Space Shuttle Endeavor, my e-bike, a good day..

[e-beach]

The only thing funner then seeing a space ship in a parking-lot near you.......

Is riding an e-bike to see a space ship in a parking lot near you...I love my e-bike.

I had a fun day today....How was your day?

 

[dogman dan]

You got a much better look at it than I did, as it was carried on the 747 over my house. Awesome!

I recall once stopping at a rest area and seeing the most amazing thing on a trailer. With wings removed, we couldn't quite figure out what it was at the moment. Turned out it was the entire fuselage of a SR 71. Couldn't get over the size of the thing, on it's extra long trailer.

Bet up close, that shuttle is crazy huge!!

 

[amberwolf]

Bet up close, that shuttle is crazy huge!!

Yes, it is--I have not yet seen it up close despite wanting to since it's inception while I was in grade school, but I have seen pictures of it with people on the stairway from the airlock on the front left side, and it easily shows the scale....

 

[e-beach]

Bet up close, that shuttle is crazy huge!!

Way bigger then I expected it to be. The size of the people in the foreground makes the picture a bit deceptive. The spectators were kept at least 100 feet away so the closest I got was about 100 feet from that glorious space plane. It was close enough to catch much detail though. Can't wait to see the museum exhibit when it opens.

 

[dogman dan]

I got to see one up close, I believe it was the non space worthy one from the dead stick landing tests early on. It was at the Hazy center of the Smitsonian Air and Space museum, at Dulles field.

Freaking huge building full of huge stuff, like 707's and Enola Gay, and a SR 71. But the shuttle dwarfed it all. Not sure when it will go on display, but the Hazy center got a real one ( shuttle) lately too.

I go wild in a place like that. I've loved the museum in Tuscon as well, and try to stop there when I can. The nearby boneyard is impressive too, but not like back when they had hundreds of B52's lined up there for miles. You looked at that, and realized how hot the cold war really was. Musta scared Kruschev shitless when they were all airworthy.

 

[e-beach]

Musta scared Kruschev shitless when they were all airworthy.

Enough to keep him from pushing Kennedy into war during the Cuban missile crisis. In the end it was probably part of the reasoning for removing Khrushchev. Of course, we (USA) gave up some medium range ballistic missiles in Turkey and Italy as part of the deal. Not to mention declaring the sovereignty of Cuba and agreeing not to let US territory be used as a "bridgehead" for the invasion of Cuba. But, with a bunch of angry, CIA trained Cuban exiles around, not to mention a bunch of pissed off mobsters who wanted their casinos in Havana back, it was a declaration that probably cost Kennedy his life.

 

[dogman dan]

Scared em enough to really push ahead with missiles, then try to sneak em into cuba, is what I mean. Maybe it worked too good in the Eisenhower years.

Ever seen that documetary interview of McNamara? He feels it was flip a coin at that point, whether it was peace or nukes. In the movie, he talks about his first memory being the armistice in 1918.

My first, earliest memory, age 4 or so. Diddy bopped into the living room and the whole family is watching TV and shitting a brick. I ask what's up, and they say the world might end tonight. Okaaaaaay, well that didn't give me much time I thought. Kinda burned into my memory that one. Grew up figuring it could be any night, why bother with school?

 

[e-beach]

Ever seen that documetary interview of McNamara? He feels it was flip a coin at that point, whether it was peace or nukes. In the movie, he talks about his first memory being the armistice in 1918.

Yep...a couple of times. Got a copy of it hanging around somewhere. This is the quote that got me...

McNamara
"It wasn't until January, 1992, in a meeting chaired by Castro in Havana, Cuba, that I learned 162 nuclear warheads, including 90 tactical warheads, were on the island at the time of this critical moment of the crisis. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and Castro got very angry with me because I said, "Mr. President, let's stop this meeting. This is totally new to me, I'm not sure I got the translation right."

"Mr. President, I have three questions to you. Number one: did you know the nuclear warheads were there? Number two: if you did, would you have recommended to Khrushchev in the face of an U.S. attack that he use them? Number three: if he had used them, what would have happened to Cuba?"

He said, "Number one, I knew they were there. Number two, I would not have recommended to Khrushchev, I did recommend to Khrushchev that they be used. Number three, 'What would have happened to Cuba?' It would have been totally destroyed." That's how close we were.

EM: And he was willing to accept that?

Yes, and he went on to say: "Mr. McNamara, if you and President Kennedy had been in a similar situation, that's what you would have done." I said, "Mr. President, I hope to God we would not have done it. Pull the temple down on our heads? My God!"

So yea, it was close...

My first, earliest memory, age 4 or so. Diddy bopped into the living room and the whole family is watching TV and shitting a brick. I ask what's up, and they say the world might end tonight. Okaaaaaay, well that didn't give me much time I thought. Kinda burned into my memory that one. Grew up figuring it could be any night, why bother with school?

