Great Shuttle Atlantis preperation pics

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Alan

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The Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch next month (October 8th), carrying new instruments, batteries and gyroscopes to the Hubble Space Telescope. This will be the final servicing mission to Hubble, the 30th flight of the 23-year old Atlantis, and one of the final 10 flights of the Space Shuttle program, which will be retired in 2010. Even though Shuttle launches may seem to have become commonplace, their preparation and execution is still a months-long process, requiring the work and diligence of thousands to make sure the aging, complex systems are all in perfect condition for launch. Here are some photos of the ongoing preparations for the launch of this mission, STS-125, some of the people involved in making it work, and the crew, who will assume the risks to help keep Hubble alive
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PICS
 
I've watched the Atlantis take off. Very impressive!

EDIT: I lie, it was the Columbia. Which incidently was the first space shuttle to fly in space.

10 points if you can tell me the name of the first space shuttle ever built! :D
 
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timgaul said:
I've watched the Atlantis take off. Very impressive!

EDIT: I lie, it was the Columbia. Which incidently was the first space shuttle to fly in space.

10 points if you can tell me the name of the first space shuttle ever built! :D
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Easy. Enterprise. (And I didn't need Google for that).
 
Nice pictures, Dude.

Chances are that you're going to interpret this as another anti-American ranting (which is NOT the intention) but here goes: The space shuttle, while being an extremely complex machine, is also the most seriously flawed manned vehicle in spaceflight history.

It is extremely telling that they'll be going back to using uprated Apollo hardware after 2010 and that they are again going to be entirely dependent on hitching rides in 45 year old Russian craft for a number of years after 2010 until the new "Apollo" (called Orion) comes online.
 
timgaul said:
I've watched the Atlantis take off. Very impressive!

EDIT: I lie, it was the Columbia. Which incidently was the first space shuttle to fly in space.

10 points if you can tell me the name of the first space shuttle ever built! :D
Click to expand...

Didnt it crash?
 
Columbia burnt up on re-entry in 2002 IIRC. I remember tracking it while it was orbiting and then seeing it burn up on T.V :(
 
Bwaa! Ha! Ha! Check out comment no. 16 below the pictures:

The pool of astronauts isn't the most diverse is it?
7 white people. 6 guys and only 1 woman. Where the astronauts of color???
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...and...

It's interesting that the comments in response to mine assume that there are no astronauts of color (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_color ) because there were no qualified people of color for the job. Why not assume that institutionalized racism was the cause as opposed to the qualifications of the white astronauts. Why not assume that the white astronauts got to where they are because they didn't have to overcome institutions that oppress folks of color?
Why would an astronaut of color automatically be considered a "token"?
How am I "drawing the line at color" when every astronaut in the photo is white?
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You definitely get those everywhere, not only in South Africa.
 
StrongTurd said:
Bwaa! Ha! Ha! Check out comment no. 16 below the pictures:



...and...



You definitely get those everywhere, not only in South Africa.
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Lol crazy!!

There is a guy in pic 19, a techy, but a NASA Techi!:p
There was an Indian chick on Columbia, then it crashed:(
 
Your chances of meeting your maker on the space shuttle is about 1 in 50. That makes it the most dangerous vehicle in the world. Not good.
 
StrongTurd said:
Your chances of meeting your maker on the space shuttle is about 1 in 50. That makes it the most dangerous vehicle in the world. Not good.
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And if you were offered a "ride" you would still take it!:D
I know I would!:)
 
JK8 said:

And if you were offered a "ride" you would still take it!:D
I know I would!:)
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Yes, in a heartbeat. But I would much prefer to fly in a Russian Soyuz (safety wise, that is). BTW do yourself a favor and watch a video on YouTube of the inside of the flight deck of a Shuttle orbiter launch and then compare that to the inside of a Soyuz during launch. The difference in smoothness is like night and day. That Soyuz launcher rides like a Rolls Royce. In contrast, the occupants of the Shuttle look like they are inside a cement mixer.

I know, that's a silly observation but it was the first thing that struck me when comparing the two. The Shuttle tries very hard to shake the fillings out of your teeth. In fact, I understand that the upcoming Aries I launcher (based on a Shuttle SRB) is currently experiencing very serious design issues with the projected vibrational loads being SO severe that it might literally kill the occupants up in the CEV! The Brains are currently looking for a solution.
 
dablakmark8 said:
was it not discovery..and this is without google help:D
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Nope. Enterprise was built as a full space shuttle but was never intended to be a space-rated machine. Instead, it was intended as a flying testbed and was flown piggyback on top of a converted 747 from where it was released to perform final approaches and landings round about 1976.

There were plans at one stage to convert it into a space-rated vehicle to join the orbiter fleet but it was estimated that the cost in doing so would not be worth it. It wasn't fitted with a TPS (heat shield tiles) for instance, as these weren't ready in time for the drop tests. It now resides at the Smithsonian in Washington iirc.

There might be slight errors in the above as I was quoting from memory and not from Google. :D
 
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