Space and Science BS Thread

https://twitter.com/nasa_orion/status/1595217928412069892?s=46&t=koqk-I8SGhAgUg9f1LwcZQ

 

New ESA Astronaut class:
https://twitter.com/astro_matthias/status/1595472168783351809?s=46&t=Fd4jZP1pZpaRIG2UFxsQng

 

https://twitter.com/time/status/1595387192628903937?s=46&t=Fd4jZP1pZpaRIG2UFxsQng

 

Anyone got kids and are close to DC?
https://twitter.com/airandspace/status/1595536691468574740?s=46&t=Fd4jZP1pZpaRIG2UFxsQng

50 years and we’re just getting the stafe set to return

 

Does ESA have their own space suits?

 

I do not think so. Good question to source up an answer!

 

Happy Thanksgiving space nerds!

 

Haven't the passengers always worn the suit of the nation giving the ride? Or are we talking EVA suits? Even then there are only three options (US, Russian, Chinese) and one isn't happening any time soon.

On that front: have all EVAs conducted by non cosmonauts been done in US suits?

Bonus round #2: has there been a mixed EVA? I know the US & Russians tend to maintain their own sides independently and with the safety options afforded by having the same model suits out together I'd think this hasn't happened. But does someone know definitively?

 

https://twitter.com/nasa_orion/status/1595608896709791746?s=46&t=ijGmk48NiIa2Eh3JKccB9Q

 

Be cool if this was maintained as an animated sequence so you could see the relative motions of the moon and Orion on the intercept and subsequent orbits. It’s a bit dry in this age of cgi animation.

 

Eva suits definitely.

 

Hey @bagleboy , have you tried clicking on the What’s This link?

It may bring you to what you’re looking for. (Try it from a pc, it doesn’t open up on my phone.)
https://twitter.com/nasa_orion/status/1595790237824786432?s=46&t=ijGmk48NiIa2Eh3JKccB9Q

 

All it shows for me is the planet earth, in space, slowly rotating.

 

20 years ago today
https://twitter.com/airandspace/status/1595839730108846081?s=46&t=ijGmk48NiIa2Eh3JKccB9Q

 

For all its problems the shuttle was pretty amazing. One has to wonder what it might have been or become under other circumstances. We seem to quit on programs because they are poorly implemented rather than because they’re a bad idea.

 

https://twitter.com/nasa_orion/status/1595971280590802944?s=46&t=EP1JfpQgTcCDbfOfstIt3g

 

John Young concluded in his book, Forever Young, the Shuttle program never made it to the operational stage of program development.

Since reading that, I’ve had a what if thought- what if the Shuttle was mounted on the SLS with the super deluxe boosters, removed from the possibilities of the Challenger and Columbia disasters…

Going back to a capsule is regressive.

 

Agreed on the capsule. Do you mean on top rather than astride to avoid damage from insulation?

 

Yes, and from RUD. (one of the same bits of rationale for Orion to be on top of SLS)

 

It’s also a requirements problem - we’ve realized that we don’t need the capabilities of a space plane enough to justify the costs involved. Wheels and wings take up a lot of mass, and don’t help you get payload to space, which is the real goal. We only used the “bring mass back to earth” capability a handful times, and never came close to the operational ability needed to justify the cross-track capability that the wings gave us:
https://youtu.be/_q2i0eu35aY
http://www.jamesoberg.com/sts-3A_B-DRM.PDF
While the shuttle was a technological marvel, I would argue it was a solution in search of a problem, and most things it did could have been completed faster/cheaper/safer with capsules.