Orbiter Columbia OV-102 had a unique external feature the “SILTS” pod (Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing), it was located on the top of her vertical stabilizer. It was installed after STS-9 (1984) to acquire infrared and other thermal data on the vehicle’s environment. The instruments were removed after several missions but the pod remained.
NASA are not planning on actually launching astronauts to space on the SpaceX Starship, right? Surely they don't want another high passenger capacity death trap with no launch escape system after the Space Shuttle.
Astronauts launch in Orion on SLS and rendezvous with Starship at NHRO under all current Artemis mission plans.
Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan view from and of the Gemini-9A spacecraft during his extravehicular activity (EVA). Taken during the 32nd revolution of the 72-hour, 21-minute spaceflight.
"'What a beautiful spacecraft,' said Gemini IX pilot Eugene Cernan during his two hour, eight minute spacewalk. He took this wide-angle photograph looking back at the window where command pilot Tom Stafford was watching."
"Northwestern Mexico as seen from the Gemini-9A spacecraft during its 32nd revolution of Earth. The large penisula is Baja California. The body of water at lower right is the Pacific Ocean. The land mass at upper left is the State of Sonora. The Gulf of California separates Sonora from the peninsula."
Date: June 5, 1966
The Agena Target Vehicle (/əˈdʒiːnə/; ATV), also known as Gemini-Agena Target Vehicle (GATV) was an uncrewed spacecraft used by NASA during its Gemini program to develop and practice orbital space rendezvous and docking techniques and to perform large orbital changes, in preparation for the Apollo program lunar missions. The spacecraft was based on Lockheed Aircraft's Agena-D upper-stage rocket, fitted with a docking target manufactured by McDonnell Aircraft.
(Wikipedia - Agena Target Vehicle)
Marked by an unusually bright central region, swirling dust lanes, and far flung tidal tails, peculiar NGC 3256 is the aftermath of a truly cosmic collision. The 500 million year old clash of two separate galaxies spans some 100 thousand light-years in this sharp Hubble view. Read more at APOD/NASA
Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope
Source: traverse-our-universe
Close-up view showing the Space Shuttle Enterprise on LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island near Titusville, Florida.
Date: May 1979
State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 17 Mar. 2023. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/242629>
wow pluto reclassification discourse is exhausting. here I thought doing a poll that highlights some of pluto's cool lesser known dwarf planet friends would put things in a context where it can't possibly go in that direction but nope a bunch people really do just hold a hard stance against a classification system entirely out of a sense of nostalgia
"the planets" aren't this exclusive club where all the astronomers' favorite celestial bodies go. the definitions used in astronomy are descriptive, they refer to the dynamics between objects and the properties they have. if you feel bad that pluto isn't considered a planet anymore and think it should be an honorary planet anyway, good news! that is literally the reason why the category "dwarf planet" was created. it's for things that don't have the same type of role in the dynamics of the solar system as the eight major planets, but are still physically a lot like little planets
>>"the planets" aren't this exclusive club where all the astronomers' favorite celestial bodies go.
that's exactly what they are, and my favourite rock deserves to be counted amongst them.
see what I'm talking about.
the set of celestial bodies the average astronomer thinks are cool is significantly larger than the nine planets you memorized in elementary school. if this were literally how it worked, there's no way the moon or europa or titan or ixion would have been excluded.
OH SHIT ITS JAN MISALI
anyway yeah i had a similar post where i was like "hey its kinda objectiely anti-science to loudly state that your personal preference supercedes scientific professionals" and people got PISSSSED
palaeontology-astronomy solidarity over people interpreting changes in classification for well defined functional reasons as being some sort of bizarre value judgement of their nostalgic favourite thing and getting unreasonably mad about it.
