India Tests Shuttle Concept

 

India’s space agency ISRO says Monday's (May 23rd) test flight of their reusable space shuttle was a success, validating the technologies on board.

ISRO also released video of the launch, showing the ignition and lift-off of the HS9 booster rocket with the shuttle resting on its nose.

The $14m (yep, 14 million)  Reusable Launch Vehicle, which is around the size of a minibus, was lofted to an altitude of apx. 40 miles, before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The craft was allowed to skip back into the atmosphere at Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound)and exposing the Reusable Launch Vehicle to max temperatures of around 3632 degrees.


India's shuttle is not expected to come into service for at least 15 years, but ISRO hopes the reusable technology will reduce costs and make access to space more affordable.
 
More info HERE

Sandy Damages Shuttle

From AP via Xnewsman comes news that shuttle Enterprise, the first shuttle that started the shuttle program, now being shown at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City, sustained minor damage to the tail structure during hurricane Sandy.

The shuttle sustained minor damage to its vertical stabilizer, or tail when a small piece of foam came off, was confirmed by a museum spokesman.

As you may remember, the Enterprise was used for atmospheric drop tests  in 1977, four years before the first shuttle launch. It was never designed for space travel. 

Water Droplets and Sound Waves in Space

I am sure we have all had that "what would happen" moments in life. If you are a science fiction, fan it is almost a given. Here is a great demo of sound and fluid dynamics presented on orbit aboard the shuttle. Those of us in audio can guess what is coming but it is still fascinating all the same. No special equipment was used, just some old usb speakers and plain ole water.

Space Coast Becoming Ghost Towns?

Boing Boing is trying valiantly to put a somewhat comical spin on the plight of Florida's "Space" coast, places like Coco Beach, as they try even the most outrageous methods in hopes of bolstering a failing economy. This excerpt pretty much sums up what it used to be like:
(local communities were) for decades buoyed by the NASA Space Shuttle program. Astronauts, aerospace contractors, service workers, and their families all made their way to communities near Kennedy Space Center.

But now real-estate prices and business alike are dropping through the floor. One hotel in the area has gone so far as to reinvent itself as clothing optional.

It's sad and frustrating for many reasons. It really is hard to affix blame, but it is our canary in so many ways.

Check out the BB article here

Shuttle Discovery's Last Flight

Fromm NASA via Boing Boing & YouTube comes a short film of the last flight of Discovery. Lets take a moment to reflect on everything that means. There it is sitting atop the modified 747 flying over our nation's other monuments in Washington DC. It is a moving experience for sure. Certainly one worth documenting. But then people started clapping. Maybe I am being a bit too sensitive here, but clapping with joy as the past pinnacle of out once great space program flies off into the haze was not one of joy....

Don't get me wrong here! I do applaud the brave people who flew it and died with it. The great minds that went the extra mile even though they were hamstrung from the beginning. I applaud the engineering marvel that was the shuttle and the men who were tasked with making a potato fly. But applaud its passing? No, at the risk of melodrama...hat in hand, head bowed I turn away. oh and here is more at Discovery Air and Space

The Shuttle Transport RV

Ever wonder about that shiny RV that ferried Shuttle crew members to the launch pad? Well I found this Youtube video on the Komando news site and thought it would be a hoot to show some of the low key things that went on during launch day.

Watch the Space Shuttle: The Complete Missions' by Nature Video

Homer sends in this great link to the YouTube video 'Space Shuttle: The Complete Missions' by Nature Video. It's only eight minutes long but is a well spent eight. Check it out here or the video below

Shuttle Entering the Atmosphere

I was up early to watch the landing of Shuttle Atlantis. I remember hearing mission control say that one of the astronauts aboard the ISS had watched Atlantis as it entered the atmosphere from the stations Cupola viewing window. I thought, wow, now that must have been something to see and what do you think I found today on Gizmodo? A photograph of the Shuttle entering the Atmosphere! It may be the last ride but that is a sweet picture to go out on!

Thanks Gizmodo!

The Soviet Shuttle Was Meant to do What?!

Recently. In an article in New Scientist, I was finding out some very interesting fact about about the Soviet spacecraft called Buran, cosmetically a copy to the American shuttle.

Buran had only one launch on 15 November 1988 and even though it performed flawlessly, it was scrapped less than a year later, never to be made man ready. It seems Buran was a victim of normalization of relations with the west. Buran's only mission was to be a weapons delivery system (makes you think long and hard about the mini shuttle the military is flying as you read this.) and since there was no longer a military mission and never had been one for the private sector, there was no longer any need for Buran.

However it still is an interesting ship to talk about. First off, even though it bore a cosmetic resemblance to the west's shuttle, it was in fact radically different in many aspects. The biggest example was the craft had no external tank. Buran was bolted to an over-sized Energia booster which did all the lifting. Buran had no engines of its own. This aspect alone made it a much safer system to operate. Another major difference was to be ejection seats for all crew members even those on the mid deck which would have launched sideways.

The rest of the article is fascinating. Read it here

NASA's Final Shuttle: The End of an Error?

Xnewsman sends in this great article from time that holds an unflinching eye on the last Shuttle flight and the end to the program.

From the Time article:

• Friday, the 135th and last shuttle mission is scheduled to be launched, ending a program in which five ships carried 777 passengers into space, traveling a collective half a billion miles

As the article points out, the shuttle program built the International Space Station, launched the Magellan, Ulysses and Galileo probes to Venus, the sun and Jupiter. Plus the truly shining accomplishment has to be placing the Hubble Space telescope in orbit and returning to service it several times.

But then there was also these.... The $500 million price tag every time one took off, the months of maintenance and prep work needed between flights, the thermal tiles the ships would shed like dry leaves and finally the loss of 14 astronauts.

