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97 Comments
- SiSurfer, on 03/30/2009, -3/+65Oh, you mean THAT Earth. Thanks for clearing that up.
- The0, on 03/29/2009, -2/+39I can't decide if this title is being redundant or making an incredibly unnecessary clarification.
Either way, amazing picture. - GaltShrugged, on 03/29/2009, -2/+32Sometimes you just need to sit back and think about the amazing the achievements of the human mind. Absolutely amazing.
- vroom101, on 03/29/2009, -9/+29Via NASA's STS-119 Shuttle Mission Imagery, S119-E-008352, 25 March 2009 at
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... (spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-119/html/s119e008352.html)
See also:
1. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... via http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... (spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-119/html/iss018e042074.html)
2. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... via http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... (spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-119/html/s119e006289.html)
3. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... via http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... (spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-119/html/s119e008343.html)
4. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... via http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... (spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-119/html/s119e010247.html)
5. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... via http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... (spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-119/html/s119e009768.html)
6. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... via http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... (spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-119/html/s119e009765.html)
7. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... via http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... (spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-119/html/s119e009777.html)
8. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... via http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle ... (spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-119/html/s119e010350.html) - nunlover, on 03/30/2009, -0/+15wow, earth is our home planet?
- seantubridy, on 03/30/2009, -1/+16Actually, this is the second Earth. The first one was destroyed about 152,000 years ago. Give or take.
- RJ0534, on 03/30/2009, -0/+10http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6341/isscompariso ...
- zaferk, on 03/30/2009, -1/+11and then remember Africa is in the same condition it was 2000 years ago
LOL - dyranios2, on 03/30/2009, -0/+8it's been so long since our ancestors left for our current planet it's easy to forget....
- Loonacy, on 03/30/2009, -0/+7The title is inaccurate. I see Earth and the ISS, but not my home planet.
- nigelmansell, on 03/30/2009, -0/+6Thanks to Zenu, second Earth is now protected by Tom Cruise
- Spo8, on 03/30/2009, -0/+5http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M
;___; - tHr333, on 03/30/2009, -0/+5Dude, where's your goats?
- christoast, on 03/30/2009, -0/+5its worse now becuase they have guns and also fight over diamonds.
- Sogui, on 03/30/2009, -0/+5This submission was actually entered from the year 2292 for a history project.
- mikeruiz7, on 03/30/2009, -0/+4You're going to have to be a little more specific about which Earth you mean.
- guitmusic11, on 03/30/2009, -0/+4The way it's titled it appears that there should be a third object in this picture: our home planet...
- celticspringers, on 03/30/2009, -0/+4Yeah its pretty depressing considering that in the 1960s, people were predicting colonies on Mars by now. We dipped our foot in the water with the Apollo programme and then packed up and went home. Sticking a hyper expensive meccano set 200 miles up is not much of a substitute for real human space exploration
We should focus our efforts on a permanent settlement on Mars. That would be something. - JimMayJr, on 08/06/2009, -1/+5I'm glad he cleared up which planet is our home planet (for now).
- hendrixlives64, on 03/30/2009, -0/+4i don't know, sometimes i like when NASA reinforces the concept of Earth being out home planet, our origin. it's a subtle reminder that we are on the brink of a new age of exploration, one in which the human species will unite and spread forth into the galaxy!
</nerd> - inactive, on 03/30/2009, -0/+4There is a lot of space junk up there, and it is a real concern, but there's also a lot of space for it. For example, we're currently tracking about 8,500 objects in Low Earth Orbit. Sounds like a lot, but it works out to one object per 60,000 square kilometers of space, which is about the size of West Virginia. And that's assuming it's completely flat up there, which it (obviously) isn't. In fact, most of the space junk is about 400-500 kilometers above the ISS.
The main concern is that if something major DOES hit, it could be devastating. The stuff in orbit is traveling about 50 times faster than a rifle bullet. Anything larger than a pea is enough to completely devastate anything it comes in contact with. - misterfrog, on 03/30/2009, -0/+4retarded ^
- MothBoy, on 03/30/2009, -0/+3OK, I see the space station and the earth, but where is your home planet?
- swalker37, on 03/30/2009, -0/+3where's the colbert pod?
- inactive, on 03/30/2009, -0/+3Clearly that space station is built out of Legos.
- Mossman85, on 03/30/2009, -0/+3You are welcome, Ronald D. Moore
- Dinner, on 03/30/2009, -0/+3Nice to have a stark visual reminder of how absolutely, unbelievably amazing this is.
- Dinner, on 03/30/2009, -0/+3Dugg for meticulous image title.
- misterfrog, on 03/30/2009, -0/+3what's the policy on smoking weed up there*
*space brownies anyone? - Dinner, on 03/30/2009, -0/+3There's a whole lot of 'out there' out there.
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd guess that this is probably in orbit at a different distance from the layer of satellites and crap. - christoast, on 03/30/2009, -1/+4you just linked to a smaller version of the actual picture...
anyway, http://img21.imageshack.us/my.php?image=60352697.j ... - Yankees368, on 03/30/2009, -0/+3Picture was taken with a Nikon D2Xs with a 1/500 second exposure time.
