Re: IF ANYONE LIKES THE SPACE SHUTTLE
- From: Outsider <not@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:42:35 GMT
"Matthew" <Iamacatslave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:471e5af4$0$32541$4c368faf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
Not only nerds but us sci fi freaks. I have a 10 year calendar and I
have marked when all the probes are expected to land or reach their
destinations. Personally I can't wait till we re land on the moon and
put all those conspiracy stories to rest. Than we go for mars. I
only hope I am still alive to at least see the first man or woman land
on Mars.
Same here. When we first landed on the moon it was one of the most
amazing events in my life. I was in Junior High School back then and it
was the second or third landing when school was back in session and I
brought my battery operated Sony 5" TV in to class and "pulled it out" to
watch the moon walk (moon ride I think) and my teacher tried to forbid me
from doing that. I laughed at him and asked what he could possible have
to teach that was more important than what I was watching. He gave up
when he saw I had made up my mind and ended up huddled around the tiny TV
with me and half the class. It was a social studies class!! As Bugs
Bunny would have said "What a maroon!"
"Outsider" <not@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns99D2A2585BE8Eoutsideroutnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Matthew" <Iamacatslave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:471e4735$0$20650 $4c368faf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
http://www.aroundcentralflorida.com/features/ShuttleAtlantisLaunch/
I envy you. I have always been a big fan of space
flight/exploration. The bellow was written some years ago and should
only be read by other total nerds but someone may enjoy it.
Man. Standing on two legs for the first time. Pointing up at specks
of light with no possibility of ever understanding what they were.
The cold bright disc almost near enough to touch. Powerless to
explain he invents stories. In time, against all odds, he does begin
to understand. Reaching out with mind, knowledge and logic the disc
and the specs become knowable. Today we reach out with our machines,
remote worker bees dancing across the surface of other planets, specs
first men may not have even noticed against the brighter lights.
Through our distant proxies we touch, view, magnify and pry into
these remote surfaces until perhaps one day we satisfy that most
basic human urge to stand upon these distant worlds on our own two
legs.
As we celebrate the Mars Rovers, our most recent technical wonder,
let us not forget what I still consider one of our most remarkable
technical achievements. Think back to the state of computer
technology in the early 70s. Remember our Voyager spacecraft?
They're still out there! We still talk to them and hear back. 26
years in the vacuum of space and they are still running and running
well.
Voyager one is, now, the most distant man-made object. It take over
12 hours to get a signal to it or from it. It is often required to
gang up multiple 70 meter dish antennas running 10s of thousands of
watts each to speak to that old 1970 solid state microwave (S band)
radio which is over 13 billion kilometers away but we still talk to
it and we still hear back (talk about PHONE HOME!).
Voyager one and two are no longer mentioned on the evening news but
they are collecting data about interstellar conditions available no
where else. I don't remember what these two craft cost but I think
we have gotten our money's worth!
The radioisotope power sources (which are decaying in strength slower
than predicted) are expected to be unusable by any single experiment
on board the craft around the year 2020 at which point the Voyager
mission will be considered at an end. If the crafts last that long
they will be over 40 years old and the current state of technology
can only be imagined. Whatever technology exists in that year,
however, it is not likely it will be able to overshadow the
achievement of these two devices and what data they may have
collected.
Even in their "death" these two craft may yet perform one last duty.
Both Voyagers carry our message of friendship (or at least "we are
here") to whoever they may run across in the far distant future. I
hope I am still around when these craft send their last message
earthward. I hope people are still interested enough in science
exploration that some mention is made of the event. Consider me a
slobbering fool but I will shed a tear on that day as we bid farewell
to our most distant wandering children
.
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