Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/news/nessi-exoplanets-20140417/#.U1CSilVdXW8
Launch Pad 39A, of Apollo and Shuttle fame http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=28...333_Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39___ http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=28.60838...604333,Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=28.610641,-80.607376&spn=0.00198,0.004128&t=h&z=19 (slide a little right and down; some shadows) Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_Pad_39-A
On Monday, NASA leased Launch Pad 39A to the Space-X company for the next 20 years. On Tuesday, John Houbolt died. In 1961, President Kennedy set a goal to land on the Moon, only 20 days after the first American Mercury manned flight. Everyone thought, it won't happen. Everyone, including NASA scientists, thought that one spacecraft was most efficient. John Houbolt proved with numbers that many, many tons could be saved by breaking it into 2 craft--a Command/Service Module and a separate Lunar Module. This was counterintuitive. Why would it save weight to have 2 sets of rockets, fuel tanks, air tanks, dashboard controls, hatches, electric power sources, and everything else? http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-041714a-john-houbolt-obituary-lor.html
What was counter intuitive was doing a rendezvous at the moon (to return). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Kondratyuk Yuriy Vasilievich Kondratyuk (Russian: Юрий Васильевич Кондратюк), real name Aleksandr Ignatyevich Shargei (Russian: Александр Игнатьевич Шаргей) (June 21, 1897 - February 1942), was a Soviet engineer and mathematician. He is a pioneer of astronautics and spaceflight, a theoretician and a visionary who, in the early 20th century, developed the first known Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR), a key concept for landing and return spaceflight from Earth to the Moon.[1][2] The LOR was later used for the plotting of the first actual human spaceflight to the Moon. Many other aspects of spaceflight and space exploration are covered in his works.
Funny you should post that now. 10 minutes ago I was reading this book about it. I'm on page 34. http://www.ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19960014824_1996007704.pdf
Spacewalk in 24 hours. NASA-TV coverage begins 5:30 am Pacific Time. The EVA begins around 6:20. They often start 20 minutes early or late, and last about 6 hours. In Eastern Time, http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/apri...fing-tv-schedule-for-space-station-spacewalk/
How unpatriotic of you. The rocket engines were made in the Ukraine. In the current war emergency which the Republican President will declare in 2017, how can you abandon your country 3 years in advance? How unchivalrous to bail out before the fun starts.
But my premonition is that it will have major problems, last longer, and be full of drama. Maybe an astronaut will almost drown like a couple of spacewalks ago.
2 astronauts have already died. Are you guys all up early for this? http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.o...e&id=3616:nasa-tv-hd&catid=1:latest&Itemid=91 Great stepback move in the bulky spacesuit! Damn, Joey Crawford is the ref!
China's moon rover can't move its wheels, arm, or solar panels to shield itself at night. But it has lasted several 2-week-long cold nights. It still receives uploaded software patches and still reports which systems degrade faster, so they can build it better next time. http://www.spaceflight101.com/change-3-mission-updates.html
