What is Digg?59 Comments
- hadak, on 10/10/2007, -6/+29Please, stop.
- Chairboy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+21Apollo 12 was actually HIT by lightning. It tripped the breakers, knocked out the power in the capsule, and was generally a somewhat tense experience for the astronauts onboard, not to mention all the folks w/ dead telemetry screens on the ground.
The computers running the Saturn V itself were OK, so the boost continued normally. The astronauts were able to reset the breakers and re-activate the Apollo spacecraft before reaching orbit, and the rest of the mission went fine.
Pretty neat stuff. - vroom101, on 10/10/2007, -3/+21August 30, 1983, 2:32:00 a.m. EDT. Launch delayed 17 minutes due to weather.
via http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-8/mission-sts-8.html
That was the STS-8 mission, the 8th time a NASA space shuttle roared & soared into space. I looked at the lightning photo again...and then focused on the year...1983...and for the first time I got an orbiter-reality-smack: our shuttles have been flying, i.e., have been operational for a looooooooooong time!...that is truly remarkable given they're the most complicated flying machines ever built...well I think they are. Why didn't I sense this before? Because for me every shuttle launch is the 1st chapter in a brand new book...every landing writing the last chapter, closing then placing that book on the our national bookshelf. So the shuttle-years have rolled by & I got older, but at age STS-118 our shuttles liftoff and orbit and dock and land like they haven't aged at all. - archlich, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15Thor doesn't take kindly to blasphemy.
- HiddenCanuck, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12Raiden....wins!
- Bdog2g2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10while the shuttles may be aging, the Columbia accident had very little to do with age. A chunk of foam broke off. Also the Challanger accident was not due to age, it was do to a poor upper management decision to launch in temperatures colder than the o-rings were designed to operate.
- vroom101, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Via photo 3:
http://chamorrobible.org/gpw/gpw-20061026.htm - phildo, on 10/10/2007, -21/+30I, for one, welcome our new Mighty Lightning Bolt overlords.
- eaasness, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I understand where you are coming from. It seems like just yesterday the Challenger was flying regular missions. I have to say though our shuttles are really showing their age. Its saddens me that we waste billions of dollars elsewhere instead of putting that money toward the space program, where we can gain knowledge.
- Falldog, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7One of the ground crew is actually Captain Marvel.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Space Shuttle Launch Preparation [Pics]:
http://www.linkinn.com/_Space_Shuttle_Launch_Preparation_Pics - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8It's a good thing Challenger had that +15 lightning defense launch pad equipped..
- griz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5You should just come right out and asked to be blocked.
- HeyArnold, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!
:p - szewczyk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5It's odd that the lightning bolt, that normally takes the fastest route to the ground, bypassed the top of a huge metal tower and hit the base of the pad. Maybe it's the angle, maybe there's some scientific explanation, maybe it's fake. I don't know. But doesn't lightning usually hit the top of things??
- S1L3NTC, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Just because you look like a retard doesn't make everyone feel the need to accuse you of being one.
NASA; Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-8), Launch Complex 39, Pad A, John F. Kennedy Space Center, August 30, 1983, GRIN (http://grin.hq.nasa.gov) Database Number: GPN-2000-001879, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, http://www.nasa.gov), Government of the United States of America. - rbalik, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4"From the Earth to the Moon" I believe. Good series. Anybody interested in the history of space exploration should definitely rent it.
- Error601, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I don't believe a big metal tower being hit by lightning in Florida is a close call. That would be more in the routine area.
- peterjmag, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Awesome... Great find!
- ThreeDee912, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Somebody was bound to say it sooner or later...
- cinder, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2(2 octaves higher than normal): I know what it is!
(Yes, this is relevant to the parent post. Just a small niche I doubt many people will get.) - bigern75, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I still remember where I was what I was doing when Challenger blew up :(
5th grade, Mrs. Core's class, Just finishing Math up and fixing to outside for recess. - habbofresh, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2that set of pics are gorgeous. thanks for the link.
