Science is Drokking Fantastic Because...

[TordelBack]

On re-entry, the Space Shuttle goes went at Mach 19.

-quiet sniffle-

[Mister Pops]

I refuse to accept it.

[TordelBack]

I hear ya, Pops.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

We're living in JG Ballard's future now Pops.

Roast alsatian, anyone?

[Mister Pops]

Look at her...

It's like when a beautiful woman gets married.
You always fancied a ride.
But now that's virtually impossible.

 :'(

[The Legendary Shark]

She was a beauty all right, but she's had her day. Let her retire now, while she still has her looks.

[Mister Pops]

She was a beauty all right, but she's had her day. Let her retire now, while she still has her looks.

HAD HER DAY? She's being replaced by a 50 year old Russian whore!

[vzzbux]

End of an era.
How it could have looked.
Would it have lasted longer if they had gone with some of the more expensive designs. We will never know.






V

[Mister Pops]

Here's the Saturn V Flight Manual:

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19750063889_1975063889.pdf

I bloody love the Space Program

[O Lucky Stevie!]

How it could have looked.

Let's not go there vzzbux. We'll just make Stevie angry.

Here's the Saturn V Flight Manual:

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19750063889_1975063889.pdf

Now there's a spacecraft!

She's being replaced by a Russian CosmoMilf

TSFTFY 

[Richmond Clements]

Here's the Saturn V Flight Manual:

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19750063889_1975063889.pdf

I bloody love the Space Program

I've said before that the Saturn V rocket sits among the greatest achievements of our species- it's up there with the Sistine Chapel, with the pyramids, with the Mona Lisa, with Moonlight Sonata, with Hamlet.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

The Saturn V & Voyager probes belong upon that ultimate pedestal alongside writing & fire.

[TordelBack]

The Saturn V & Voyager probes belong upon that ultimate pedestal alongside writing & fire.

Throw in wine and a shower and it's a date.

The shuttle is one of the most beautiful things this species has ever made, perhaps all the more magical for being so fatally flawed.  Almost anything that follows in the next few decades is going to seem like a step backwards. irrespective of practicality. 

Even while I know that cheaper disposable and more reliable solutions are the way forward, deep down I can't shake the feeling that this is the beginning of the end of our adventures in space, as predicted so precisely in Baxter's Titan.

[The Legendary Shark]

Wheels Stop !
The Space Shuttle Era Ended Here – with Atlantis touchdown on grooved Runway 15 for the Final Flight on July 21, 2011 at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The STS-135 mission closed out NASA’s Space Shuttle Era after three decades of flight and 135 missions. Credit: Ken Kremer

[The Legendary Shark]

The Leo Triplet — a group of interacting galaxies about 35 million light-years from Earth. This wide field of view comes courtesy of the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the Paranal Observatory. It has a field of view twice as broad as the full Moon — which is unusual for a big telescope – and the FOV is wide enough to frame all three members of the group in a single picture.

http://www.universetoday.com/87781/new-image-triples-your-galaxy-fun/