The last Saturn V launch
Skylab 1 Saturn V (SA-513), carrying the Skylab space station, lifts-off at Launch Complex 39 Pad A,
"The Skylab 1 payload included four of the five major components of the Space Station-Orbital Workshop, Apollo Telescope Mount, Multiple Docking Adapter, and Airlock Module. In addition to the payload, the Skylab 1 / Saturn V second S-II stage. The fifth major component of the Space Station, the Command Service Module with the Skylab 2 crew aboard, was launched at a later date by a Saturn 1B from Pad B."
Date: May 14, 1973
NASA ID: 7040208, S-73-26911, S73-26912, S73-26913, S-73-26914
Melvin Burke, Ike Gillam, Fitz Fulton, and Deke Slayton give the Space Shuttle Columbia a humorous sendoff before it's ferry flight back to KSC in Florida
"After completing it's first orbital mission with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base on April 14, 1981, Space Shuttle Columbia received a humorous sendoff before it's ferry flight atop a modified 747 back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Holding the sign are, left to right: Melvin Burke, DFRC Orbital Flight Test (OFT) Program Manager; Isaac 'Ike' Gillam, DFRC Center Director; Fitzhugh 'Fitz' L. Fulton Jr., NASA DFRC 747 SCA Pilot; and Donald K. 'Deke' Slayton, JSC OFT Project Manager."
Date: April 28, 1981
NASA ID: ECN-15388
STS-400: The planned (if needed) rescue of STS-125
Unofficial crew patch *
On LC-39A STS-125 Atlantis (left) and on LC-39B is STS-400 Endeavour (right).
In the wake of the Columbia Tragedy, NASA prepared several contingency missions in the event a shuttle could not return safely. Most of the shuttle missions post STS-107, involved the construction/support of the International Space Station. If there were any instances where the shuttle was deemed unfit to return safely, the crew would stay on the ISS until a relief shuttle could be sent. However, STS-125 Atlantis was to service the Hubble Space Telescope and was not on the same orbital plane as the ISS. The Atlantis wouldn't have enough fuel to reach the station, so another Shuttle (Endeavour) was kept on standby on LC-39B. STS-400 would have been crewed by Christopher Ferguson, Eric A. Boe, Robert S. Kimbrough and Stephen G. Bowen.
On the first day, the crew of Atlantis would use the Canadarm to inspect the bottom of the shuttle for damage to the Thermal Protection System. Had there been any damage deemed unrepairable, the plan was to launch Endeavour 5 days later. Atlantis would be put into powered-down mode to conserve power and consumables.
Endeavour will have Altitude Control with Atlantis serving as a Micro-Meteoroid Orbiting Debris shield.
"On flight day two, Endeavour would have performed the rendezvous and grapple with Atlantis."
Crew locations during EVA-1
"On flight day three, the first EVA would have been performed. During the first EVA, Megan McArthur, Andrew Feustel and John Grunsfeld would have set up a tether between the airlocks. They would have also transferred a large size Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) and, after McArthur had repressurized, transferred McArthur's EMU back to Atlantis. Afterwards they would have repressurized on Endeavour, ending flight day two activities."
Crew locations during EVA-2
Crew locations during EVA-3
"The final two EVA were planned for flight day three. During the first, Grunsfeld would have depressurized on Endeavour in order to assist Gregory Johnson and Michael Massimino in transferring an EMU to Atlantis. He and Johnson would then repressurize on Endeavour, and Massimino would have gone back to Atlantis. He, along with Scott Altman and Michael Good would have taken the rest of the equipment and themselves to Endeavour during the final EVA. They would have been standing by in case the RMS system should malfunction. The damaged orbiter would have been commanded by the ground to deorbit and go through landing procedures over the Pacific, with the impact area being north of Hawaii. On flight day five, Endeavour would have had a full heat shield inspection, and land on flight day eight."
Information from Wikipedia link
STS-400 Middeck Seating
The additional crew members on Endeavour would have been accommodated via additional seats installed on the middeck. The autopilot onboard Atlantis would be used to de-orbit the orbiter tail first, to destroy it over a region north of Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean.
Another unofficial crew patch.
View from LC-39B of the launch of STS-125 Atlantis on May 11, 2009. This was the fifth and final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope .
