Space Exploration / Space Flight: Manned

[RaM]

Scrubbed for today due to leak in 8 inch hydrogen line.

 

[Trevp666]

It does make you wonder if they'll ever get it off the ground.
They can't even bolt it together without some leaking pipe somewhere.
Next opportunity is reported to be either Monday or Tuesday.
At which point they'll probably find some essential piece has dropped off.

 

[RaM]

When they were landing on the moon I was always half expecting the
assent stage engine to not light up, but they all did.

 

[Frasier Buddolph]

NASA is the reason we have (and need) SpaceX and Blue Origin. In the days of the Space Race, NASA had a well-defined mission and sharp focus. Once the US landed men on the moon, that was lost. NASA was left hanging with no mission, too many expensive facilities to maintain, and too many personnel. The bureaucrats at the top fought to keep their appropriations from being cut and scrabbled madly to cook up a new program.

There might have been a rationale for the Space Shuttle initially. The plan was to fly military as well as civilian missions, with frequent flights that made the cost-per-mission attractive. Once the military opted out, however, the Shuttle program became a white elephant. NASA was never able to come up with a rational justification for the program. The bureaucracy became entrenched, and NASA became more about politics and PR than science. This bureaucratic mindset led to the deaths of seven astronauts on the Challenger in January, 1986.

Meanwhile, NASA's SLS program has been plagued by delays and cost over-runs, as the established aerospace contractors milk the program for all it's worth.

I would be disappointed but not surprised to see the Artemis explode on lift-off.

 

[Trevp666]

The shuttle program was a cobbled together mish-mash of various other projects.
Initial plans for a reusable space vehicle would have produced something much more sensible, but the bean-counters and TPTB got their hands on it all, forcing NASA to end up with a less-than-ideal craft.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Scrubbed for today due to leak in 8 inch hydrogen line.

Likely to be postponed until mid October now.
Weird that space technology seems rather less sure and with less urgency than in the 60s and 70s.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/sep/03/nasa-artemis-1-launch-called-off-fuel-leak

 

[Kondoru]

Know when?

 

[Trevp666]

Know when?

Artemis 'roll out' scheduled for this Friday, November 4th.
Launch scheduled for 'no earlier than November 14th'.
https://scitechdaily.com/nasa-teams-on-track-for-artemis-i-moon-rocket-rollout-to-launch-pad/

 

[Kondoru]

Thanks Trev

 

[Trevp666]

NASA clears Artemis moon rocket for Wednesday launch.
"(...) And so, with the countdown proceeding into its final hours, NASA’s mission management team unanimously approved pressing ahead to a third launch try at 1:04 a.m. EST (0604 GMT) Wednesday, the opening of a two-hour window."

https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/11/14/nasa-clears-artemis-moon-rocket-for-wednesday-launch/

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Glad to see it finally launched!
The commentator seemed to be channelling Buzz Lightyear in the final seconds!

 

[Lord Lucan]

Glad to see it finally launched!
The commentator seemed to be channelling Buzz Lightyear in the final seconds!

An amazing technical achievement. Over 2,000,000 million pounds of thrust. Seeing it light up the sky from a distance turning night into day was astounding. I can only begin to imagine the sound it made. I would have loved to have witnessed this in person.
Incidentally, months ago, I signed up to have my wife's and my names included on a disc that blasted off with Artemis today. We also have our names on the Mars Rover. It's a novelty that NASA offers with significant missions, but a cool one.

 

[Trevp666]

So only 26 days until we see if the whole shebang has been 100% successful. The final test will be the re-entry and splashdown. Assuming it all goes without hitch then I expect the next Artemis will have some very foolhardy brave people inside it.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

So only 26 days until we see if the whole shebang has been 100% successful. The final test will be the re-entry and splashdown. Assuming it all goes without hitch then I expect the next Artemis will have some very foolhardy brave people inside it.

That's if eco-zealots don't glue themselves to the launch gantry!

 

[Xanatic*]

No, they got Shaun the Sheep aboard the rocket. He is Mission Specialist.

