Shuttle launch STS-118 today

Maybe for Orion, not for the Shuttle. The cost of space-certifying computer hardware runs into millions, if not hundreds of millions. Electronic hardware tends not to like collision with atomic oxygen, among numerous other potential hazards.

Ask the Russians about their recent computer problems and you'll understand.
 
Azagoth said:
So I guess being a civilian candidate is the better option! :D
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£30k to £50k - is that it :eek: I guess the fame and publicity kinda makes up for it, but still. To be fair, $1 buys you more there than £1 here...but STILL :eek:
 
Berserker said:
You've only got just over two years left, then it's bye bye Space Shuttle. :(

I'd love to see a launch in person, but I've tried once and it was delayed. Not sure I can afford to try again.
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Enlighten me.
 
Larnica said:
Enlighten me.
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Its being taken out of service. Its over 30 years old and maintenance has exploded exponentially over time. It runs old 8086x processors and they are increasingly hard to find. The structure of each shuttle has weakened, as demonstrated by the recent loss of Columbia.

They are due to be taken out of service in 2010, after construction of the ISS has been completed. No real successor is in line yet. ESA and Russia must be kicking themselves that they cancelled Hermes and Butan.
 
Houston, we have a problem.

It has been discovered that a chunk of ice fell off during launch and struck the underside of the orbiter (pre-launch inspection obviously missed the ice). There is some evidence of damage and they will be looking into this further, including a very close-up inspection on Sunday.

The good thing is it hit tile, not the vulnerable wing edge, so chances are the damage isn't serious (though it can be repaired on orbit if it is). Seems like all the post-Columbia changes have proved their worth.

Fingers crossed.
 
I think they may already have docked, hence saying the same time, although thursday night I watched the ISS go over then Endeavour passed over a minute or two behind.
 
VaderDSL said:
I think they may already have docked, hence saying the same time, although thursday night I watched the ISS go over then Endeavour passed over a minute or two behind.
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Wow that must have been pretty cool to see. Could you tell that Endeavour was going quicker?

Makes sense they are the same time if it has docked already. Will that mean it will be bigger/brighter tonight?
 
They didn't appear to be travelling at different velocities, but then I think the closing distance relative between Endeavour and the ISS was minute compared to the velocities we see them travelling at.

I don't think it will be brighter tonight, the ISS is quite a bit larger than the shuttle, and I would imagine the shuttle won't be in the alignment to catch and reflect much of the sunlight.

I might be wrong, on heavens above the magnitue is the brightness and the lower (or higher depending on your definition) magnitude (i.e the higher the negative value) means it is brighter, tonight in Manchester 53.4 degrees N by 2.2 degrees W the ISS goes over at 21:40 starting at 10 degrees (just above the horizon) increasing to 60 degrees elevation 3 minutes after at 21:43 and going out of view another 3 minutes after at 21:46 (so 6 minutes in total in view) and it will dissapear towards E at 10 degrees elevation again. The magnitude is -2.2 after tonight as it's orbit takes it out away from the UK the magnitude starts dropping off and eventually we won't be able to see the ISS for some time.
 
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