The Shuttle's Return to Flight

[Louis]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (July 13) - With the countdown for Discovery in its final hours, NASA was dealt an embarrassing setback Tuesday when a window cover fell off the shuttle and damaged thermal tiles near the tail. But the space agency quickly fixed the problem and said it was still on track for launch Wednesday.

The mishap was an eerie reminder of the very thing that doomed Columbia 2 1/2 years ago - damage to the spaceship's fragile thermal shield...

Full Article (http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050702200509990003&ncid=NWS00010000000001#story)

Glad they've finally decided to do it.

[Tomi]

Heh, a window cover.

Hope all goes well. ^_^

[Justin]

The shuttle launch has been called off.
Shuttle launch called off
Fuel sensor delays liftoff

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 Posted: 1746 GMT (0146 HKT)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- NASA scrubbed the launch of the space shuttle Discovery on Wednesday because of a faulty fuel sensor.

It was unclear how long the problem would delay the launch, NASA officials said.

Earlier, weather had threatened Discovery's liftoff, the space shuttle program's first scheduled mission 2 1/2 years after the Columbia disaster.

Discovery's launch had been set for 3:51 p.m. ET.

The 13-day mission will mark the shuttle program's first since Columbia broke apart over Texas during re-entry to Earth in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

About 10 miles from the launch site along the Banana River, scores of shuttle watchers -- many wearing shorts and swimwear -- gathered in hopes of a liftoff.

"We'll never experience anything like this back home," Alan Luney said in an accent true to his Northern Ireland home. "We don't have anything at all like this. What we gave to the world was the Titanic, and we all know what happened there."

Many in the crowd sought shelter under umbrellas or had constructed makeshift tents from bedsheets.

Another spectator said she was attracted to the launch by a sense of history.

Source: CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/07/13/space.shuttle/index.html)
I don't agree with the US government spending so much morey on it's space programme when there are way better and urgents things to spend their money on.

[Ant]

Not sure if you know this, but they've got back on NASA's spending a TON the past 10 years. They're not exactly spending a lot of money on it.

[Justin]

Originally posted by Ant@Jul 13 2005, 11:18 AM
Not sure if you know this, but they've got back on NASA's spending a TON the past 10 years. They're not exactly spending a lot of money on it.
They're spending around 500 BILLION over the next 10 years to send a guy to the Moon and Mars. Now tell me that's fucked up.

What's also fucked up is that China sent a man to space around a year ago just to boost 'patriotism', when they have much bigger issues to deal with.

[Ant]

You do realize that 500 billion over the next 10 years for the United States budget is peanuts, correct?

I don't know why China sent someone up in space. But boosting patriotisms does fit in their morals (and I'm not about to debate them, they have a right to believe what they want :)), so I guess you can't fault them too much for that. Space exploration is a highly important science field, and it's getting the money it deserves, IMO. A lot of other scientific fields in the United States (such as cancer research) have similar budgets.

[arT saveS]

My bad, that wasn't supposed to happen.

[arT saveS]

Either way, no matter how "small" that 500 billion dollars is, is that not tax payers money? What a waste, not even able to install window covers correctly. Figures. I'm sure only just a little over 1% of that 500 billion goes to the shuttles equipment and maintenance. Toothpicks and Elmers are all they need.

[Louis]

Yes, I read recently about how it was called off. I was disappointed. Hopefully, they'll reconsider it.

And yeah, NASA is spending a shitload, but for good reason.

[Tomi]

Called off for good, or temp?

[Geki]

Well, I'm glad they went to space but we spend too much money on it. We can't really explore any other plantes except the Earth, and the Moon so it's kinda stupid. I don't agree with the whole going to Mars thing. If stupid ass Bush wants to so bad, he can go himself.