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- Jensaarai, on 05/13/2009, -4/+22Really cool. Beautiful shot.
And yet... It's also a symbol of one of humanity's greatest failures, in a way.
If you'd have told anyone in the late 1970's (when these things were being made) that there'd only be two fully functional space shuttles on the entire planet in the year 2009, and they'd be the same ones being built then, they'd have mocked you mercilessly. Especially if you told them they were on the verge of failure from minor damage after every launch, being used to repair an almost-as-ancient satellite.
I mean, the Hubble is badass and will be useful for a long time to come, and this picture shows encapsulates what a complex endeavor space travel is. But this is all ***** we could do almost 30 years ago. That's well before most diggers were born.
We have failed our space program and ourselves. - Bactame, on 05/13/2009, -2/+15This particular update of the Hubble is substantial and may well provide much new information well into the Webb units lifetime.
- Jensaarai, on 05/13/2009, -1/+13And of course by 2, I mean 3. Damn you Endeavor!
- GrogInOhio, on 05/13/2009, -0/+7If anything, you've understated our failure. I was 14 years old in 1969 at the first moon landing. If you had told me that we would not have gone one step further by 2009, I would have laughed at you like a fool. I was absolutely sure that we'd be on Mars by the time I was 30 years old.
Bummer... - fluidfoundation, on 05/13/2009, -1/+7I love the smell of liquid hydrogen in the morning.
- TimmyA, on 05/13/2009, -1/+7Yes - it's called the Rotating Service Structure (RSS). Not only to provide protection to the orbiter from the weather, but providing access for maintenance, and loading cargo in to the payload bay. You can also see a payload canister in the RSS, which holds the payload as it's transferred to the pad, hoisted in to the RSS and payload thus transferred to the orbiter.
Also: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/r ... - sprkoolguy, on 05/13/2009, -4/+10Looks better than your wife at dawn
- uptwolait, on 05/13/2009, -0/+5I never tire of seeing pics like this.
- majormajor42, on 05/13/2009, -0/+4But what good is "cool" if it doesn't get you into space as cheap, safe and often? While the start-up costs of Ares are high, we are hoping it will allow for more space accessibility in the long run.
- drjennings, on 05/13/2009, -0/+4The gantry looks like something built by the Borg.
- swizzcheez, on 05/13/2009, -1/+5Is it just me or does anyone else think the trading of the shuttles for something that looks like it's from the Apollo program is a step backward? That whole Orion thing just isn't nearly as cool as the shuttle, regardless of age...
- carromj, on 05/13/2009, -0/+3Good reply. More detail - the payload canister in the picture is holding the HST - the orange line draped to the ground level is an air purge from the transportation vehicle. The HST was transferred from the canister onto holding hooks in the RSS in a cleanroom environment, the doors are closed and the canister is lowered and transported away from the pad. The RSS rotates to over the orbiter, and the HST is transferred from the RSS holding hooks to the orbiter payload bay.
- inactive, on 05/13/2009, -0/+2The shuttle should be kept flying in an unmanned research program during the downtime to develop Orion/Ares.
- agulesin, on 05/13/2009, -1/+3I guess the part on the left of the photo hinges towards the shuttle? is it something to do with the load bays? Can anyone explain please!
- overridemymind, on 05/13/2009, -0/+2... and we don't live in a fascist nation?
/system of a down. - shadowspawn, on 05/13/2009, -0/+2That smell. It smells like... victory.
- majormajor42, on 05/13/2009, -0/+2I might say Blunder but not failure. Too bad some influential forward looking engineer did not forsee and warn that putting the orbiter in a location downwind of falling debris was a very bad idea that would eventually doom the Columbia and its crew. Who knew that having the shuttle relatively close to solid rocket booster o-rings would lead to the Challenger disaster as well. I'm guessing that 30 years ago, with less money to spend than during the Apollo programs, NASA sold the cool looking shuttle design to an otherwise disinterested public because they thought it was their best option of remaining funded. In hind sight, I guess we can now say that we should have generally stuck with the capsule idea or something like the ESA's Hermes, with a smaller shuttle on top of the rocket, out of the way of many dangers (and easier ejection as well). In hind sight - DIRECT might have been a better design.
- Jektal, on 05/13/2009, -0/+1Simple answer: The shuttle is placed on the launch pad empty, that thing holds it's payload and rotates into position to load it.
- frequentFlyer, on 05/13/2009, -0/+1Now THAT'S a pretty lady.
- TheAmazingDon, on 05/13/2009, -1/+2Launch pad info @ http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/facilities/lc39a.html
- shadowspawn, on 05/13/2009, -0/+1In my dreams I drive one of those :/
- craigily, on 05/13/2009, -1/+2reminds me of this :D http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2009_Star_Trek/200 ...
- jibajaba, on 05/13/2009, -0/+1Exactly...the human race is currently at the beginnings of its own star trek. Too Cool!
- SGIsus, on 05/13/2009, -0/+1video of the launch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytqGMd6P8qk - SeventhWard, on 05/13/2009, -0/+1As a society we've become so spoiled at times, it's tempting to see the shuttle and go "Meh". Not me. Everyime I see this thing launch I get goosebumps as my brain processes the information: HOLY *****, IT'S GOING TO SPACE.
Until someone invents the transporter beam - this is the coolest thing we've ever made. - mikemil828, on 05/13/2009, -1/+2Just goes to show how impatient diggers are when it comes to major space milestones such as a Manned Mars landing and so forth. Rocket Science is hard and dangerous folks, and just because we somehow managed to go from flying ramshackle biplanes to landing men on the moon in 60 years, doesn't mean we should expect everything space related to come as fast. For one thing, something like a mars mission is probably beyond the budgeting, technical expertise, and manpower of any one country's space program, we are going to need help from the rest of the planet to get to a new one, and I don't think the rest of the planet is really up to it yet, take the much feared China for example, they only had their first EVA (extra-vehicular activity, basically going out of the ship into space) last year, there are 5 evas planned for this current space shuttle mission alone. Until the rest of the world gets up to snuff, I wouldn't bet on a Mars mission anytime soon.
- pipedreambomb, on 05/13/2009, -1/+1I don't believe you've ever met my wife, sir, therefore I ask why would you slander her upon the Queen's Internet? Methinks you seek to draw attention from a shrew of your own keeping.
And what's this? A stagecoach able to navigate the heavens themselves? Heresy! - VdigginG, on 05/13/2009, -0/+05 times the image quality is expected out of the repairs...
maybe now we'll get a GLIMPSE of the naked galaxy that won't be all grainy...
(it's a science joke)
blast off it's party time... - tedcopy, on 05/13/2009, -0/+0They are doing better now that they have that big tank of white lightning on top of the structure, Moonshine is so appropriate in any space program.
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