Fortunately, STS-400 was not needed and Endeavour was returned to the VAB from LC-39B for STS-127.
* "As a contingency mission, STS-400 was not given official support by NASA for the production of a crew patch or emblem. However this artwork was created for use by the mission team as an unofficial emblem by Mike Okuda [the same person who worked on Star Trek and most of the LCARS], who also illustrated the official patch of STS-125, the flight to be rescued by STS-400."
Date: September 9, 2008
you have, for mysterious reasons, been declared the undisputed owner of some currently-not-owned-by-any-country area. everyone agrees you legitimately own it, all international treaties saying nobody can own it are amended appropriately, etc. you may of course choose to sell the land to someone else, or do whatever else people do with land they own, though for obvious reasons "go live there" will likely be an unappealing option.
I'm taking Antarctica and using the land and mineral rights sales to fund Luna/Mars colonies.
Boeing fuselages getting transported by rail from manufacturing in Everett down to assembly in Renton.
Up close:
Just found out there's an entire wiki site dedicated to keeping track of what airplanes are in what movies. The old Internet still lives!
Exposure to JP-8 can give people APD. What the fuck?
Wasn’t expecting that. Turns out to have been studied about a decade ago,
March 20, 2014 Dr. O'neil Guthrie, a research scientist and clinical audiologist with the VA Loma Linda Healthcare System in California, says it's not just the noise that is harmful. It can also be the fuel itself.
"JP-8 is one part of a larger class of hydrocarbon chemicals," says Guthrie. "What we're seeing is that even at subtoxic levels, the exposure is affecting the brain and resulting in auditory processing dysfunctions.
"It's a fact aircrews know well. Service members who work in and around aircraft are more likely to suffer hearing deficits. But new VA research on the effects of jet propulsion fuel-8, commonly known as JP-8, suggests the problem may be more complex than previously thought.
also found,
A 121 page PDF,
“JP-5, JP-8, AND JET A FUELS 3. HEALTH EFFECTS 3.1 INTRODUCTION
The primary purpose of this chapter is to provide public health officials, physicians, toxicologists, and other interested individuals and groups with an overall perspective on the toxicology of JP-5, JP-8, and Jet A fuels. It contains descriptions and evaluations of toxicological studies and epidemiological investigations and provides conclusions, where possible, on the relevance of toxicity and toxicokinetic data to public health.
JP-5, JP-8, and Jet A fuels are kerosene-based jet fuels (NRC 2003; Ritchie et al. 2003). The components of jet fuels are primarily aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons of length C8–C17+ (NRC 2003). There is no single formula for JP-5, JP-8, or Jet A fuels and the exact composition of the jet fuel varies depending on the crude oil from which it is refined.
“
and found,
A 183 page PDF
“EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The following report represents the final report of preliminary results of the protocol to assess the health and performance effects of acute exposure to Jet Fuel number 8. Texas Tech University, Institute of Environmental and Human Health, in conjunction with the United States Air Force, hosted this protocol with funding from Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. Additional collaborators include the University of Cincinnati, and the Oregon Health Sciences University, the University of Texas, the University of North Carolina, Johns Hopkins University, the US Navy Toxicology Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, the NIOSH, and EPA/NERL herein referred to as the JP-8 Research Team.
Jet Propellant type 8 (JP8) jet fuel is the recognized battlefield fuel for all military operations for the United States, well beyond the year 2025, and represents the single largest source of chemical exposure to Department of Defense (DOD) personnel. Currently, DOD and its NATO partners use approximately 5 billion gallons of JP8 annually. The commercial equivalent, Jet-A, is the primary jet fuel used by aircraft in the US. Worldwide use of kerosene-based jet fuel is over 58 billion gallons per year
The study was conducted at multiple Air Force installations. ...”
Please don't call 2014 "about a decade ago"
Exposure to JP-8 can give people APD. What the fuck?
The Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543, right) and NGC 6552 (left) // Filippo Scopelliti
Source: astrobin.com