What is Digg?140 Comments
- PhonicUK, on 04/25/2008, -3/+67And this kids, is how baby airplanes are born...
- austenw, on 04/25/2008, -5/+54Doggy style.
- jeffinfremont, on 04/25/2008, -5/+53This picture was amazingly cool thirty years ago.
- 007kz, on 04/25/2008, -1/+25When's Superman going to come?
- seandfeeney, on 04/25/2008, -1/+19Really? I think we all have see this sort of image a thousand times...
- SwiftKick34, on 04/25/2008, -1/+18That looks like the Soviet Buran shuttle, which was based on the US space shuttle, so it was likely a concept also borrowed from the Americans. The 747 carry method has been used all the way since Enterprise for testing glide capabilities.
- Akaji, on 04/25/2008, -3/+19Honestly, I don't know that that's any better than saying "first!"...
- Conwaysb0718, on 04/25/2008, -2/+18That shuttle is a chubby chaser! Sure, they'll all laugh cuz she's bigger than you, but at least you're gettin some!
- MacBastard, on 04/25/2008, -0/+14Not even. The 747 in the picture has been used to drop-test and ferry shuttles since 1978. The AN-225 didn't even make it's first flight until 1988.
- chrissku, on 04/25/2008, -6/+20Mommy
Is this how helicopters are born? - prisonbusdad, on 04/25/2008, -0/+12The Russians did not do it first!! NASA was doing this in the late '70s to test the flight characteristics of the orbiter. NASA used a non-space ready orbiter named Enterprise. The Russians copied the general design of the orbiter, but never sent a manned version into space (I seem to think they sent a remote control version though).
- brianbb98, on 04/25/2008, -0/+12thats what she said
- Satanael, on 04/25/2008, -0/+11Allows the airflow to hit the plane's tail fin and maintain better control + steering ability.
- ecarver530, on 04/25/2008, -0/+10It says "Atlantis" on the side of the shuttle.
Fail. - mikezs, on 04/25/2008, -0/+86 people, aparently
- sumdog, on 04/25/2008, -4/+11I don't think I've seen a photo with that protective cone around the engines. Is that new?
- kalleanka, on 04/25/2008, -3/+8I remember back in 2005 you could actually find interesting stuff here on Digg. Oh well, good old days.
- talonstriker, on 04/25/2008, -1/+6I was going to say "thats a condom" but I'm not going to...
(quoting it doesn't count) - Ramble, on 04/25/2008, -2/+7He was pointing out an interesting fact that has relevance to the picture at hand you git.
- MacBastard, on 04/25/2008, -0/+5They've used that fairing tailcone since the first drop-tests with the Enterprise test article. Although they did without it for a couple of tests, it's always used on the cross-country ferry flights. At cruising speed, a tailcone-less shuttle would create enough turbulence to possibly rip the 747's vertical stabilizer off.
- KibibyteBrain, on 04/25/2008, -1/+6No, is for taking the shuttle back to Kennedy when it needs to land at White Sands due to poor conditions or an emergency.
- proliance, on 04/26/2008, -0/+4The Shuttle will land at Edward's AFB if weather prevents it from landing at Kennedy. Its not like the Shuttle pilot got lost.
- CrunchyDeluxe, on 04/25/2008, -0/+4The Russians had their own space shuttle, called Buran.. It actually looked very similar to the American shuttle. I don't think it ever made it past various prototypes, though.
- crazycarlmar, on 04/25/2008, -0/+4It didn't work in the Superman universe so why would it work in ours?
- twertyto, on 04/25/2008, -4/+7Did what first? That picture shows a space shuttle which the Russians don't use.
- Liembo, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3Not always, they're ferried between KSC and the Palmdale,Caliifornia maintenance center periodically.
- ecarver530, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3lol are you serious?
- kaoitik, on 04/25/2008, -1/+4He worded it differently.
- hbbodyboarder, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3I think that anytime the shuttle is transported like this the protective cone is on.
- Akaji, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3Not really, it would take considerably more fuel to do it that way (since the plane has to carry both itself and the shuttle into space). The only problem this would potentially alleviate is a shortage of fuel on the shuttle itself, which is not a huge issue to my knowledge. As for this picture, the 747 isn't carrying the shuttle into, or even near space - it's ferrying it to the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida (RTFstory description!).
- anshuman, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2Jee planes... go get a room ...or hanger...
- theducks, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2This page on PBS - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/activities/3 ... - says a normal 747-100 burns about 3638 gl/hr of fuel, Wikipedia says the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) has 1/5th the range of a normal 747-100, so we can assume that the SCA burns about 18190 gl/hr, or about 5gl/second, vs 1gl/second for a regular 747-100.
- Shawshanksr, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2this is quite a pickle to figure out at 30000 feet
- BodomX, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2Anyone else pick up two things?
- dfsjdkflasjk, on 04/25/2008, -4/+6Who cares who did it first
- Satanael, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2Just for transporting the shuttle to different locations, not for taking off.
- hmunkey, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2By the time the Buran has developed enough the USSR was facing a huge money-crunch because of the arms race and the war in Afghanistan.
- kjdubuque, on 04/25/2008, -2/+4How and the hell does this ancient crap get on the Digg homepage? This has to be years old.
- Hortnon, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2The... Soviets?
- inactive, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2It's basically a falling brick in the atmosphere, glides back to base upon reentry. I don't think it would take off by itself. Think of it like a glider that is hauling ass lol... reusable space orbiter and not really a plane...
- Soulbow2, on 04/25/2008, -2/+4KibibyteBrain is right. Plus, if they tried to launch from a plane, they would burn the tail of the plane to pieces.
- etnuts, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1its for "protection" .....
i think - etnuts, on 04/27/2008, -1/+2weren't the soviets the first ones to send the first man in space
- Quicksdraw, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1You know, It's not an official Digg comment thread until someone comes in and says how "Old" it is.
- yurishoujo, on 04/25/2008, -0/+1They're working on it. Check out the X Prize and SpaceShipOne. The shuttle is old and inefficient, but it's the best NASA has at the moment for space flight (despite this the shuttle will still be retired in 2010. So maybe they have something else hidden somewhere?)
- rspeed, on 04/26/2008, -0/+1You are mistaken.
- twertyto, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Thanks for the info. I didn't know that.
- rspeed, on 04/26/2008, -0/+1What would you recommend?
- thehurricaneuk, on 04/25/2008, -0/+1darn... should have posted a working link to the image... http://mateengreenway.com/anderson/S_Cloudquiet.jp ...
- inactive, on 04/25/2008, -0/+1Thanks a lot for the link.
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