August 1, 200520 yr Two successful space walks for station repairs so far. The last one swapped out a gyroscope for one that failed back in 2002. they are still deciding if they are going to do another space walk to adress the problem with the protruding filler. No astonaut has ever done a walk underneath the shuttle, but they may decide to do it here. Story: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=997439
August 1, 200520 yr Author QUOTE(Nokona @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 04:27 PM) Everybody's sleeping =(. I wanted to watch fun astronaut stuff! They get up around 3am Chicago time. I don't know if they nap then get up again.. but that's what time they got up both Saturday and Sunday and this morning.
August 2, 200520 yr QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 09:35 AM) Two successful space walks for station repairs so far. The last one swapped out a gyroscope for one that failed back in 2002. they are still deciding if they are going to do another space walk to adress the problem with the protruding filler. No astonaut has ever done a walk underneath the shuttle, but they may decide to do it here. They're going to do it. Honestly, I'm quite glad that they're at least giving it a shot...in the Columbia investigation report, it came out that one of the biggest problems was the guys at NASA just assuming that because the foam impacts had never been a problem before, they always would remain unimportant. Just because this filler has popped out before doesn't mean that this won't be the time that it'll be a big deal - remember, they overhauled these things completely after Columbia, sticking in new parts, new sensors, etc, so who knows if something small might have happened by accident at some point.
August 3, 200520 yr Repairs successfully completed in a 6-hour spacewalk. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1004434
August 4, 200520 yr QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 4, 2005 -> 01:06 PM) Astronauts claim you can see enviormental damage from space More liberal propoganda. :rolly
August 8, 200520 yr BUMP. The bad weather conditions have delayed the Discovery landing for just over another 2 hours. Let's hope they make it back safely.
August 9, 200520 yr Bad Weather once again postponing the landing for the moment. They may have to land in Calfornia or even New Mexico instead, but that's unlikely.
August 9, 200520 yr QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 9, 2005 -> 10:14 PM) The Discovery has landed and is safely on the ground!!!! They were showing on an Entertainment Show down here and everyone thought it was a joke.
August 9, 200520 yr Well, we miss out on the sonic booms with them landing at Edwards, but WELCOME HOME DISCOVERY!
August 9, 200520 yr Author QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Aug 9, 2005 -> 08:41 AM) Well, we miss out on the sonic booms with them landing at Edwards, but WELCOME HOME DISCOVERY! My sister took the baby to watch it land so they were a bit bummed... but glad it made it home safely. I guess NASA got busy this morning and set up huge screens for those that came out to watch it land so they could see it in California. Nice of them.
August 9, 200520 yr I was crying in the car when I heard them land - 93.9 played it live as they landed. Heck, my desktop is the shuttle landing. And people say women can't drive!
August 9, 200520 yr Something tells me this may very well be the last time you get to write about any of those shuttles landing.
August 9, 200520 yr QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 9, 2005 -> 11:12 AM) Something tells me this may very well be the last time you get to write about any of those shuttles landing. At the very least it is going to be a while, no doubt about that.
August 9, 200520 yr What's the chance that the shuttle program will be on moth balls until the next generation of shuttle is ready (I thought I read that the expected date was in 2010, but not sure)?
August 9, 200520 yr Author QUOTE(Queen Prawn @ Aug 9, 2005 -> 11:51 AM) What's the chance that the shuttle program will be on moth balls until the next generation of shuttle is ready (I thought I read that the expected date was in 2010, but not sure)? Excellent. The foam issue apparently can't be resolved and while the "fix" in space was a success by definition, the risk of them having to do repairs in space is high. IMO, there is a good chance of more tragedy with this current fleet. The good news is the new birds are pretty close to production. It's just the funding that seems to be an issue. If they got the $$ I think it would be closer to '07.. but who knows.
August 9, 200520 yr QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 9, 2005 -> 11:59 AM) Excellent. The foam issue apparently can't be resolved and while the "fix" in space was a success by definition, the risk of them having to do repairs in space is high. IMO, there is a good chance of more tragedy with this current fleet. The good news is the new birds are pretty close to production. It's just the funding that seems to be an issue. If they got the $$ I think it would be closer to '07.. but who knows. No doubt about that. The technology of the fleet is basically stuck in 1978. Literally much of the technology is so old, they can only buy spare parts off Ebay, because no one else makes them anymore. And because they don't want to alter just one shuttle, they haven't changed much at all that goes into the shuttle. Pretty much the controls that are running the space vehicle have less computers in it than the Ipod you are all toting around. The need for a new oribitor has been around for years, hopefully it gets done soon.
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