NO CHRISTMAS PRESENTS FOR THE ISS: Last night the International Space Station glided over Pete Lardizabal's home in St Johns, Florida. "I photographed it between a gap in the clouds--and it looked so lonely!" he says. "No Christmas presents for the astronauts this year."
Indeed, their Christmas delivery has been canceled. The Boeing Starliner capsule, test-launched on an Atlas V rocket yesterday from Cape Canaveral, failed to reach the proper orbit to rendezvous with the ISS. The unmanned capsule was carrying presents for the astronauts, which they will no longer receive.
Analysts say that a timing error led the capsule to burn fuel too early, preventing it from reaching the desired orbit. It is now expected to land back in New Mexico on Sunday with its payload of Christmas gifts and a mannequin named "Rosie." Rosie is fitted with sensors to make sure the trip was safe for humans. Those data will be crucial to Boeing's ongoing efforts to build a human-rated space capsule, making the flight a success even if it did not go all the way to the (lonely) ISS.
In the meantime, the USA is still buying seats on the Soyuz
" $81 million per person to ride a Soyuz to the ISS and back again "
Having worked in aerospace, watched the Shuttles built, tested, flown and then torched into pieces so we would not be tempted to pull one out of mothballs, I'm just sickened.
Apollo blueprints could be rebuilt and launch 3 folks at a time (maybe 4 if the lunar gear is pulled out. Why does everything have to start from scratch, instead of building on the successes ?
Mike, that kind of thing makes me sick too ! Great stuff going to waste. Same with leftover food that could be given to the homeless, etc.
Some of scrapping stuff has to do with taxes (maybe not the NASA stuff), and some just so they have to get money for the new stuff done from scratch. If you don't use the money that is granted, you don't get more grants ?
I bet a lot of this type of thing starts with lawyers. If it weren't for all the lawyers, we wouldn't need so many lawyers !
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