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Discovery Safely in Orbit

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Enkidu

Enkidu

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Joined
Dec 1, 2003
Location
Boulder, Colorado
Discovery safely lifted off at 10:39AM EDT this morning and has reached orbit - marking the first shuttle flight since February 2003's Columbia disaster.

My hat's off to the ground and orbiter crews (as I'm sure they'll be reading this) - may it be the first of hundreds (or at least until the new CEV is built :))

Space.com article on the subject at: http://www.space.com/returntoflight/
 
Damn birds! This is from the actual launch this week, poor thing :)

050727_rtf_bird_02.jpg
 
according to yahoo news, they grounded the fleet again because another big peice of foam broke off during lift off
 
I have a question about these foam problems.

The shuttles have been flying for what? Around 25 years?

Has this foam been falling off the and hitting the shuttle all those years and only till the last accident caused a problem?
 
MLMIB said:
according to yahoo news, they grounded the fleet again because another big peice of foam broke off during lift off
Click to expand...

Indeed, this time a 2 foot piece of foam!

SunRedRX7 said:
Has this foam been falling off the and hitting the shuttle all those years and only till the last accident caused a problem?
Click to expand...

Quite probably, yes. The fact that it hit a most unfortunate location (the leading edge of the shuttle's wing, which combined with the nose take the most heat and stress during re-entry) contributed to it becoming a disaster.

It could just as easily have impact along the underside or even been swept 'over' the wing, in either case probbably never having been noticed.

Enk
 
Enkidu said:
Nice Pics! Seeing a shuttle launch live is on my list of things to do - never had the pleasure.
Click to expand...

Not looking good for shuttle. So you may have to watch film of launchs. I have a feeling its wings are as good as cliped :(
 
hold your horses guys, they still had foam fall off of the thing again.......

and they said that until they find out wtf cause this and htf to fix it, no more playin' with shuttle.
 
I think is dumb, why do they even use foam? Why would they even take the chance of having something possibly fall off? I hope that the next shuttle that boeing and nasa are working on will be less fragile and stupid.

Your guys enjoy the pictures, it is a great thing being able to see it, from your backyard.
 
What foam is falling? I hope they fix it bc the only way to go now is space. We have nothin new on earth basically. Hey I also thought about sumn. If we havn't had any launches in the past yr who has been on the space station and how have they been getting back and forth?
 
Thomas Mitchell said:
What foam is falling? I hope they fix it bc the only way to go now is space. We have nothin new on earth basically.
Click to expand...

Foam on the main fuel tanks been falling off and hitting the shuttle. My guess is that its been doing it for the last 25 years, and hasn't been a problem until recently


Thomas Mitchell said:
If we havn't had any launches in the past yr who has been on the space station and how have they been getting back and forth?
Click to expand...

" The Soyuz-TM serves as both a ferry for Russian crews coming to and from the station as well as a "lifeboat" for any emergency escapes. Soyuz is launched on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, it can carry 3 people. The spacecraft has been in use by the Russians since 1967 so it is an old vehicle and it has been updated several times. It was used to ferry people up and down from the Russian space station Mir and now brings people & supplies to the International Space Station."
http://www.hightechscience.org/soyuz_space_capsule.htm

The USSR/Russia at one time did have its own shuttle program, but it never got into operational status. http://www.hightechscience.org/buran_space_shuttle.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran
 
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