Space Shuttle Discovery's last ride. :(

[Oneslowz28]

Well the time has come. The end of an era is upon us. The Space Shuttle program is down to its last 2 missions. One of which is scheduled to launch very soon. NASA is posting photos of Shuttle Discovery's "last ride". I am going to do my best to post them here along with their caption, as they post them on twitter.


http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/494056main_image_1793_800-600.jpgThis image of space shuttle Discovery was taken as the craft began its nighttime trek, known as "rollout," from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A.


It took the shuttle, attached to its external fuel tank, twin solid rocket boosters and mobile launcher platform, about six hours to complete the move atop a crawler-transporter. On STS-133, its final planned mission, Discovery will take the Permanent Multipurpose Module packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2 to the International Space Station.

[Drum Thumper]

That looks like one big gaping hole above the nose. I think I'd be a tad bit worried.

[dr.walrus]

sad face

[x88x]

And thus ends an era. :(

American public EPIC FAIL. :facepalm:

I'm sorry, I mean no disrespect against any other countries, but we're one of the most powerful, most wealthy nations in the world (yes, even with our ridiculous debt :P )...we shouldn't have to rely on other nations to service our satellites! ...completely ignoring all the other reasons I believe space research/exploration/development/etc is important... And don't even get me started on the Ares project... :facepalm:

Ah well, yet again a government funded group has failed...time for private enterprise to step in. Hey Richard Branson, how's Virgin Galactic doing? Think you could maybe also branch out into utilitarian stuff in addition to tourism? I promise there'll be lots of money in it for you....

EDIT:

Also, apparently it's not launching today...something broke. :facepalm:
http://twitpic.com/32zygw

[Oneslowz28]

NASA just tweeted this Gigapan image of Discovery on the launchpad http://gigapan.org/gigapans/63782/

and this photo of the part that broke today and the reason the launch is a nogo.


http://thebestcasescenario.com/oneslowz28/personal/186435392.jpg

[d_stilgar]

I don't think this is a good move. We spend trillions on bailouts, trillions on health care reform and we can't keep our space program going? If this were a temporary curbing in order to get out of debt I would understand. If they said, "we need to take just 4-8 years off of this in order to get our country out of debt then we'll get it back on-board," then I might be for it, but it doesn't seem like that's what's happening here.

Not to be too political . . . but . . .

1) I don't agree with the bank bailout. It cost nearly a trillion dollars, the economy did not bounce back, and many experts are looking at it as tax dollars in already rich bankers pockets.

2) I agree that health care needs reform, but the current reform we have is going to kill the private insurance companies. This will result in a loss of jobs and I don't think the new plan is going to me any less expensive, it's just going to be paid for by the government, who gets its money from the tax payers. So we aren't going to see less expense, just someone else in between the patients and the doctors, and more people paying for more than their part while others take a free ride. On top of this, the government rarely has a big motivation to experiment, innovate, or make something more efficient, while companies that rely on making money try to do all of those things.

3) The space program is one place where innovation in technology has always happened, although the past 50 years have been somewhat boring in manned space missions. We've had new telescopes, new materials science, new satellites. These innovations work their way down into the private realm. I can see these innovations costing a lot of money out of pocket for the expensive electronics when tax payers aren't paying for the research first. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. There are people who pay plenty in (NASA) taxes that never buys a product that benefits from it, but the U.S. has been a big world player since WWI, and abandoning NASA seems like a step down from that mantle.

[x88x]

the current reform we have is going to kill the private insurance companies.

Still not sure how much I believe in that, but it is having an affect. Last week we had a meeting at work about the changes in our medical plan for next year. As it turns out, a couple of the plans we had qualified for the 'cadillac plan' tax...so what did they do? Raise the price? ...no, they made it worse..so it didn't qualify for the tax anymore.. :facepalm:

[knowledgegranted]

Very sad, I have great sorrow for our country. As other have said, we are one of the most powerful countries (no disrespect intended to others) however we are cutting research programs, exploration programs, and just trying to get the easy things in life.

What ever happened to the

"We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

:(

__________

Edit: But seriously you guys do know that Nasa has a budget of over 21 billion for 2011, and 6.0billion + compounding for the next 5 years right? NASA is here to stay.

[knowledgegranted]

Sorry for the double post, but this simply requires it's own thread.

http://www.slashgear.com/nasa-auctions-off-federally-funded-patents-01111658/

[d_stilgar]

Still not sure how much I believe in that, but it is having an affect. Last week we had a meeting at work about the changes in our medical plan for next year. As it turns out, a couple of the plans we had qualified for the 'cadillac plan' tax...so what did they do? Raise the price? ...no, they made it worse..so it didn't qualify for the tax anymore.. :facepalm:

President Obama has said that he wants it to get to a single payer system and the current health plan definitely drives it in that direction, hard.

Take for instance my dad's office, a medical office that has about 20 employees. The health care plan says that he must give health insurance to those people (which he already dose) or else the government will come in and give a big fine for every person uninsured and then those people will go on the government plan.

Cost of private insurance: XXX,XXX
Government Fines: XX,XXX

What would you choose? Almost any businessman will see that the fines are less expensive.

Some private insurance companies just raised the cost of all of their plans and that some customers didn't like this. In an interview (with consumer reports of all places) Obama said that the reform bill will bar private companies from raising their rates in certain ways. While I agree that there should be laws regarding how terms can change on existing contracts, private companies should have the right to set whatever price they think will keep them in business. Obama said that having a national system will get a big enough pool of people paying in that the costs will come down. These people will be leaving private insurance to go to the national plan. So now private insurance companies will be barred from raising their prices while the large pool they had (that kept the price low). This will suck the companies dry.

A law which makes insurance compulsory would have the same effect as a national plan, but would not displace existing companies or cost trillions of dollars to implement. The transition would be smooth and simple. There could be subsidies paid by the government to those who are too poor to afford health insurance, but these people would still have the option to go and shop for whatever company they thought had the best plans.

Again, I'm not trying to be too political, but I really think that the legislative branch should write laws, not start companies. The judicial branch should interpret the law, not write laws. The executive branch should sign or veto laws, and be the leader of the military, not the CEO in U.S.A. Inc.

Back on topic . . . No!!! NASA No!!!!! You are so young to die or have your back broken.

[Oneslowz28]

Ok guys lets get it back on topic before I am forced to delete everything not 100% directly related to the shuttle Discovery's last launch.

[simon275]

I think it is sad really but the shuttles are getting old so I guess technology must advance.

Plus there is the new secret mini shuttle the X-37

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37