STS 125 Mission to Fix the Hubble - May 11, 2009 2:01pm

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BobSikes
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STS 125 Mission to Fix the Hubble - May 11, 2009 2:01pm

Unread post by BobSikes »

Oops. In my powerpoint I had blastoff on Tuesday. It's actually set for Monday at 2:01pm!
Good that they don't let me schedule the shuttle.

While most of us won't be able to head down to NASA to see the blastoff, or even catch it on TV. There will be many spacewalks and opportunities to follow the progress of the final repair mission to fix our old friend the Hubble Space Telescope.

So catch the action and post some reflections on the mission and your Hubble memories. But for mission schedule, better go here.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... index.html
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Mark G
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Unread post by Mark G »

I remember in high school looking at concept art of the Space Shuttle with my friends. I feel older now as it's being retired, in favor of the next generation of reusable launch vehicle. That said I'm also excited for all the future missions that may eventually come to pass, like a lunar base, a manned Mars landing, or visiting other planets/moons in our solar system. I'm sure some of these events will not happen in my lifetime but we do seem to be working towards that goal maybe in my kids lifetime.

Orion is a spacecraft design currently under development by the United States space agency NASA. Each Orion spacecraft will carry a crew of four to six astronauts, and will be launched by the Ares I, a launch vehicle also currently under development. Both Orion and Ares I are elements of NASA's Project Constellation, which plans to send human explorers back to the Moon by 2020, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the Solar System. On August 31, 2006, NASA awarded Lockheed Martin (LM) the contract to design, develop, and build Orion.
Orion will launch from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, the same launch complex that currently launches the Space Shuttle. While shuttle operations continue from launch pad 39A, 39B is being readied for Ares launches. NASA will use Orion spacecraft for its human spaceflight missions after the last Shuttle orbiter is retired in 2010. The first Orion flight is scheduled for September 2014 with future flights to the International Space Station. If commercial orbital transportation services are unavailable, Orion will handle logistic flights to the Station. After that, Orion is to become a key component of human missions to the Moon and Mars.



An evolving process


Image


As described by NASA in January 2007, the 113 m (371 ft) vehicle would consist of the liquid-fueled core stage from the Ares V heavy lift launch vehicle (LV) design, two five-segment solid rocket boosters, and the liquid-fueled upper stage from the Ares I LV. Total payload capacity would be 41,100 kg (90,610 lb) to 240 miles (386 km) for direct trans-lunar injection.

Image

For that matter I remember staying up to watch the 1st moon landing on TV. I know some folks reading this also remember Sputnik. I find it amazing the some of technology we now take for granted was a direct result of the US space program. Like photovoltaic cells, and Polycarbonate used in many eyeglasses. I hope this thread that Bob S started is not a meloncoly event, but a hopeful event full of future promise.
Clear skies,

Mark

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Rotorhead
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Unread post by Rotorhead »

I'm leery of our 'science president' calling for a total review of all of NASA's budget and programs. I sincerely hope it is to make sure that everyone is on the same page, and not a search for how to save money by gutting the space program. Mark is dead-on when he says that we have all benefitted from the space program, especially in computers, miniaturization, communications, and materials that have been developed as part of the space program that are now essential to our everyday lives. We don't want to lose that.

The Ares/Orion project at least looks like a spacecraft. I think the shuttle was an ill-informed try at making space flight look as normal as everyday airplanes. Heck, if it lands on a runway, maybe the public will believe we are finally into 'routine space flight'. But I was always a bit concerned by a Mach 25 airplane that was protected by a shell that you could damage with your fist... Hmmm, has anyone really thought this one through???

Looks like the Apollo Saturn V rocket will still hold the payload record, though. According to these stats, Saturn could put three times the Ares payload into low earth orbit, and send a higher weight directly to lunar orbit than Ares will to earth orbit. Consider that the Saturn V could have put the mass of the ISS in orbit in less than 3 missions. How many missions so far with the shuttle??? That is why I feel that we wasted a lot of money and time playing with a fragile 'space plane' instead of a better rocket and crew capsules.

I once witnessed the launch of an Apollo mission. Sort of. Several of my flight school buddies and I went outside as we watched Apollo 8 lifting off on TV and looked in the direction of Cape Canaveral. From Pensacola to Canaveral is about 375 miles, and we actually saw the rocket blast from that distance. It only got to about 15 degrees elevation, because it was so far off and heading east away from us, but it was as bright as Venus at 8 in the morning, even at that distance! That is the kind of power it takes to really go back to the moon!
Last edited by Rotorhead on Mon May 11, 2009 6:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Bob M
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Mark G
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Unread post by Mark G »

I don't care to comment of our Presidents call to review NASA spending more then this comment, as much of what is being done now IMHO is myopic. I don't hold much hope for NASA not having it's budget slashed to the bone.

Cool Bob I never compared payloads before on these vehicles. I know the Saturn V's were truely impressive. Seeing one on it's side at Cape Canaveral gives you the true scale of it. I'm thinking the lower payloads of the Shuttle was due to the parts that were reusable somehow? More likely it was simply a lower cost per launch formula to appease congress... :?: Less payload means less fuel & fuel wieght needed for launch. Isn't it about 95%+ of the fuel needed at launch is just to break free of earths gravity :?:
Last edited by Mark G on Mon May 11, 2009 7:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Clear skies,

Mark

iOptron CEM25P w/ Tri-pier
CGEM DX
LXD750 w/ CDS #1697
LXD75 w/ #497 autostar Hypertuned
Antares 8" f/5 Newt
Antares 4" f/15 "Vixen Spec" long focus refractor
Orion 4" f/7 ED refractor
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and so much more
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Rotorhead
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Unread post by Rotorhead »

The lower payload of the shuttle was because the shuttle was most of the payload all by itself... Big heavy engines that go all the way into orbit and home again, wings - which are really essential in space (don't the X-Wing fighters in Star Wars and the fighters in Battlestar Galactica have wings???)- and all the hardware to make the payload bay doors open and close so that the shuttle could become an airplane again after it dropped off its puny payload, which was not only weight limited but had to be small enough to fit in the payload bay to start with. That, and things like wheels on a spacecraft (think 'tits on a bull'), and you get the picture that we sacrificed tons of payload on every flight just to haul all of that useless stuff back and forth into orbit. Add in the 're-usable boosters' which cost just about as much to refurbish as to replace, and you quickly see that this was a PR gimmick, not a real spacecraft. The original mission of the shuttle, if you remember, was to rescue Skylab and keep it in orbit for years to come. By the time the shuttle actually flew, Skylab was nothing but a faint memory, except for some pieces that landed in Australia.

Okay, maybe the idiocy of shuttle is a good reason to be reviewing NASA's budget and programs, just to make sure we are heading in the right direction. But it worries me when an economic crisis becomes the raison d'etre to question whether we can afford NASA's budget.

But I will be cheering the shuttle on tomorrow, because I want the Hubble to keep exploring the universe!!!!!!!!! The Hubble has been the shining example of what NASA could be, while the shuttle was the poster child for NASA hubris.
Bob M
15" f5 Starsplitter Dob/80mm Finder
5" Explore Scientific triplet APO on a Vixen Sphinx GEM
________
"He numbers all the stars, and calls each one by name." Ps 147:4
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BobSikes
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Hubble gets new parts

Unread post by BobSikes »

John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel can work on my telescope anytime they want to. Very cool space walk today, Hubble has a nice new spectrograph and fixing up the Advanced Camera for Surveys started ahead of schedule.

So far all is working well

BobS
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