Those were defiantly "interesting times"...I was a bit young to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis, but I do have fuzzy memories of standing in front of my parents black and white TV watching Kennedy's funeral procession.

I do remember that my early school years were filled with "drop drills" where our teachers would yell "DROP" without any notice and we were expected to jump under our desks and cover our heads. Of course, there were also the "Air Raid" sirens that filled the air in Los Angeles when they were tested once a month by the County Sheriffs, at some obscure time like "the last Friday of the month at 10am." For a kid, there was no date attached to the tests, we just knew that at some point near the end of the month the sirens would go off. It always got us very excited.

Our rabbits didn't like it much. They would spread themselves as flat to the ground as they could with their eye's bulging. County Supervisors ended the drills about 1985.

This is the siren that is still standing at the corner of my old elementary school. It was LOUD!!!

 

[spinningmagnets]

As the space shuttle is retired, a new era is upon us. The private Dragon-X space cargo vehicle docked with the space station, and ...

http://moonandback.com/2012/10/10/spacex-dragon-docks-at-international-space-station-videos/

...A daring pioneer (Felix Baumgartner) proved that its possible to freefall from space and land safely. There is a great deal of fuss about him breaking the sound barrier, but...I find it much more significant that he proved that with the right suit, escape from a space-station/space-vehicle is "possible".

http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameo...ner-live-space-jump-red-bull-stratos/1632463/

 

[Hillhater]

..I find it much more significant that he proved that with the right suit, escape from a space-station/space-vehicle is "possible".

Hmm ?..he jumped from 35,000 mtrs, but the ISS orbits at 350,000 mtrs ( approx)..AND is moving at 28,000 km/hr relative to the earth
..that is a 10x increase in altitude ..and a bit of speed to knock off on re-entry !

Gonna' have to work on that suit a bit more !! :lol:

 

[spinningmagnets]

Gonna' have to work on that suit a bit more !!

He has recently been in contact with LFP, no sweat...

 

[e-beach]

As the space shuttle is retired, a new era is upon us. The private Dragon-X space cargo vehicle docked with the space station, and ...
http://moonandback.com/2012/10/10/spacex-dragon-docks-at-international-space-station-videos/

Yes the inception of the privatization of the space program in America has begun. I suppose we are to think about good paying high tech space jobs, either in space or on the ground.

...A daring pioneer proved that its possible to freefall from space and land safely. There is a great deal of fuss about him breaking the sound barrier, but...I find it much more significant that he proved that with the right suit, escape from a space-station/space-vehicle is "possible".
http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameo...ner-live-space-jump-red-bull-stratos/1632463/

Interesting that he pulled it off. I am waiting for the full report on the effects on his body...anything of consequence etc. But as for bailing out of a rocket that is denigrating in the atmosphere, well the sound barrier is one thing but 17,000 mph is another...

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/BGH/hihyper.html

 

[dogman dan]

That leap from 24 miles up was very very cool! But doesn't space start at 50 miles?

He spun for quite a while before he got into enough air to fly straight, imagine if he'd be stepping out at 50 miles? Youd end up spinning your eyballs out of your head unless you had a suit with thrusters you could use.

 

[The fingers]

http://framework.latimes.com/2012/10/15/time-lapse-video-space-shuttle-endeavours-trek-across-l-a/ 8)

 

[cal3thousand]

That leap from 24 miles up was very very cool! But doesn't space start at 50 miles?

He spun for quite a while before he got into enough air to fly straight, imagine if he'd be stepping out at 50 miles? Youd end up spinning your eyballs out of your head unless you had a suit with thrusters you could use.

gyroscopic sensors that allow a CPU counter the spin using some small air or water thrusters would be sweet.

 

[Hillhater]

That leap from 24 miles up was very very cool! But doesn't space start at 50 miles?

He spun for quite a while before he got into enough air to fly straight, imagine if he'd be stepping out at 50 miles? Youd end up spinning your eyballs out of your head unless you had a suit with thrusters you could use.

gyroscopic sensors that allow a CPU counter the spin using some small air or water thrusters would be sweet.

OK, so you control the spin..but how will you deal with the re-entry speed and consequent heat build up ??
..Asbestos underwear .. ?

 

[cal3thousand]

That leap from 24 miles up was very very cool! But doesn't space start at 50 miles?

He spun for quite a while before he got into enough air to fly straight, imagine if he'd be stepping out at 50 miles? Youd end up spinning your eyballs out of your head unless you had a suit with thrusters you could use.

gyroscopic sensors that allow a CPU counter the spin using some small air or water thrusters would be sweet.

OK, so you control the spin..but how will you deal with the re-entry speed and consequent heat build up ??
..Asbestos underwear .. ?

Would have to be some material that can handle the plasma. Everyone but the US use a ceramic coating that burns off. Maybe there's some new material that could handle that for the suit. I'm not saying that it's feasible at this moment, but I don't see it as impossible.