Spot the Space Station

[Pkrd]

Man I enjoy seeing that Falcon 9 first stage landing back on the recovery barge.

This is cool… Drone ship time lapse.

 

[day_trippr]

That was hella cool!

 

[day_trippr]

Here's something different for you folks in the western US to check out.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/15/world/nasa-lucy-spacecraft-scn-trnd/index.html

 

[day_trippr]

So many awesome - and make-me-feel-even-tinier - images of our universe, courtesy of the Webb...

 

[tracer bullet]

^^^ Yeah, read about that earlier today. A "star factory", what a concept. Babies, just a couple hundred thousand years old. Wow.

 

[day_trippr]

The next Falcon Heavy flight is scheduled for tomorrow at 9:40AM. SpaceX will try to land the two side boosters but the center booster will use all of its fuel helping to get the payload to orbit and will be lost.

Cheers!

https://www.space.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-ussf-44-launch-preview

 

[Konadog]

Watched the one last Thursday here on the West Coast, it was just dark enough you could see the whole thing, but to bright for my camera (phone) to get a good shot.

Another double landing will be awesome!

 

[day_trippr]

From all accounts the mission has been proceeding nominally. Both side boosters safely returned...

 

[balrog]

Stunning

 

[passedpawn]

Frigging incredible. Never get tired of that. Thanks for posting video link, @day_trippr

 

[Konadog]

Things like this show how dated NASA really is in it's launch capabilities. They need to stick with exploratory equipment like the MARS helicopter and rovers.

 

[day_trippr]

At the risk of jinxing Yet Another Artemis 1 Launch Attempt...

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-artemis-i-moon-mission-launch

 

[Pkrd]

Last night we had a good view of the eclipse down here.

 

[Konadog]

Didn't know that boosters expire.

NASA's Artemis rocket, which was hit with Nicole's potentially damaging 100-mph wind gusts - now faces the EXPIRATION of its rocket boosters in December - but the mission is slated for liftoff next week

 

[day_trippr]

I'm not surprised, the chemistry that makes a solid rocket work may have a shelf life. Surely moisture ingress over time would be deleterious to nominal performance and I don't know that SRBs have a function like a "throttle" to compensate.

The push out to the 16th is noted...

Cheers!

 

[Konadog]

IF the SRBs are like the Shuttles, then I think once there lit, it's ON until they burn out.

 

[day_trippr]

That's been my assumption as well, going from my Estes days...

Cheers!

 

[BeerAndTele]

Reminder of a sad day many years ago.

https://apnews.com/article/challenger-space-shuttle-found-in-ocean-064e47171452894d6494f142fea26126

 

[day_trippr]

Artemis 1 launch still scheduled for tonight at 1:04 AM EST. NASA TV is already covering the pre-flight process...

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#public

 

[day_trippr]

Artemis 1 mission plan on one page

 

[Pkrd]

Or a big fireball on liftoff.

 

[tracer bullet]

They did it!

 

[day_trippr]

Yup. So far so good! Heck of a liftoff, too!



Those main engines are massive. Reminds me of the F1 engines on the Saturn-V, but these RS-25 engines used on the Artemis core booster are actually leftovers from the space shuttle program...

 

[tracer bullet]

So much power to get that thing moving. Wow.

 

[balrog]

Yep. Pretty much how I remember it from my rocket days. Except I only managed daytime launches.

 

[day_trippr]

Orion is a long way from home....

https://scitechdaily.com/nasa-artem...ses-apollo-13-record-distance-from-earth/amp/

 

[day_trippr]

It was darn considerate of NASA to schedule the Orion splashdown for 12:40 PM Sunday (tomorrow)

https://www.space.com/artemis-1-orion-spacecraft-splashdown-what-time

 

[day_trippr]

Orion live cam stream with 1:33 left before splashdown. The longer it runs the cooler it's gonna get



and mission control live stream...

 

[day_trippr]

Seemed like the Orion return went flawlessly - assuming it doesn't sink during the extended ocean soaking (testing thing).
Maybe this will encourage the funding needed to take the next steps in the Artemis program...

 

[day_trippr]

First thought was "Cool!"
Second thought was "But what about dust storms burying those samples for eternity? Ain't nobody at NASA seen The Martian?!"

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/16/world/perseverance-rover-mars-depot-scn/index.html