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Since Outer space is such a hot topic here. (1 Viewer)

Jack Briggs

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Mary: To clarify, I was talking about what the media spin would be. Eileen Collins has more than proven her mettle: She exhibited some serious Right Stuff piloting during the launch of the first mission she commanded, STS-96 — it could very well have ended up as the first RTL abort, but she made the split-second decisions necessary to achieve orbit. (And I'm often among the first "responders" on this board when it comes to complaints about sexist posts! Meaning, one can never word his or her posts too carefully. :)) JB
 

Yee-Ming

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Exactly how I feel.

I do believe that if I'd grown up in the United States, I'd have studied astronomy or some other related science, and be working for NASA or involved in similar research now. Reason being that in the US, such a career choice would be viable, but stuck out here, it isn't, so I took the "sensible" route, and my present job attracts the odium of all right-thinking members of society... :D
 

Mary M S

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Jack I feel bad, - you read me wrong….as you state you cannot word carefully enough in a world without intonation or when the poster is picking a few sentences out of a chapter of thoughts running through their mind. I read your tone to be admiration for the skills of the assigned Commander. Your mention of her assignment rotation to the next mission caused me to wonder out loud about one of the few edges its been my experience to see females hold during the earliest days of flight training. I assume generally it levels off between the sexes to an even plateau after hundreds of hours. - Or (my comment could be construed as sexist :) ) if indeed this tendency exists at any measurably distinct level, would/could that tiny edge in delicacy of control continue to incrementally increase in conjunction with flight time logged. Theoretically that would be an extremely valuable asset during any critical and precise maneuvering that might be required during this next orbiter docking and trial run of a damage check.

PS Jack, if I had perceived your remark (which it was not) in that manner, - I’m just not that sensitive about most the many variations of ‘sexist’ remarks, I take them in the spirit intended especially when couched in humor. Its FUN to paint caricatures of life as we all know it in broad strokes. Besides if you knew me at a little more personal level than can be learned in the forum, - do not be concerned, it would be abnormal for me to ever be more than lightly irritated by ‘men behaving badly’ when it does occur, I would not last long in the company I prefer in past years spare time like pilots types, skydiver types, and those who like to tinker with fast motors if I couldn’t handle the rough stuff. Honestly it gets a little tedious that the sexes can’t take fun stabs at each other gently (we are all inclined to) without the PCness of it all getting in the way. Don’t worry bout me, - I can give what for if I need too and usually make em laugh while doing it.

Andrew, - I wanted to say, if I can word it correctly to relay my compliment. I am honored because of the respect and awe I hold your choice of livelihood in and that you replied to any of my comments. I just want you to know (that though I KNOW better) like the average news watcher when I see the shuttle launch, I often center my thoughts on the flight crew, because…..my unattainable dream is to look (once) even from lower space back at the blue ball I live on, and then out the other viewport to the dark vastness of space which surrounds earth. I’ve seen glaciers many times on the Discovery Channel but it’s just not the same as the one time I stood upon one! Just participating in this thread, (and properly so) has refocused my attention on all who sweat out the immense and dangerous details and whom make the program as a whole possible. I will be watching for news with great excitement when STS 114 goes up and particularly noticing and rooting for positive results from all the blood, sweat, fears and expertise put into it before its launch!

Thank you for the replies all of your posts here have been fascinating for glimpses into a background I would love to hear about regularly!
 

Andrew Testa

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Mary,

Thank you for the kind words. I've had some rough days lately and it's very heartwarming to read those compliments. There's very little that gives me more satisfaction than sharing what I've learned and experienced. If I can help someone understand the real life difficulties and triumphs of spaceflight, beyond the PR gloss and CNN coverage, I consider my salary earned. I intend to keep the forum informed of what goes on and I watch for any physics or space threads. All you have to do is ask and I'll try my best to share what I know.

Andy

Who may actually post something about his home theater soon (fired up the Adire Kit281s for the first time last night! Sweet!)
 

Jack Briggs

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Group hug! :)

From the Home Theater Forum Space Command Contingent.

Andrew, I read an interesting link at Keith Cowing's site yesterday about how NASA's official illustrators and artists had been forbidden during the Goldin (and earlier) era to paint or draw any images depicting human beings walking on other planetary surfaces -- not politically acceptable. But O'Keefe has put the kibosh on that practice, and, now, we can expect to see official NASA artwork showing astronauts walking on the Moon and on Mars and on asteroids, etc.

Space politics can be so funny at times.
 

Andrew Testa

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Jack,

I read that too. F'ing incredible, the stupidity that hamstrings us in such little ways. Fortunately artists like Pat Rawlings get commissions from other agencies than just NASA.

