Atlantis Launch @ 2:20pm EDT

[SXRguyinMA]

For those of you that can watch it and are into that sotra thing :D

I'm takin my lunch break @ 2 (25 mins) so I can go home and watch it!

[Twigsoffury]

It was beautiful, gave them a salute on the way up.

Good ending to a great program.

[Oneslowz28]

This is just the end for Atlantis. There are 2 more missions that Endevor will fly this summer. Its sad that its coming to an end though.

[SXRguyinMA]

yea it is. Atlantis is going to be ready as a backup in case something goes wrong with the last Endeavor mission as well, so there's a VERY SLIM chance it may fly again. Hopefully not though

[x88x]

Its sad that its coming to an end though.

Agreed. It's sad to see America giving up on space. :(

[crenn]

America isn't quite giving up on space... just retiring the shuttles. Orion is the future as far as I know.

EDIT: Correctly, Orion is now a rescue boat pretty much.


The federal government proposed cancellation of the Constellation program in early February 2010. The final fate of Constellation program components yet to be determined, NASA has indicated that technologies and systems developed to date will be reviewed for potential inclusion in new programs aimed at manned spaceflight.

As of March 10, 2010 (2010 -03-10), NASA had begun to shut down the Constellation program in accordance with President Obama's cancellation directive. Control over the program was turned over to Lockheed Martin. As of April 15, 2010 (2010 -04-15), Obama directed NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to immediately begin developing a rescue vehicle using the Orion technology and announced the decision in a major space policy speech at Kennedy Space Center.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_%28spacecraft%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_space_policy_speech_at_Kennedy_Space_ Center

[SXRguyinMA]

well good ol Obama canceled the plan they already had, and said that now we're going to let private companies build the next space vehicles instead of the government. That was last I heard anyways

[Luke122]

Delivery! http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/first_of_the_last_space_shuttl.html

[SXRguyinMA]

AWESOME LINK! :bowdown:

[x88x]

Is it just me or does the Orion vehicle looks suspiciously like the Apollo?

As for privatizing space exploration, I could definitely see that working...eventually.. The X Prize competition in particular prompted some pretty interesting innovation. On the other hand, they still have a long way to go..this article I saw the other day on Gizmodo was a bit of an eye opener on that face:
http://gizmodo.com/5539269/virgin-galactic-falls-far-short-of-nasa

[SXRguyinMA]

lol I like this one


1970: Maximum distance a human could travel from Earth - appx 230k miles.
2010: Maximum distance a human can travel from Earth - 600 miles

Once the shuttle's retired, we'll be punting people no more than 250 miles.

Mars gets further away every year

[crenn]

Is it just me or does the Orion vehicle looks suspiciously like the Apollo?

As for privatizing space exploration, I could definitely see that working...eventually.. The X Prize competition in particular prompted some pretty interesting innovation. On the other hand, they still have a long way to go..this article I saw the other day on Gizmodo was a bit of an eye opener on that face:
http://gizmodo.com/5539269/virgin-galactic-falls-far-short-of-nasa
That's because Orion is based off Apollo, it's just upscaled.