What is Digg?163 Comments
- jtibble, on 09/20/2008, -6/+206This an epic picture. Why can't digg have more quality stories/news articles/pictures like this?
- Unzorn, on 09/21/2008, -4/+1622SpaceShuttles1Rainbow
- Alias1431, on 09/20/2008, -5/+135Space leprechauns...
I ***** knew it. - doktorrocket, on 09/20/2008, -0/+81Oops...blew the caption, sorry. STS-125 is the Atlantis mission to Hubble. STS-126 is the ISS mission that Endeavour will fly AFTER its contingency role as LON-400.
Still a rather nice pic, I must say. - intro211, on 09/21/2008, -5/+54Two Space Shuttles One Rainbow is way better than Two Chicks One Cup
- Sprattles, on 09/21/2008, -0/+40I think they should race.
- DaviDTC, on 09/21/2008, -0/+40Two Space Shuttles + Two Rainbows
http://digg.com/world_news/Space_Shuttle_Atlantis_ ... - Zervaman, on 09/21/2008, -0/+39The reason for the 2nd shuttle is due to the extra risk involved in this last Hubble repair. I read that there's a 1 in 185 chance that some debris located in the debris-heavy orbit of Hubble may damage the shuttle repairing Hubble to an extent where a re-entry would be impossible. The 2nd shuttle is ready and waiting for a rescue mission, if needed.
- Juaquin, on 09/21/2008, -0/+25That's amazing - I'm ashamed to say I didn't even know they had two pads. Are the contingency launches normal or is there something especially risky about this mission?
- gadgetlust, on 09/21/2008, -2/+22"First rule in government spending, why build one when you can have two at twice the price."
- xstarsprinklesx, on 09/21/2008, -1/+21It's astroturf!
http://www.instantrimshot.com/ - Lanketer, on 09/21/2008, -1/+19how am i going to get the gold if its under the spaceship :(
- BigManOnCampus, on 09/20/2008, -1/+19Rainbows like making love to other rainbows?
- fyngyrz, on 09/21/2008, -0/+18Yes, the mission to the Hubble is considerably more risky than a mission to the space station, for instance. There is a lot of debris orbiting between here and there; and unlike a mission to the space station, if something goes wrong, there's no place to wait for rescue for any extended amount of time. Also, because of extreme orbital differences between the space station and the Hubble, there's no way for the shuttle, even presuming it was in shape to transit, to make it from the Hubble to the space station.
- infection0, on 09/21/2008, -0/+16lol "Taste the Rainbow"
- ripple123, on 09/21/2008, -1/+15itd be really awesome if they launched them both at the same time.
- Zervaman, on 09/21/2008, -0/+13Things on the other side tend to be that way.
- Lanketer, on 09/21/2008, -1/+13digg feels a little more alive now, not sure why but it just does. agree?
- shimmyNshake, on 09/21/2008, -0/+11Did you notice the submitter, doktorrocket, isnt a super user. He's only Dugg 200 articles in over 3 years.He's submitted 25 articles. Maybe we'll finally get some quality submissions rising to the top like this one.
- Twinfire0, on 09/21/2008, -0/+11Well, this article inspired me to do a bit of research on the Shuttle program. Lo and behold, I found something rather... intriguing, which I had never seen before and thought would be fun to share.
http://digg.com/space/NASA_s_Sense_of_Humor - Seidoger, on 09/21/2008, -0/+10Thanks, i was just wondering!
Anyone know if this is the first time Lauch pad 39A and 39B have shuttles ready for launch at the same time?
That's awesome, feels so sci-fi. With the rescue missions and all. I love it (even though I would rather not see it happen) - gweedo767, on 09/21/2008, -0/+10Actually there has always been another shuttle in a nearly ready state post Columbia. If a full Shuttle crew (7) were in trouble Russia wouldn't be much help. A Soyez capsule can only hold 3 people (flown by two). Seven Soyez launches quickly just ain't gonna happen :) So the broken Shuttle would dock to ISS for a week or so while Shuttle #2 went through final prep, launched with a three man crew and flew all 10 back. This mission is special since their flight path to Hubble takes them no where near ISS. So if something goes south, Shuttle #2 (Endeavor in this case) has to be ready to launch right away since Atlantis doesn't have enough food/water/oxygen to house the Astronauts for an extended period of time.
