NASA sends Endeavour to the International Space Station

[fuzzytomcat]

Hi all,

For those that are interested in NASA and the ISS here is a 24/7 "LIVE" broadcast of the event until November 29,2008 -

Windows media Player or others ?

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1369080&segment=149773


Enjoy,
Fuzzy

[fuzzytomcat]

Hi all,

Right now this is the greatest show on "EARTH" ... science at it's best, and the view only a select few know. There is Renewable and Alternative energy, Bio and Material science. Earlier today they showed a spider and nat experiment the spider web was weird. These machines the Shuttle and ISS Station of mans construction is the most complex things ever built. The Shuttle and ISS which now is almost the size of a football field is traveling over 15,000 miles per hour, 15 sunrises and sunsets in 24 hours, 200 miles above the earth and just think of the men and women that travel outside of these machines into space and we are all able to see it "LIVE" ..... and not some 1 minute snippet on your Local News.

NASA - Shuttle Mission TV Schedule
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/mission_schedule.html

NASA - Home
www.nasa.gov

Fuzzy

[lwh]

Thanks for the link.  Was watching a couple of the crew members getting suited up for a space-walk just now.  Haven't seen live footage like that before.  You get used to looking at it, then something floats by the camera in zero gravity and you remember, oh yeah, space, cool. 

Can't say it's riveting viewing but it is interesting to see all the little procedural details you usually don't see...wow, the camera view just changed to an external shot.  They should have multiple camera's downlinked so you can switch between them as you please.  Should also have microphone's inside the craft and suits to listen to as well as the voice-overs. 

Have got a few opinions on other aspects of all this that I'll keep to myself...some NASA guy back on earth is now giving a demonstration of what the space-walkers will be fixing later on.  So many specialized procedures and pieces of equipment...might check back later and see what they're up to.  Definitely worth a look I'd say.

[lwh]

Wow, have been watching the first space-walk.  The highlights so far for me have been -

When one of the space-walkers, being moved about while attached by her feet to a huge arm being controlled by someone else, requested she be moved in the opposite direction she wanted to go.  No problem though.

When the space-walkers were in the shuttle bay, they noticed a screw/bolt floating past into the loading bay that no-one could account for and which they couldn't reach.  The voice-over guy said this was no problem at all though.

When one of the space-walkers opened a bag to get some equipment out and start working on something, she found a grease-gun had leaked on everything inside the bag.  That didn't seem to be a problem either.

While cleaning up the leaked grease that was all over her hands as well, she pulled out another box/bag of tools and equipment that for some reason wasn't attached to the main bag, and the bag she pulled out kept floating off into space, well out of reach.  This was only a minor problem, as there was another set of the same stuff in the other space-walkers bag, and they could share.

This stuff is amazing. 

Please don't think I'm being disrespectful.  I know these people are highly trained and qualified and dedicated and are doing very difficult work.  But wow.  I can't help wondering what the hell we think it is we're doing up there in the first place.  Earlier I was thinking there must be an easier way to do all this.  But right now I'm wondering if  we'll ever be able to counter the fact that shit just happens and that we're only human.

Right now, there are two space-walking astronauts up there wiping metal filings off a piece of metal that the space station's solar panels roll along while tracking the sun.  Metal filings that were created and causing problems because the roller mechanism didn't work quite as planned.  They've got mission control double-checking and instructing them in everything they do every step of the way, down to the smallest detail, according to a pre-determined schedule.

Now a bolt doesn't want to come loose.  Discussions.  Conferring.  The astronaut switches his fancy cordless power tool to manual and loosens the bolt.  More discussion, and he continues on using the power tool.  This is arduous.  I'll have to switch it off soon and go try and remember why it's so important for people to be doing this sort of stuff.

Good luck to 'em though. 

Good luck to us all.         

[fuzzytomcat]

Hi lwh,

I know this can be confusing at times but I've watched this whole process over the years and NASA is one of the only government agency's that is probably the most transparent. This is the beginning to explore the universe if we can, remember it will take at least 6 to 8 months to just get to Mars. The question is can the astronauts take a journey that far physically, being weightless for that period of time and going to a distant planet with different gravity, can you even walk, how is you circulatory system and heart working ..... just the physical challenges not to mention the technical ones, of getting somewhere and getting back.

Why you ask ....... The Earth is a frail place proven changes by man or just time or accident. It would be a shame if mankind was lost and we had the technology to at least stay in existence some where to return if we could if the unmanageable or unforeseen happened. This is the best bet for our existence to be prolonged and not seen as dinosaurs and a dot in the history of Earth past.

Know one knows the future ........ the people at NASA that makes this happen has all my respect and admiration for there efforts and danger the astronauts go thru there preparation to get into space and back home safe this is what science is all about.

Best,
Fuzzy