The shuttle was envisioned as a way for workers in space to commute to work, it was supposed to reduce the cost of delivering material to orbit to a tenth of the cost and each shuttle was supposed to last 100 launches. The truth is it never became a commuter anything, cost over runs and delays plus losses managed to increase the cost of launching to a point that the only customers to use the shuttle was NASA and the military. Shuttles never can close to the overly optimistic 100 flights. Discovery which was the most flown managed only 38 trips in 28 years.

Any system has it good and bad traits, the venerable shuttles were no exception.

There is some wonderful history and photography in the Time article. Read more by clicking here

Is This the End of the Space Age?

Long time listeners to BMU will recognize this sentiment. Even back in the 80s on my tiny little BBS I was saying that we should be looking hard and long as to what the Shuttle really meant in terms of space exploration. Now that even that system will cease to be within day, I have been saying that our glory days are done and now we little more than renters. Now I see that others are raising a hue and cry. I see that Charlie Jane Anders writing for IO9 is voicing valid concerns about what the end of the Shuttle program can mean to the US's presence in space. It is still painfully obvious that the public is confused as to what the question ultimately means. There is talk of probes picking up the slack and of course that will continue. These self same people though should remember that we put some very sophisticated devices on the moon but ultimately nothing replaces a human foot for genuine exploration.

From the IO9 article:

• It is quite conceivable that 36,000km ( 22369.36 miles) will prove the limit of human ambition.
• It is equally conceivable that human space flight, long the stuff of science fiction, will return to fantasy.

To me it was painfully obvious when Apollo 17 came home. We had to make do with the shuttle. The most powerful nation on the planet relegated to high priced furniture movers. Yes, the robotic craft out there are doing spectacular science, but was Apollo our first and only steps on another world? Is travel to other planets once again on the purview of science fiction?

Do you want to have your opinion on the health of space travel on record? Nothing big and fancy, just a yes or no about this - you can go to the economist and vote. [The Economist]

ESA Setting Its' Sights on Reusable Space Transport

As the USA bows out of leading the world in space exploration, ESA far from sitting on their thumbs is looking at a low orbit reusable space transport vehicle by what the next decade you say? Nope, 2013. ESA's test bed will be the IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle which will explore autonomous reentry, space transportation, exploration and robotic servicing of space infrastructure, according to their news release here.


The article gives a lot of information about the experimental lifting body and mission plans.

Check it out here.

Endeavour's Last Mission & Still Setting Records

Endeavour has completed its last mission but this mission also marked the first time a space shuttle was ever photographed while docked as shown here in this pic from IO9's blog.
From the IO9 article:

• While the shuttle was docked, Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli left the station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and took these photographs during his departure.

There are a couple more good pics on site and a nice short video here on IO9

Gabrielle Giffords Well Enough to Watch Shuttle Launch

ABC News has learned Arizona Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords has been given the go ahead by her doctors to go to Florida, where her husband Mark Kelly will command the shuttle Endeavour for it's last mission.

From the ABC news site:

• Giffords has been recovering (and) undergoing rehabilitation for a gunshot wound to her head.
  
• Kelly's mission, STS 134, is the second to last space shuttle flight for NASA, and will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the space station.

William Shatner Narrates a Tribute to The Space Shuttle

William Shatner Narrates

Where Shuttles go after they Retire

NASA.Gov has release the final resting place of four shuttle orbiters.

At the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program - Shuttle Enterprise will move from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York. Discovery will reside at the Udvar-Hazy Center. Endeavour, which is preparing for its final flight at the end of the month, will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Atlantis, which will fly the last planned shuttle mission in June, will be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

Complete NASA article here

Left & Right SRB Recovery Mission

Here is something that we all hear about but I have never seen - the NASA SRB recovery ships in action? Huh? If you are interested in all aspects of a shuttle mission you will like this, or if like me your interested and live in a coastal fishing village and you just like to see the boats in action...check it out:



Check out NASA's youtube video site

Good bye Discovery

Well I am sure you know what 3/9/11 is all about. I can't imagine that anyone reading this right now has to have STS 133 explained in detail. However just to put a small cap on it.
From Space.com:

• Discovery landed for the final time here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 11:57 a.m. EST

Having that melancholy moment again are we?

And just so Space.com can nail it home for Discovery one last time:

• after 27 years and 39 flights, Discovery's wheels rolled to a stop for the very last time under the warm sun at the Florida spaceport's Shuttle Landing Facility.

Not to lessen the fact that the shuttle program was fraught with engineering failures, cost over-runs - despite the fact that it was never even close to as fast, cheap or safe as it was promoted as becoming - It still was a damn fine space craft of a fleet of supremely capable machines. The people who designed, maintained and flew the system were and are the best in the world at what they do. I know, it's just a machine, but at the risk of anthropomorphizing it - it was a damn fine one!

Space.com article

STS - 133 Wake up Call!

Shuttle flight STS - 133 got one of the best wake up calls ever! Courtesy of William Shatner in full blown Captain James Tiberius Kirk persona doing the Star Trek opening but updated for the shuttle.

Come on....just for a second...fess up... you had that feeling just for a split second...thought so...softie!

Space Shuttle launch, shot by a camera phone

Now this is what I call a great amateur photo! Here we have a shuttle launch captured by a cell phone of all things. Whats better though is that the camera wasn't on a plane but much much higher - in the equipment pod of a helium weather balloon!

Here is the info from the IO9 article:

• Quest for Stars, a non-profit educational organization co-sponsored by Challenger Center for Space Science Education has launched weather-balloon-hoisted cameras into space before, but this time around, the group of students and educators wanted to capture the actual Shuttle launch from space. So they put together Robonaut-1..... and sent it up 100,000 feet.

As you can see, they were spectacularly successful!

Check out the complete IO9 article here