- coltraning, on 03/30/2009, -0/+2You're a dumb-ass. Read the caption:
"Photographed from NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-119) on 25 March 2009" - majormajor42, on 03/30/2009, -0/+2Picture is upside down
- McVador, on 03/30/2009, -0/+2Your puny brains cannot possibly imagine how wrong you are.
10 years is a short amount of time to contruct such a hugely complex station, nevermind that it's IN SPACE. Every piece needs to come up on a space shuttle (obviously) which is why the ISS is "only" the size of a football field with "only" an olympic sized swimming pool worth of human habitable space! That's gigantic compared to anything in space so far.
As for the crew size, in May, it will finally double from 3 to 6 strong, since just this month they attatched the last solar panal array which is deticated to science experiments. Also they got the waist water and urin recycler (ew!) up and running to supply the more fully staffed station with water.
As for it's usefullness, you don't seem to understand what it is all about. The station was built for two reasons:
1) To do experiments that can't be done anywhere else. Earlier this year (or maybe last year) the main science module was added which is loaded with experiment racks with all kinds of utilities, both inside and outside exposed to space, that can be used for anything. NASA has a web page listing all the experiments going on, and yes it isn't being used to the fullest yet but once there are 6 people up there they deffinetly will be, and astronaught scientists will be doing experiments 24 hours a day 7 days a week like they're supposed to be. They could only do so much until the last solar panels were installed.
2) To learn how to build, maintain, and crew an outpost in space with long term occupants. It is better to have the prototype in orbit right here around Earth rather than have the first one be on Mars or the moon so we can be right there if something happens. Plus, it's a 1000 times cheaper to not have to land on another planet/moon. Once we have a concrete example of a working station (the ISS), then we can better plan for the more ambitious projects ahead. Sure the Russians had there tini Mir station, but that was so small it was more like a space shuttle that never landed than an actual station.
There are some things that only first hand experience can teach. Earth now has experience living in, building complex establishments in, cooperating internationally in, and experimenting IN SPACE. All in one gigantic global project. I love it. - vroom101, on 03/30/2009, -1/+3http://flickr.com/photos/starmeadows/238477189/siz ... via http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Mitsy_s_Swan_Dive
- denizen42, on 03/30/2009, -0/+2And my thumb is bigger than the moon!
- mikeman10001, on 03/30/2009, -1/+3Why is this being dugg down?
- jasdf, on 03/30/2009, -2/+4It sure looks good with its final solar panel configuration.
- inactive, on 03/30/2009, -0/+2"To do experiments that can't be done anywhere else."
I acknowledged this. Like I said, it's a great opportunity but it hasn't really been taken advantage of yet. I really hope that changes with the new installations, but even if it does it's unlikely to be worth the extreme cost.
"To learn how to build, maintain, and crew an outpost in space with long term occupants."
Thing is, we've already done that. You mentioned Mir, for example. Yes, it was tiny, but the ISS is only two and a half times bigger in terms of internal volume. Likewise, there have been only three astronauts who have spent longer than a year in space, and all three of them were on Mir. No one has spent that long in the ISS so far.
And you know how much Mir cost? $4.3 billion. Compare that to the ISS' price tag of $157 billion, and then tell me with a straight face that the ISS is worth over 30 times more money than Mir.
You know how much money $157 billion is? That money = the Three Gorges Dam, the entire United States aircraft carrier fleet, one-sixth the cost of Apollo (enough for one Moon mission), the Large Hadron Collider, the entire Space Shuttle fleet AND Mir. Combined.
Spending 30 times more for something two and a half times bigger is a lot of things, but progress isn't one of them. I could even understand if the ISS was considerably more advanced technologically than Mir, but it really isn't. Even with the new modules installed, there's very little the ISS is expected to do that hasn't already been tackled by a previous space station.
I do enjoy manned spaceflight, but financial disasters like the ISS aren't the way to go about it. As of now I'm looking forward to the planned Lunar Outpost. Unlike the ISS, that will actually be breaking new ground, and we may be able to study long-term habitation outside our magnetic field. - Euphorian, on 03/30/2009, -0/+2I kind of wanted to see someone waving out a tiny window.
- Louay, on 03/30/2009, -0/+2it llooks soooo fragile and yet so beautiful
- sockfire, on 03/30/2009, -1/+2Also the video of the flyaround:
http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/HD_downloads ... - Dougman82, on 03/30/2009, -0/+1It's like a giant blueberry!
- deathmatch, on 03/30/2009, -0/+1im so tempted to click your link..but ill pass
- deathmatch, on 03/30/2009, -0/+1CANADARM!!!
- Hobbes24, on 03/30/2009, -0/+1so callous, yet so knee-jerk funny.
- tastic, on 03/30/2009, -0/+1Those arrays snagged when they were being deployed and tore. They were repared with "cufflinks" improvised on the same flight back in 2007. Here are details from Space.com: http://www.space.com/news/cs-071102-sts120-buildyo ...
- inactive, on 03/30/2009, -0/+1Shuttle over space station
- Goombellaofgoom, on 03/30/2009, -0/+1Same here... although to be fair it would be difficult to find the angle that captures all three clearly in a single picture.
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