^ I was about to say that myself.

OK ya they dont stop, but compared to all the leaks and valves and crap that can break in a liquid booster, very big difference in failure rate.

9/3/2014 10:27:28 AM

Does Spaceshiptwo have any reasonable abort options? Seems silly to sit six feet from an engine that's already killed three. If it starts tumbling bad enough at the apogee it would just rip itself apart, or stall out and plummet as it has already has in tests. Perhaps some sort of cabin ejection with a heat shield? At the very least a ballistic chute in case the wings don't lock back again at low altitude? The government needs to step in and prevent Virgin from killing more people.

[Edited on September 4, 2014 at 9:09 PM. Reason : lol jk it's not really spaceflight.]

9/4/2014 9:06:07 PM

smc's view of spaceflight:

http://bennyhillifier.com/?id=wNsJUmFrUCA

9/5/2014 7:21:57 PM

Quote :

"Not to mention hundreds of successful shuttle missions featuring SRBs. "

Hundreds? You know better than that.

9/5/2014 9:08:13 PM

^^OMG get out of my head. That's exactly what I see any time I close my eyes...waiting at stoplights...standing in line at the bank...browsing the dairy aisle...


Space shuttle fuel explosion



21 dead






Wernher von Braun hated solid fuel rockets and you should too.



[Edited on September 5, 2014 at 11:46 PM. Reason : Come to think of it, all of NASA's problems started when the Germans that ran the show died off.]

9/5/2014 11:23:19 PM

Quote :

"Hundreds? You know better than that."

135-1.

9/6/2014 12:03:48 AM

135 bold adventures in near earth orbit while wearing socks and sweatpants

Important research into the effects of pillowfights and hair braiding circles in microgravity aside, they need to institute some sort of "men must wear boots at all times"[while in space or otherwise] policy.



[Edited on September 6, 2014 at 12:26 AM. Reason : .]

9/6/2014 12:18:50 AM

I thought that if there were more than 100 of something, you could use the word "hundreds" to describe it?

And why does it matter if they are wearing socks and sweatpants while in the ISS?

9/6/2014 8:30:37 PM

Looks like there will be a major NASA announcement today about the Commercial Crew winner(s).

Early speculation ( http://www.cnet.com/news/boeing-said-to-win-nasa-space-taxi-contract/ ) has suggested Boeing's CST-100 has won... which is... well a shocker.
(I've also heard the guy who wrote the article has gotten major announcements wrong in the past, but i can't attest to the accuracy of that statement)

9/16/2014 8:41:52 AM

more and more people reporting that Boeing has indeed won possibly along with SpaceX. Looks like Dreamchaser is out

9/16/2014 2:14:57 PM

Boeing and SpaceX are the winners. Dreamchaser is out.

9/16/2014 4:19:21 PM

Maybe people will realize now that NASA and SpaceX aren't competitors.

9/16/2014 5:05:49 PM

I am just glad we are returning to manned flight.

9/16/2014 6:34:44 PM

well we HAVE been flying astronauts on the space station... just hitching a ride with the russians. but i know what you mean.

9/16/2014 7:30:44 PM

They're not flying, they're just falling.

9/16/2014 7:46:42 PM

oh jesus not this shit again.

[Edited on September 16, 2014 at 8:23 PM. Reason : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceflight]

9/16/2014 8:21:00 PM

So did NASA basically punt with choosing both SpaceX and Boeing? Why go with 2? Just for competitions sake?

9/17/2014 7:58:09 AM

redundancy... they both use different systems so if one of them is grounded for whatever reason (russia cutting off our supply of RD-180 engines we need for the Atlas V to launch CTS-100 for example) then we still are able to transport our astronauts.

the retirement of the Space Shuttle put us in a bind (same with the time it was shut down after Challenger and Columbia) and we had no access to the space station other than buying seats from the Russians.

9/17/2014 8:53:43 AM

I'm curious if the Souyz is going to be retired 5 to 10 years in the future. Maintaining such a system is not cheap, and it seems like Russia's case for doing so will be significantly diminished. Perhaps they can buy seats from us.

I mean, that shouldn't make us feel any better about ourselves... but it would.

9/17/2014 9:25:46 AM

Smath yes I of course meant with our own technology. I am well aware we have been hitching rides with the Russians so to speak. I am hopeful there will be a manned Mars in my lifetime but we shall see.

9/17/2014 1:45:45 PM

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/09/the-little-known-soviet-mission-to-rescue-a-dead-space-station/

Good little article. Not the Future but some lessons learned here would be useful in any space rescue.

9/17/2014 8:41:07 PM

Seeing Smath's post on his chitchat launch thread, suprised this isnt here:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/17/tech/mars-maven-spacecraft-orbit/

This is tomorrow (sunday sept 21)

9/20/2014 4:26:30 PM

ah nice. I knew it was approaching mars but i didn't know it was getting there tomorrow!

9/20/2014 9:35:22 PM

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#.VB98mvldWSp

coverage for MAVEN orbital insertion. looks like the main burn is going to start in about 15 minutes (at 9:50)

9/21/2014 9:37:40 PM

The SpaceX rocket launch last night looked nominal... there was an awesome view... they had a camera INSIDE of the liquid oxygen tank that showed the fluid moving around in microgravity...

here are some highlights showing the LOX sloshing around...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u656se4e34M#t=91

9/21/2014 10:04:03 PM

MAVEN in Mars orbit!

