End of a chapter in the shuttle program

[Darkwing Duck]

Just watched Endeavor launch this morning. Kind of sad that this is the last time it will fly and that it is the 2nd last launch of the Shuttle program. I just wish that NASA and the other space agencies would of continued on with something after these birds were retired.

[Beefitarian]

I find it a little sad but I don't think the Americans will be able to afford a replacement for a while. I hope they can resume some program but I guess it's going to be China's turn now that they are the world's manufacturing center.

[iflyforpie]

I'm going to be up at 5am on the 28th weather pending to watch the ISS and Endeavor pass. I watched the Endeavor launch back in 1993.

[North Shore]

I find it a little sad but I don't think the Americans will be able to afford a replacement for a while. I hope they can resume some program but I guess it's going to be China's turn now that they are the world's manufacturing center.

You'd think that it would be cheaper for the Chinese to pay the Americans to do it for them. Otherwise, they'll learn the same lessons as the Americans in the same manner that the Americans did - and kill a bunch of brave people in the process..

[rigpiggy]

Railroad tracks. The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates designed the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever! So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's a#se came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' a#ses.)

Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah.

The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' rumps. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's a#se.

[dhc6guy]

I tried to get up early enough to watch it lift off, but missed it... Sleep is so precious!

For those of us who don't have TV - there is a good live webcast here, I am sure they will be doing the final launch, which is set for July 8. http://www.spacevidcast.com/

[Hawkerflyer]

Kind of crazy how they are going back to the old ship. Supposed to be 10x safer than the Shuttle, this sucker can jettison away from the launch pad if things go south. Unlike the Shuttle, those guys are along for the ride no matter what! Cant wait to see the new rocket on the stand in 2016!


Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle in development for the next gen spacecraft.

[Iceberg]

god speed

[winds_in_flight_wtf]

Just a reminder - Endeavor will be making its final approach 4.5 hours from now.


Edit: You can download a file here which tracks the shuttle LIVE in google earth. Very cool indeed!!!!


http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... earth.html

[Navajo-dude]

All this space and moon stuff was neat, but the moon is dead! Now that they found that out, they should instead now spend taxpayers money on better things, like homelessness and aids research.

[winds_in_flight_wtf]

You don't think it would benefit mankind if we worked outside our bubble? To infinity and beyond ! I think the exploration of space is and always will be critical to humankind. It captures the imagination of most and the journey just continues . I agree that it would be fantastic to put more money into research and improving the quality of life for so many. The most powerful people in the world happen to be healthy, and therefore the healthy ones seem to make the decisions which usually benefit .........oh the healthy ones.

[iflyforpie]

You could spend the entire GDP on social programs and still have sick, poor, and homeless people.

I just imagine what we could achieve if we didn't have to pay for the lifetime welfare recipients and a healthcare system clogged with headaches and hangnails.