Andy
 

ChristopherDAC

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Of course, solutions for the problems of the Earth ARE to be found in space, if you look. What is one of the main contributors to global climate change? The burning of coal. And what do we burn coal for? To make electricity and to make steel. Solar Power Satellites would enable us to pull as much juice as we wanted down from the sky basically for free, and there are chunks of nickel-iron [read: high-alloy steel] just floating around out there for the taking. A 1-mile chunk, at roughly 17 billion long tons of metal, would fill all our needs for a long time to come. And don't tell me that's unrealistic! The best part of the world's nickel for over a hundred years has come from mining an asteroid -- it's just that this one hit the earth, a long time back, near Sudbury [Ontario, Canada] and mixed its metal with the bedrock, and International Nickel has been digging out the BB-size bits of starstuff and selling them to the public long enough to become the world's most successful business.
All this besides the fact that in the 1960s every dollar spent on Apollo returned an extra $6 to Uncle Sam, meaning it must have created at least $15 in economic growth. Too bad we can't solve the Federal budget deficit and the "jobless recovery" problems by just increasing NASA's budget to $50 billion; the infrastructure would never support it :frowning: .
Tell me, why [60 years after Project Y and the A-4] didn't anybody smack that asteroid with an H-bomb to put it into a stable Earth orbit?
"Sent to Earth for analysis"? A space station without a proper photo lab? Von Braun must be performing rolls in his grave...
 

Chu Gai

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I'd like to weigh in with some general thoughts.
First I support the space program. I've always had a fascination with stars and can remember some of my first books which came from a tiny library had to do with astronomy. The wonder was certainly enhanced for me by looking at the night time sky with a small refractor telescope and staying up way past my bedtime to look at the crab nebula through my bedroom window and marvelling at eclipses. That I lived at that time in a part that was still considered country and had relatively little airborn pollution enhanced matters. Going on trips to climb the 4000 footers in NH as a teenager and then standing on top where visibility was much improved and no lights from malls were to be found, only increased my wonder.
Whether now or some time from now is the time to go to Mars, I don't know. I'm willing to put my trust in the administration for a Mars project even though I know I can't answer but in a general way what the benefits will be. I also recognize that some of the research will be used for military purposes. I recognize that and accept that as a consequence. On a personal note, I won't even apologize for it. That we live in dangerous times and overly politically correct ones as Jack has mentioned is not to be taken lightly. While one can sing The Youngblood's Come on people, love one another or buy it on vinyl, cd or sacd, doesn't change the fact that this country is hated and no matter how much you love someone, help someone, give aid, or whatever, this hate is a broad-spectrum one for all of us as it spans race, creed, sex, religion, and everything else. Enough on politics. I have more faith in billions and trillions being spent there than what's already been spent on educational programs that don't work and whose success can be measured by facilities that teach high school 'graduates' how to fill out an application form.
I do though think that our efforts to go to Mars are probably best done with humans. There will be no shortage of volunteers for these missions and I know there will be death. I simply think that both the near term and short term rewards for humanity will come by humans being put in harms way. A human on Mars with perhaps skills in geology and archaelogy as well as other scientific disciplines may well come back with more useful information in a shorter time. I wouldn't even mind seeing a controlled blast, perhaps from a bomb, in order to open up an area on Mars so we could take a look at what's beneath the surface.
It's my general suspicion that we'll find some sort of life on Mars. Given the sort of life that exists in the deepest parts of the Earth's oceans under the most bizarre of conditions, leads me to think that under the surface lies far more than many realize. The kicker would be to find evidence that something lived that could build things or make tools. I'm interested enough to put my tax dollars there. Give me a check box on my tax returns.
 

Julie K

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That's what craters do - they give us a look beneath the surface and into the past. The little crater that Opportunity was in was quite a treat but the larger crater that it will be heading for should prove even more exciting.
 

Chu Gai

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I agree that it should prove more exciting Julie. I am just enormously curious what lies a bit deeper. I wonder if it'll be in my lifetime.
 

Julie K

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Opportunity is about 700 m away from Endurance crater and the driving should be easy. So unless you plan on kicking the bucket in the next month or two, it will be within your lifetime ;)
 

Chu Gai

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No plans that I know of Julie. But what I meant was what lied deeper than that that is now presently covered by the movement of soil by time.
 

Jack Briggs

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Julie, care to comment on yesterday's NASA news conference regarding what your little pal Opportunity has found?
 

Julie K

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Get out your Hawaiian shirts folks, Opportunity has hit the beach...

At the first press conference it was not known if the water that had existed at Meridiani was above or below ground. This latest press conference showed the cross bedding in the sediments which indicates that the sediments were laid down in water above the surface.

There are still unknowns, especially the duration that the sea may have existed. This could get answered when Opportunity gets to the larger crater. It appears this crater has the same bedrock as the little crater has, however the bigger crater should show many more layers. How deep the sediments appear can give an idea of how long (or short) the sea lasted.

We knew we had landed someplace pretty special when we got the first pictures back on the night of the 24th, and the science has certainly proved that!

(I must say that I have an irresistible urge to collect a few of those hematite 'blueberries' - alas, they are so out of reach.)
 

Jack Briggs

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As you well know, the MER missions had one overriding mission: to look for evidence of water. Bet you and your colleagues weren't expecting such resoundingly positive results!

Also, do you feel confident that Spirit and Opportunity can extend their missions out to 200 or more days?
 

Julie K

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We were all pretty hopeful, but I certainly didn't expect such overwhelming evidence this soon.

Currently, everything indicates a long life for each rover.
 

Max Leung

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Any evidence that the water is not from a comet, and the resulting impact causing a pool of water to form? Although I guess if that was the case, there wouldn't be time for sediment to form....
 

Jack Briggs

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Max, the jury's out as to where all the water on Earth came from. Cometary impact is a leading candidate.
 

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