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Posted

Very cool in how the pre-launch broadcast reminded the audience that this was just the 6th maiden launch for a US manned rocket: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle and SpaceX Dragon were the previous 5.

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Posted

US manned VEHICLE, i.e. the machine carrying humans, then yes, IF the destination is orbit

if we are only talking the karman line, reaching space, then use of the word "rocket" and "manned mission" is problematic if the count is 5

the mercury capsule reached the karman line on 2 very different rockets, the Redstone and the Atlas D

gemini was 100% titan II

apollo orbited on 2 very different rockets, the saturn Ib ("one-b") and the saturn V ("five")

shuttle was the shuttle

dragon is falcon 9

starliner is atlas 5, with zero commonality with the earlier atlas families

so the previous count was 7, before starliner/atlas5

and if you exclude new shepard, then you also have to exclude mercury redstone - sorry alan shepard, you don't count

so we have to include new shepard, which takes us to a prior count of 8

and if you include new shepard, then we have to include virgin's spaceship 1 which crossed the karman line 3 times, so we're at a prior count of 9

thus starliner makes 10 united states rocket/vehicle configurations which have reached space

  • Like 1
Posted

Just watched the launch and water splashdown of the booster - feels like something out of science fiction to see a booster as massive as the starship booster come down under control. They had one engine fail to relight on landing, but there was enough overhead in the rest of the raptors to deliver the ∆V

Really exciting stuff. We're gonna be launching a BUNCH of these under the current Artemis mission profile

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Posted
10 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Just watched the launch and water splashdown of the booster - feels like something out of science fiction to see a booster as massive as the starship booster come down under control.

Looks like they hovered it over the ocean for a bit. Was cool. Hope they have an exterior camera shot. 

 

Starship feed is back up for re entry now. 

Here is the splashdown. 

 

 

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Posted

It's pretty ridiculous that we're live streaming orbital re-entries now lol. It's remarkable how consistently they're hitting their launch windows, considering Boeings recent performance 

Posted
3 minutes ago, Captainant said:

It's pretty ridiculous that we're live streaming orbital re-entries now lol.

These shots coming off starship are crazy right now. 

Posted
17 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Looks like they hovered it over the ocean for a bit. Was cool. Hope they have an exterior camera shot. 

 

Starship feed is back up for re entry now. 

Here is the splashdown. 

 

 

Bikni Bottom just got nuked.

y4JjWE.gif

 

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Posted

Holy shit, I thought that they were going to ride it into to ocean at a couple hundred km/h but it looked like the candles lit and they slowed to single digits speed. 

Posted
8 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Holy shit, I thought that they were going to ride it into to ocean at a couple hundred km/h but it looked like the candles lit and they slowed to single digits speed. 

I have no idea how the fuck that thing was still in piece enough to get upright and actually do a landing burn. It appeared to have landed intact in the water as well. Fucking amazing. 

Posted

meanwhile, at the iss......

starliner had several (4) reaction control thursters fail to ignite for the docking sequence

due to the helium leaks, in all likelihood

thrusters re-lit, but how long will they stay docked, and will they actually enter the iss?

.... as the world turns

Posted

Lost an Apollo astronaut, William Anders, who took the earth rise photo. https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/07/science/apollo-8-astronaut-william-anders-reportedly-killed-in-plane-crash/index.html

Wikipedia tells me that we still have 6 Apollo astronauts alive who flew to the moon, including 4 that walked on it. The youngest of the 6 is 88. It would seem fitting that we get back there before we lose the last Apollo astronaut.
 

297755main_GPN-2001-000009_full.jpg

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Posted (edited)
14 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

And the dude was still flying!

