For the nerds...space shuttle scheduled to lift off tonight

[mlyonsd]

Approx. 6:35pm CDT.

To the really really nerdy, here's a web site that tells you when you can watch the shuttle and space station fly over your head. There are a few times when you can watch them flying together.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Pioli Zombie

Old sick joke told around Boston afer Challenger, just days after the Patriots lost the SB

What's the difference between the Challenger mission and the Patriots?

The Patriots made it past Miami
Posted via Mobile Device

This one always makes me cringe, but:

"What was the last thing said on Challenger before she exploded?"

"Let's let the women drive."

[mlyonsd]

Nerd update:

Space shuttle and ISS going over the midwest at about 8:12 and they are awesome to watch.

Go to the link in my original post to find where to look in your area.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Nerd update:

Space shuttle and ISS going over the midwest at about 8:12 and they are awesome to watch.

Go to the link in my original post to find where to look in your area.

I'm guessing "up."

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by Donger

I'm guessing "up."

You might want to step outside of the bar smart ass.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

You might want to step outside of the bar smart ass.

[kstater]

That was bad ass. I think I saw both of them. One had flashing lights, the other one had a continuous light. If I was right, which one was which?

[007]

Damn. tuned in 10 minutes too late.

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by kstater

That was bad ass. I think I saw both of them. One had flashing lights, the other one had a continuous light. If I was right, which one was which?

I guess they're docked together now so it was a continuous bright white light. It's better when they are separated because you can watch them flying together.

Unless of course you're just mocking me. At which point I'd have no recourse other than to hack into your system and blow up all your tv's.

[kstater]

Maybe a plane happend on the same flight path at a slightly slower speed then. Heh. I wasn't mocking you. Who knows what the other one was.

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by kstater

Maybe a plane happend on the same flight path at a slightly slower speed then. Heh. I wasn't mocking you. Who knows what the other one was.

If it had blinking lights it was a plane. This looks more like a fast flying bright star at 212 miles up.

Sorry, just the nerd in me growing up through the Apollo flights and watchihg a guy step out on the moon for the first time. I skipped an entire day of college classes to watch the first shuttle flight.

This kind of stuff still thrills me. Always looking past the horizon knowing the meaning of why I can think lies beyond the dump we call Earth.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Sorry, just the nerd in me growing up through the Apollo flights and watchihg a guy step out on the moon for the first time. I skipped an entire day of college classes to watch the first shuttle flight.

This kind of stuff still thrills me. Always looking past the horizon knowing the meaning of why I can think lies beyond the dump we call Earth.

I remember watching the 1st Shuttle flight in the 5th grade. I was living in Topeka at the time.

[Delano]

Shuttle-Riding Bat Dies The Most Glorious Death Imaginable

By John Herrman, 8:40 AM on Wed Mar 18 2009

On a cool spring eve March 15th, 2009 a bat, crippled and wistful, clung to the Space Shuttle Discovery as it was thrust toward the great beyond.

Goodbye and godspeed, my magnificent Spacebat. At some point during the countdown, Spacebat—a Free-Tailed Chiroptera—was spotted latched to the foam of the external fuel tank, occasionally moving but never letting go. Wildlife experts deduced that he had injured his wing and shoulder, leaving him with little chance of survival. He remained on the tank until launch. NASA's cold report?

The animal likely perished quickly during Discovery's climb into orbit.

True! But here's how it should have read:

Bereft of his ability to fly and with nowhere to go, a courageous bat climbed aboard our Discovery with stars in his weak little eyes. The launch commenced, and Spacebat trembled as his frail mammalian body was gently pushed skyward. For the last time, he felt the primal joy of flight; for the first, the indescribable feeling of ascending toward his dream—a place far away from piercing screeches and crowded caves, stretching forever into fathomless blackness.

Whether he was consumed in the exhaust flames or frozen solid in the stratosphere is of no concern. We know that Spacebat died, but his dream will live on in all of us.

Nasa's official report:

A bat that was clinging to space shuttle Discovery’s external fuel tank during the countdown to launch the STS-119 mission remained with the spacecraft as it cleared the tower, analysts at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center concluded.

Based on images and video, a wildlife expert who provides support to the center said the small creature was a free tail bat that likely had a broken left wing and some problem with its right shoulder or wrist. The animal likely perished quickly during Discovery’s climb into orbit.

Because the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge coexists inside Kennedy Space Center, the launch pads have a number of measures available, including warning sirens, to deter birds and other creatures from getting too close. The launch team also uses radar to watch for birds before a shuttle liftoff.

Nevertheless, the bat stayed in place and it was seen changing positions from time to time.

Launch controllers spotted the bat after it had clawed onto the foam of the external tank as Discovery stood at Launch Pad 39A. The temperature never dropped below 60 degrees at that part of the tank, and infrared cameras showed that the bat was 70 degrees through launch.

The final inspection team that surveys the outside of the shuttle and tank for signs of ice buildup observed the small bat, hoping it would wake up and fly away before the shuttle engines ignited.

It was not the first bat to land on a shuttle during a countdown. Previously, one of the winged creatures landed on the tank during the countdown to launch shuttle Columbia on its STS-90 mission in 1998.

[MIAdragon]

Just another moonbat

[007]

Originally Posted by BigChiefDave

I remember watching the 1st Shuttle flight in the 5th grade. I was living in Topeka at the time.

I'm so sorry to hear that man.