9/21/2014 10:27:13 PM

Indian probe also successfully reached Mars orbit this week!


Also, Russia launched 3 people to the space station, including the first female cosmonaut to go to space in 17 years!
(and the first female Russian occupant of the International Space Station)

heeeeey...


and she is feisty too... she got mad about reporters repeatedly asking about her hair lol
http://metro.co.uk/2014/09/26/russias-first-female-cosmonaut-in-17-years-angry-after-being-repeatedly-asked-questions-about-her-hair-4883207/

9/26/2014 1:15:15 PM

Sierra Nevada Corporation is officially protesting the decision recently made by NASA. My personal feeling is that it won't make a difference, but again I don't have all the facts either.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/09/dream-chaser-fight-snc-protest-cctcap-decision/

9/26/2014 8:19:48 PM

http://aeon.co/magazine/technology/the-elon-musk-interview-on-mars/

fairly long, but good read.

9/30/2014 2:36:10 PM

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/10/dream-chaser-eyes-rides-with-under-review-stratolaunch-system/

So there are talks (of course only talks) of putting a 75% scaled down Dreamchaser on the "stratolaunch" system under development...

stratolaunch is basically two 747's modified and welded together, carrying a rocket underneath. i have doubts that this will come to fruition, but it's a cool concept. the advantage is that they don't have to wait for very specific launch windows since the plane can fly to a large range of locations to launch the rocket.



[Edited on October 2, 2014 at 4:11 PM. Reason : ]

10/2/2014 4:08:51 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyZqSWWKmHQ&feature=youtu.be

10/8/2014 8:04:59 PM

Quote :

"So there are talks (of course only talks) of putting a 75% scaled down Dreamchaser on the "stratolaunch" system under development..."

That's actually kind of a difficult convergence to achieve.
IIRC, existing air launch systems (Pegasus) only put like 750 kg sats into orbit.
The starting rocket mass gets to be burdensome for the aircraft options available.
Obviously, there is a hard minimum mass for an orbiter carrying people.
Traditionally we're looking at 5 tons or so.

One problem with this proposed system is the capital for the plane.
That could be awfully difficult to justify with the spotty flight rates that orbital launches tend to have.
Then again, that's the name of the game when we're talking about reusable launch systems.

10/9/2014 11:10:50 PM

Any good places online to watch the Siding Spring Mars flyby?

10/19/2014 3:57:18 PM

it already flew by.

10/19/2014 3:59:02 PM

Yeah, couldn't find much good coverage.

10/19/2014 7:29:41 PM

Out of curiosity, what kind of images were you expecting?

10/19/2014 9:20:48 PM

I was just hoping for someone live tweeting or blogging. The only news I could find was brief mentions that it was going to happen.

As far as a picture I guess I'd want to see Bruce Willis planting a flag on it.

10/20/2014 10:10:25 AM

Wraith do you drive a honda?

[Edited on October 21, 2014 at 12:51 PM. Reason : /]

10/21/2014 12:50:51 PM

Another SLS hydrogen tank derived habitat presentation...

http://spirit.as.utexas.edu/~fiso/telecon/Howard_10-22-14/Howard_10-22-14.ppt

10/23/2014 2:28:41 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/science/alan-eustace-jumps-from-stratosphere-breaking-felix-baumgartners-world-record.html?_r=0

So this happened by surprised today as it was planned and executed largely in secret.

Mr. Eustace’s maximum altitude was initially reported as 135,908 feet. Based on information from two data loggers, the final number being submitted to the World Air Sports Federation is 135,890 feet.

The previous altitude record was set by Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner, who jumped from 128,100 feet on Oct. 14, 2012.

Mr. Eustace was carried aloft without the aid of the sophisticated capsule used by Mr. Baumgartner or millions of dollars in sponsorship money. Instead, Mr. Eustace planned his jump in secrecy, working for almost three years with a small group of technologists skilled in spacesuit design, life-support systems, and parachute and balloon technology.



This is relevant to manned spaceflight for escape systems and spacesuit tech.

10/24/2014 7:45:48 PM

^Awesome.

10/24/2014 9:22:53 PM

Quote :

"Wraith do you drive a honda?"

Sho do, Grey Civic. Got a NASA sticker and an NCSU block S sticker on the back window. Did you see me around town sometime?

10/24/2014 11:56:27 PM

10/25/2014 12:04:30 AM

Launch tonight, visible from Raleigh area

http://www.wral.com/virginia-launch-visible-from-north-carolina/14118782/

Theyve got an app now to help you locate, if not, look on this page for other wral links on Wallops launches and they have maps of where to look.

10/27/2014 9:27:15 AM

awesome. it sucks i don't have a good northeast view from my house... too many damn trees.

10/27/2014 10:32:57 AM

You should be able to find somewhere close by with a more open view.

10/27/2014 4:17:37 PM

i guess i could but it's right around dinner/getting ready for bed time for my little boy. if it were just me i'd head down to the lake nearby.

10/27/2014 4:22:25 PM

Some idiot in a boat has the countdown on hold at 12 minutes.

10/27/2014 6:36:31 PM

And the asshole in the boat stopped the launch for today.

10/27/2014 6:46:06 PM

10/27/2014 6:47:13 PM