Anders died on 7 June 2024, at the age of 90, when his plane crashed into Puget Sound . The plane was witnessed diving into a small channel between the two islands and then sinking after catching fire. Anders' son, Greg, confirmed the crash occurred while his father was flying a  aircraft owned by Heritage Flight Museum. Beginning with his Air Force career, Anders had logged at the time of his death over 8,000 flight hours
 

crash caught on camera.
 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited by Nice Guy Eddie
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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Starliner still waiting to get cleared for return trip.... two weeks extra.  Seeing as they will be attempting the first American crewed landing onto land I just can't imagine what is going through the 2 astronauts' heads at this point. Scheduled return is Wed 26th. (currently)

 

 

Posted
2 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Starliner still waiting to get cleared for return trip.... two weeks extra.  Seeing as they will be attempting the first American crewed landing onto land I just can't imagine what is going through the 2 astronauts' heads at this point. Scheduled return is Wed 26th. (currently)

 

 

I'd betcha a dollar they're not gonna be keen to fly Boeing once they're terrestrial again

Posted

Are these the same helium leaks that were identified on the ground and stated not to be a concern? Or are these totally unrelated helium leaks? What a clusterfuck. Those astronauts have much bigger balls than I. 

Posted
On 6/21/2024 at 7:30 AM, MonkeyDoughnut said:

I just can't imagine what is going through the 2 astronauts' heads at this point.

Jettison this pig and tell Elon to send up a Dragon.

Posted
On 6/21/2024 at 7:33 AM, Captainant said:

I'd betcha a dollar they're not gonna be keen to fly Boeing once they're terrestrial again

They are mostly safe as long as they don’t blow the whistle on Boeing.

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Posted

Boeing is having a great run of things lately. First they get recommended for criminal charges related to the hundreds of MAX deaths, and now star liners return is delayed until July due to a shitload of problems

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/nasa-indefinitely-delays-return-of-starliner-to-review-propulsion-data/

Quote

 

In an update released late Friday evening, NASA said it was "adjusting" the date of the Starliner spacecraft's return to Earth from June 26 to an unspecified time in July.

The announcement followed two days of long meetings to review the readiness of the spacecraft, developed by Boeing, to fly NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Earth. According to sources, these meetings included high-level participation from senior leaders at the agency, including Associate Administrator Jim Free.

 

I don't think starliner is gonna be ready for a flight to the moon this year, guys. 

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

My favorite space blogger who wrote her MA thesis about the Gemini-Rogallo wing and who has a tattoo of it, is back.  @RamjetFDO I will fight you for her.

 

Her space toy collection is better than mine

Nobody eles takes about gimbal lock and Apollo 13 like she does

 

She does everything for her show herself

 

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Posted

Starliner is star stuck

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/07/nasa-nears-decision-on-what-to-do-with-boeings-troubled-starliner-spacecraft/

“I think we’re starting to close in on those final pieces of flight rationale to make sure that we can come home safely, and that’s our primary focus right now," Stich said.

The problems have led to speculation that NASA might decide to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. There's one Crew Dragon currently docked at the station, and another one is slated to launch with a fresh crew next month. Steve Stich, manager of NASA's commercial crew program, said the agency has looked at backup plans to bring the Starliner crew home on a SpaceX capsule, but the main focus is still to have the astronauts fly home aboard Starliner.

“Our prime option is to complete the mission," Stich said. "There are a lot of good reasons to complete this mission and bring Butch and Suni home on Starliner. Starliner was designed, as a spacecraft, to have the crew in the cockpit."

Posted
41 minutes ago, Captainant said:

"There are a lot of good reasons to complete this mission and bring Butch and Suni home on Starliner. Starliner was designed, as a spacecraft, to have the crew in the cockpit."

He loved saying that.

Paul Newman GIF by Maudit

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Posted
On 7/21/2024 at 10:58 PM, atomheartbevo said:

My favorite space blogger who wrote her MA thesis about the Gemini-Rogallo wing and who has a tattoo of it, is back.  @RamjetFDO I will fight you for her.

 

Her space toy collection is better than mine

Nobody eles takes about gimbal lock and Apollo 13 like she does

 

She does everything for her show herself

 

She looked like the AT&T lady before she fucked up her bangs… I’m in.

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