Possible Shuttle launch Tuesday?

[KRSESQ]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8645278

It's a $#&*ing FUEL SENSOR. LAUNCH THE DAMNED THING!

Kevin

(sorry for shouting.)

[Lizzard[MPE]]

atleast you didnt drive 7 hours total with no actual point when they were supposed to launch it

[KRSESQ]

Bummer. I'd be seriously pissed.

Kevin

[MultimediaMan]

"Only" a fuel gauge...the least time thay ran a Shuttle engine "dry" on the test stand, it shut down, ruining itself in the process, oh and by the way; it also stopped producing thrust.

A Minor detail, to be sure.

[mmp121]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8645278

It's a $#&*ing FUEL SENSOR. LAUNCH THE DAMNED THING!

When the sensor is used to determine some "critical" thrust parameters, I think its vital that they have a working sensor.

[KRSESQ]

Follow-up:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts114/050720newdate/

Is it possible for a set of subsystems to be TOO integrated with each other, or with a master system? That surely appears to be the case here.

Kevin

[KRSESQ]

Yet another follow-up:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/yahoo/orl-asecshuttle21072105jul21,0,4335852.story?coll=orl-newsaol-headlines

Anyway, it certainly appears inconsequential now, to everyone exept those who drove seven hours.

Kevin

[Gurm]

So, I know I'm going to sound anti-space and anti-patriotic, but...

Who cares?

For the entirety of the 1970's, they managed to send dozens of people to space and back. To the MOON and back. A dozen times. The only mishap... was contained. In an exciting manner, but contained nonetheless.

Nowadays, they can't fvcking hit MARS. Not even "can't land properly", just CAN'T FSCKING HIT THE PLANET.

NASA has become a joke. While the Europeans are sending us pictures from the moons of other planets, NASA had to try 4 times to get a lander onto Mars.

I don't honestly believe that they can get us back to the moon inside of the decade. It just won't happen.

Space is no longer a priority for this country. I'm saddened by this, but resigned. So I fail to get excited about shuttle launches. So much so that I was unaware until just recently that we hadn't HAD any recently.

Meanwhile, the CHINESE have successfully sent up an orbiter or three, and are committed to reaching the moon within the next couple years - and they'll DO it, too because they're crazy SOB's.

[MultimediaMan]

A Few Corrections, Gurm:

The Chinese have sent ONE man into orbit...and cancelled their moon mission goals more than a year ago. Their new goal is a space station of some kind.

Yes, the ESA sent up the Huygens Probe to land on Saturn's Moon of Titan...piggy backed on a US Probe (Cassini).

The Russians have tried a half dozen times to get to Mars... none of their missions on the surface lasted more than 10 seconds. Venus: Same thing, their missions failed within minutes of landing, assuming they actually landed.

Viking I and Viking II as I recall made it the first time...

The ESA tried for Mars, but their lander was stillborn (assuming it made it to the surface intact).

Meanwhile:

Cassini was and continues to be a huge success.

We ~landed~ a satellite on an asteriod.

We validated an Ion propulsion system.

We sent two rovers to Mars that are STILL rolling, what...Nearly a year and a half after landing? Not bad for a six week mission profile.

We sent up Deep Impact, which fulfilled all mission parameters beyond all expectations.

I don't think you can classify any of the above as failures.

We lost two satellites sent to Mars because of ~human~ errors in unit conversions. We fixed that...Big Time.

Yes, we lost another shuttle, but that was a function of dumb luck and engineering arrogance (Truth be told even if they did know how much damage was caused, they couldn't have done a damn thing about it anyway... their orbit was all wrong to meet up with the ISS): we know what went wrong, and we fixed it. We're moving on.

Stardust was bugsplat, but it looked like that one was doomed from the start because of a faulty battery.

Forgive me Gurm, I'm just not seeing it.

[Gurm]

A Few Corrections, Gurm:

The Chinese have sent ONE man into orbit...and cancelled their moon mission goals more than a year ago. Their new goal is a space station of some kind.

Yes, the ESA sent up the Huygens Probe to land on Saturn's Moon of Titan...piggy backed on a US Probe (Cassini).

The Russians have tried a half dozen times to get to Mars... none of their missions on the surface lasted more than 10 seconds. Venus: Same thing, their missions failed within minutes of landing, assuming they actually landed.

Viking I and Viking II as I recall made it the first time...

The ESA tried for Mars, but their lander was stillborn (assuming it made it to the surface intact).

Meanwhile:

Cassini was and continues to be a huge success.

We lost two satellites sent to Mars because of ~human~ errors in unit conversions. We fixed that...Big Time.

We ~landed~ a satellite on an asteriod.

We validated an Ion propulsion system.

We sent two rovers to Mars that are STILL rolling, what...Nearly a year and a half after landing? Not bad for a six week mission profile.

We sent up Deep Impact, which fulfilled all mission parameters beyond all expectations.

I don't think you can classify any of the above as failures.

Yes, we lost another shuttle, but that was a function of dumb luck and engineering arrogance (Truth be told even if they did know how much damage was caused, they couldn't have done a damn thing about it anyway... their orbit was all wrong to meet up with the ISS): we know what went wrong, and we fixed it. We're moving on.

Stardust was bugsplat, but it looked like that one was doomed from the start because of a faulty battery.

Forgive me Gurm, I'm just not seeing it.

I agree with all of this. I ... I dunno. I guess I'm not excited about our space program. It's like I start to get excited... and then I get all unexcited because it's ... *shrug*

Deep Impact was pretty cool, don't get me wrong. The ION drive, very nifty. But we need to get back to having it be a priority in this country, which it isn't.

[Gurm]

Oh and can I say for the record that I _do_ think it's really cool that the Mars rovers are STILL going? Very nifty. I guess one of them has some front wheel actuator problems now, nothing insurmountable. NASA is apparently very surprised/pleased that the Mars winds keep the solar panels clear, allowing the rovers to continue their missions well past expected EOUL.

[MultimediaMan]

Gurm: it's not new anymore. Space is old hat, and will be until we decide to take the next step and go to another planet (Mars). NASA's been content to fiddle around in Low Orbit for 20 years; fortunately they have learned many important things, but now that there is now a set of mission goals and a timeline, they are going to do like they did in the 1960's: all missions will be in support of that ultimate goal.

Mercury, was a precursor to Gemini, which then helped define how Apollo would get to the moon. We ultimately succeeded; but there were many, many failures. Particularly in the Mercury(Redstone) and Apollo (SaturnV) Projects before we got things right.

[Jon P. Inghram]

Venus: Same thing, their missions failed within minutes of landing, assuming they actually landed.

Not quite.

The Soviet Venus missions were amazingly successful, especially compared to their Mars missions.

[MultimediaMan]

I stand corrected ...I always thought the Venera Missions never actually made it to the surface. The last time I read anything about them, I was still in High School.

I am amazed at what they have been able to piece together. Too bad they didn't last for more than a few hours, but in fairness, Mars is a positive paradise compared to Venus.

[Nowhere]

Don't forget about Lunokhods..and Mir...and Gagarin! Sputnik!!!