- Morphinity, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Vroom, you always have interesting titles.
- SpacemanSpiff, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It's a setting under your profile. You can also just click "View 1 reply"
- kcap122, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1the mounts that hold the spacecraft off the ground are most likely not conductive, so the spaceship had resistance too high for the lightning to go thru it to ground.
- Yeago, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1This is unrelated, and I'm sorry, but why is it that I don't see threaded (replies under comments) comments when I login? Only when I am not logged in?
Funny, I will have to log out to find the reply to this comment. =( I checked my settings! - S1L3NTC, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2You, sir, are a scumbag and a spammer. I just got done checking your profile.
Member Since: August 24, 2007
You've only dugg the two stories you've submitted.
Welcome to the block, asshat. - JohnnyXmas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I, for one, welcome our new Mighty Lightning Bolt overlords.
- xzourska, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well the charge from the sky and the ground send out streamers. Some of these streamers you can see in the picture but only when a streamer from the ground and sky connect will you see a lightning strike. Sometimes if a streamer from a low point is the one that connects then that is the lightning strike that you will see. Typically high points have a higher probability of getting hit and ones with low impedance to ground will get hit more often since the charge from ground is more capable of producing a longer streamer. Well that is my basic understanding of how it works.
- thomashauk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Rain?
- billib, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1dugg for the title.
- habbofresh, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I believe there are meaures taken to prevent direct strikes to the shuttle when the launchpad is out. At least I think I watched a documentary about it a long time ago.
- elam82, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2By the hammer of Thor!?!
- Archimboldo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What are those faint wispy things in the photo?
- potterboy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Boom is the correct spelling. Isn't it a little insensitive given the Challenger's fate?
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Yeah, because it is only funny when YOU make fun of death.
And I REALLY couldn't care less that yoyu are blocking me. Anyone that is still quoting an overrated movie from EIGHT YEARS AGO is not worth my time. - davidecrawford, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0The strike point was actually more than 100 meters behind the pad, to the ground, completely outside of the catenary wires that form the envelope of the lightning protection system. A cool photo however, and keeps the engineering community adequately focused on the need to protect launch vehicles from Florida lightning. The next generation launch pad will see a much improved lightning protection design.
- JoeBlotto, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1If a piece of foam can take down a shuttle, I would hate to think what would have happened if the lightning had hit and the proper safety measures failed to work.
- thomashauk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Now that would have made a cool pic
- SteveMax, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Wow. I have never seen such ignorance on Digg. And believe me, to be more ignorant than all other ***** here is a major feat.
- thomashauk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I'd try and stop a big tank of rocketful getting hit by lightni so that makes scence, but why not the top of the tower?
- Animental, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0ZEUS DENIES PASSAGE OF YOUR VESSEL!
- krakelohm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Yea wish it was later; as in after I was done reading the comments.
- ELee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I was in the press area at KSC for the STS-8 mission. It was the first night launch of the Shuttle. Lots of photographers had set up their cameras near the Shuttle launch pad with automatic triggers for the sound or light of the launch. But with the lightening storm, they got pictures of lightening - and not of the launch. The winds from the storm were strong enough that a lot of camera equipment was blown back into the water filled ditches. I remember one guy saying he lost something like $5k of cameras and lenses that night. This photo must be from one of the cameras that survived..
- Aquilae, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Lightning overload? I don't get it? What beef does an elemental shammy have with the challenger?
is that a double cast i see in that pic? - JohnBooty, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0"Space Shuttle Challenger's Close Call With a Mig..."
That's how the headline was abbreviated in my RSS reader. I was pretty stunned for a second. I thought, "Wait, did the USSR send a MiG after them back in the 80s? Wait, the Shuttle flies at Mach 10 or something ridiculous... oh, wait, durrrr" - ZeroIce, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0At first, I though it was shop'd, but i guess not. With all this proof and all....
- darny, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1and rampant narcissism
- firebhaal, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1bewm headshot
-
Show 51 - 57 of 57 discussions
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 