 

[Ascalon]

No, they got Shaun the Sheep aboard the rocket. He is Mission Specialist.

You know, I had heard he even mucks about with those who cannot bleat, so that makes sense.

 

[Frasier Buddolph]

An amazing technical achievement. Over 2,000,000 million pounds of thrust. Seeing it light up the sky from a distance turning night into day was astounding. I can only begin to imagine the sound it made. I would have loved to have witnessed this in person.
Incidentally, months ago, I signed up to have my wife's and my names included on a disc that blasted off with Artemis today. We also have our names on the Mars Rover. It's a novelty that NASA offers with significant missions, but a cool one.

Right you are.

I was lucky to be about thirty miles up the coast when Artemis lifted off. We had seen a Falcon-9 liftoff a few days ago, but Artemis was a whole 'nother thing. I was astonished to see the horizon light up the way it did, the exhaust plume was immense, and after a short delay we could hear the rumble.

As you say, it would have been awesome to see the liftoff from the Cape.

 

[Kondoru]

Hurrah!

 

[Trevp666]

Over 2,000,000 million pounds of thrust.

So is that 4 trillion pounds of thrust then?
Corks! That is a lot!
Probably a good thing they didn't put any astronauts in it, cos otherwise they'd be a squishy smoosh of splattered human bits, smeared up the back wall of the capsule by now.

 

[ChasFink]

So is that 4 trillion pounds of thrust then?

2,000,000 x 1,000,000 = 4,000,000,000,000? I think @Trevp666 needs a new calculator. In any case, it's an American mission, so that would be 2.36 trillion dollars of thrust.

Seriously though, I have great hopes for the Artemis program, but unfortunately I worry it won't go as easy as planned. Technology these days generally develops far faster than the quality control protocols needed to insure safety and reliability. Even with the anal retentive protocols NASA had in the 1960s and 1970s, we had Apollo 1, Apollo 13, and the Skylab solar panel damage. They've also had to crawl back from the horrible Space Shuttle disasters. Add to that spacecraft built by a man whose cars have been known to kill people when on autopilot - said spacecraft being stupidly called "Starship" when they are no such thing - and the confidence goes way down.

 

[Trevp666]

I think @Trevp666 needs a new calculator.

Calculator? I got that wrong on the back of an envelope!
But yeah, ok, 2 trillion, not 4 trillion, but still 'smooshy people' time.

 

[Trevp666]

Oh, by the way, while I'm here.....

This is the official NASA 'Artemis/Orion tracker' website.
(it takes a few seconds to load all its gubbins correctly so you have to be patient if you have a slow doohickey.)
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/trackartemis/

 

[Trevp666]

"This was a quiet week when not a lot happened...."

 

[MrRING]

Snoopy's in space with Artemis 1!
https://www.space.com/snoopy-nasa-artemis-1-zero-g-indicator

Spacesuited Snoopy doll floats in zero-g on moon-bound Artemis 1 mission​

 

[Kondoru]

Oh, at least we know that bit of space is working...

 

[skinny]

Incredible image of our new perspective, taken with a tap of a button on my keyboard. What a time to be alive.
For those who are thick as mud, this is Orion approaching Luna with Earth over there.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Incredible image of our new perspective, taken with a tap of a button on my keyboard. What a time to be alive.
For those who are thick as mud, this is Orion approaching Luna with Earth over there.
View attachment 61014

I was going to post the same image.
Astonishing to think that the primordial soup sparked into life, hundreds of millions of years of dinosaurs did their dinosaury thing only to be wiped out by an asteroid, then humankind evolved along, with great civilisations rising and falling, all on that tiny blue and white ball.

 

[skinny]

Astonishing to think that the primordial soup sparked into life,

Astonishing is the word, mate. When you give that paradigm time to dwell and focus, profundity occurs. From the big bang to the forms in our avatars? Do we ascribe it to gods? Sadly, they don't do instant, so we ascribe it to evolving process. It goes along. It keeps on.

 

[skinny]

Earthset

 

[skinny]

Us