- roijen, on 09/21/2008, -0/+9I was curious of how the crawler got to the far launch pad, as you can't really see it in the picture. I found it and posted a link if anyone is interested in an overhead.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=c ... - thrillki1l, on 09/21/2008, -0/+9I thought this was shopped for a minute until I looked on google earth. I never knew there were 2 launch pads. Nice to know it's real. It's a great picture.
- yaddayaddayoda, on 09/21/2008, -0/+9It's complicated. They need to keep a standing army of people to keep flying the shuttle, whether it's 1 flight a year or 6. They even needed to keep them on the payroll during the time after the Columbia accident, even though they went for a couple of years before flying again. The reason is that the knowledge of how to prep a rocket for flight isn't institutional knowlegde... it's working knowledge.
If these people need to be on staff for the Shuttle, they have to be flying as many flights a year as possible in order to keep the workforce busy and keep them sharp.
There isn't enough money to hire a separate crew to run the next rocket... and there isn't enough crew on staff to simply split the staff in half, half for the Shuttle and half for the Ares I.
It's mostly about budget, but also about job security, lead times for spare parts... it's a very complicated and political process.
The shuttle also was a ticking clock even before the Columbia accident. They are having trouble with spare parts sources, since the thing was designed in the early 1970s. Then the Columbia accident came along and they decided that it must be retired or recertified after 2010. Recertification is going to be a long and costly process, so they decided to go ahead and design a new rocket from the ground up, to be safer, cheaper, and better. It won't actually be any one of these, though. :-) - crazyjake, on 09/21/2008, -1/+91UP
- vdgmr1213, on 09/21/2008, -0/+8Ever since the Columbia accident there has always been a backup plan. This is the first mission taking the shuttle outside reach of help from the ISS or Russian help, due to the position that Hubble is at relative to Russia. This is just the first they they have needed another shuttle as the back up plan. It just so happens that it also is being used for the next mission, so it wasn't terribly out of the way.
- MikeEx, on 09/21/2008, -1/+9Armageddon happening?
- inactive, on 09/21/2008, -0/+8His gay?
- lazyslacker, on 09/21/2008, -0/+8It rains a lot in Florida.
- bigbill780, on 09/21/2008, -1/+8If anyone saw Leprechauns 4 on the sci-fi channel, it takes place in space... coincidence? I think not.
- Upon66, on 09/21/2008, -2/+9Bad title. Definitely not worthy of a 2 __ 1 __ relationship, it's science!
- m4xn00b, on 09/21/2008, -0/+7can't wait until they build the enterprise! oh, wait...
- stephenpjc, on 09/21/2008, -0/+7how do they keep their grass so green?
- cjflashman, on 09/21/2008, -1/+8I agree with you-
It's because "digg blocked the blind digging of articles" - Gosroth, on 09/21/2008, -3/+9Just like me!
- Metatron197, on 09/21/2008, -0/+6Just like you!
- Seidoger, on 09/21/2008, -0/+6Kennedy Space Centre is a magical land
- gweedo767, on 09/21/2008, -0/+6Time to correct myself :)
STS 31 (the launch of Hubble) had two Shuttles on the pad. It appears that back in 1986 there was a launch with both 39A and 39B occupied as well. I think there might be a few more instances...still rare though :) - yaddayaddayoda, on 09/21/2008, -0/+6This is on the 747 aircraft that carries the Space Shuttle across the country.
The plaque on the other side (I can't find the pic right now) says, "Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty". I am not _even_ kidding. - silentb0b, on 09/21/2008, -1/+6starting at 458,1553? jeez where do you finish you fat bastard.
- yaddayaddayoda, on 09/21/2008, -0/+5Where the road jogs going to the north pad (Pad 39B), you can see a very short stub of another crawler road that would have continued north to Pad 39C. It was planned (for Apollo) but never built.
- thegrantman, on 09/21/2008, -0/+5A new olympic sport: synchronized launching.
- gweedo767, on 09/21/2008, -0/+4Also, I think this is the only time we have seen two Shuttles fully launch ready at the exact same time.
- Hrodrik, on 09/21/2008, -0/+4Is that like "yours truly"?
- K4Lic0, on 09/21/2008, -0/+4It's now my desktop background..
- NOD32user, on 09/21/2008, -0/+4It's not the water supply, it's all the dihydrogen monoxide that got into the air!
- ModernGeek, on 09/21/2008, -1/+5dugg
- digitalcole, on 09/21/2008, -0/+4Carl Sagan was the man!
- Brododium, on 09/21/2008, -0/+3The 2 : 1 ratio has been marred in my eyes and my eyes have been marred by a certain 2 : 1 ratio.
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