Space Shuttle launch is good!

[Coexist]

too cloudy to see from here, but the news says it reached the 'point of negative return'

I love this shit1

[MonkeyFunk]

1. Yeah, just watched it

It's always thrilling.

[Warpy]

2. Been watching it carefully

and easing through the sound barrier instead of punching through it the way they did on previous launches seems to have worked. This is the first one in a long time when I didn't see little pieces of foam come off the main engine.

Glad they got up OK. Hope they get down OK.

[wtmusic]

3. Kyra Phillips: "So, how many Gs do you pull at 17,500mph?"

I know, she's paid to talk...it'd be nice if once in a while she knew WTF she was talking about.

:rofl:

[Johonny]

4. I will never

understand the DU's excitement about man space missions. It's an excitement not generally shared with the science community or the space launch community outside of NASA.

[wtmusic]

6. Er, which "science community" might that be?

The one that subscribes to Scientific American?

[Warren DeMontague]

8. I subscribe to SciAm, and I think Manned Space Exploration is great.

We need to move past the shuttle, because it was done on the cheap and is too dangerous- but the principle of man moving out into space I wholly support.

[wtmusic]

13. At $15B/year it's a bargain

Imagine if NASA had W's war budget -- we'd be building colonies on Mars.

[slackmaster]

7. I'll take a wild guess you weren't a school kid in the 1960s

:hi:

[liberal N proud]

5. I was just reading about Orion

The replacement for the shuttle - 2014
Lockheed claims it will be 10 times safer than the shuttle.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Me, too.

:thumbsup:

[RandiFan1290]

10. Now check this site

to see if the station and shuttle will be flying over in the next few days:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html

It is really neat to see the Shuttle chasing the Station before it docks. I have no sightings here for the next week but maybe someone out there will be lucky enough to see it.

[Lorien]

11. Yeah, I'm in Orlando and usually I can watch it at the park

at the end of my street-but it's too cloudy today!

[knitter4democracy]

12. Oh good. Hard to breathe until it's up there safe and sound.

Well, relatively safe and sound. Then there's the re-entry. Hard to not be nervous.