astronauts at the ISS.

And then they have to send up a third one! And what if the foam falls off of that one?

That's why I strongly feel that, along with the crew, they should send up enough raw materials to build additional wings onto the ISS.

Or at least, materials to attach the new arriving shuttles, and turn them into various private residences. They'll have to park somewhere anyway.

Poor NASA. I used to have so much respect for them. Now they are the butt of jokes.

My brother used to work for them. Helped design the ISS. When he quit in disgust after working there a year and a half, I thought he was nuts. NASA had always been his dream job, and he went to school for a long time so he could work there. But he couldn't deal with the bureaucracy.

Now he teaches science to high school kids and gets them really excited about it.

Anything we lift, that can be used up there, should be used up there if we're not riding it home. Fortunately, NASA is using tax dollars so they don't have to consider resources.

If they get stranded on the ISS, NASA can just pick them up on the way back from Mars. ;)

Maybe they can ride a kite tube down...

has been postponed, due to weather. safe than sorry, 'suppose.

Lightning strikes the cape yesterday. :eek6:

The central weather issue was the fact that there were thunderstorm cells too close to the landing strip at KSC...which would be used in the case of a return-to-launch-site (RTLS) or abort-once-around (AOA) launch abort.

I've seen IMAX video of what a shuttle pilot sees on final to the KSC runway. No way I'd want to try that in a thunderstorm.

In other STS news, we're currently go for a July 4 launch, having decided that the foam crack discovered during/after yesterday's safing wasn't big enough to be a worry.

I really have to wonder would we be having all these ET foam problem if they hadn't stopped painting the ET to save weight. A nice thick coat of latex...

Holy shit, when they say foam I didnt realize they meant, like, styrofoam

Polyurthane foam, sprayed on. Just like a picnic cooler, and for the very same reason: the ET is filled with liquid H2 and liquid O2, and the slower it boils off the less they have to top it prelaunch. There is some additional insulation that is pre-molded.

But yes...the piece of foam that killed Columbia was essentially styrofoam. That's why it was hard at first to get anybody to beleve it could put a hole in the leading edge of the wing. But then they tested the theory...

Lemme see...

I'm re-entering the atmosphere at 18,000 MPH.
The craft is pretty much on fire.
The styrofoam (STYROFOAM?!?) is cracked.
And it is burning off.
If your scientist ass is so certain that it's safe, then suit up Skippy! You is going on a trip.
To quote the great Richard Pryor -
"I don't want to be no motherfucking accident!"

Styrofuckingfoam? It can't hold coffee without deforming, and this is what we coat our space vehicles with?
Coat them with the plastic you cover CDs & DVDs with. Nothing gets thru that shit.

No, no, no...

The TPS (thermal protection system) on the *Orbiter* is ceramic tiles over most of the surface. The places where tiles won't work--like the leading edge of the wings-- are made from reinforced carbon-carbon composite. Fairly strong, if somewhat brittle. Both the tiles and the RCC are insanely heat-resistant.

The external tank (which doesn't fly to orbit and is not reused; it's a one-shot per flight) is coated with foam insulation just to keep the cryogenic liquid fuels from boiling away too fast. The issue is that the chuncks of foam sometimes crack off from being very cold, or having liquid hydrogen or liquid oxy boil off into gas between the foam and the tank.

This didn't used to be viewed as a big deal...after all, it's approximately the density of a Nerf ball.

But imagine getting hit by a Nerf ball moving at 500 mph.

Columbia was lost because a couple-pound chunk of foam came off the ET at the worst possible time during ascent...while still in the atmosphere moving supersonically. By the time the foam reached the leading edge it had been slowed by air friction (relative to the Orbiter) to a speed 500 mph less than the Orbiter. It smacked into the RCC leading edge of the wing and made a substantial (maybe 20 inches across) hole.

During reentry, hot air at the leading edge, instead of flowing over the wing, flowed into the hole and was trapped *inside* the Orbiter left wing...which is made mostly of aluminum.

It melted.

Got the picture now?

Crap -- too cloudy here, today, to see it from this side. HDNet is carrying live coverage and it looks like a 'go' so far, though.

I won't brave the crowds, anymore, to rush across just to see a scrub. The number of people headed into the Titusville area was so heavy on the previous weekend attempts that they actually put the East-West toll roads into contraflow and people still ended up sitting in slow rolling traffic for hours. (Having the race at Daytona on Saturday around the same time didn't help matters, either.)

I wish I could be there -- shuttle launches are beautiful and powerful enough to rank as emotional events. The evening/early morning/night launches are really missed! It was like an artificial sunrise over the coast.

http://static.flickr.com/17/22209475_a88afcdcc3.jpg

I shot this image of Columbia's second to last mission from Spaceview Park. This is about as close as you can get, anymore, thanks to heavy security measures.

Not as impressive a sight from Tampa, but there's Discovery lifting off just minutes ago. What a way to kick off the 4th!

http://static.flickr.com/45/181768048_1123004d79.jpg

Bye bye. :mg: