Spectacular lift off

[AussieMan]

Just watched the launch of STS 130 via the live feed form the NASA web site.

All I can say is that it was spectacular. 0414 launch time and I watched it until the separation of the big orange fuel tank and insertion into orbit.

Cheers
Pat

[Lionheart]

Thats one huge ship to put in space in just several min's. What is that, 200 miles? I think the station is 400 miles up, (I think) so now they must coordinate their orbit and speed with the station for the reandevous.

Did you know they have a VOR system for tracking each other? The station has a VOR beacon which enables the Shuttle to home in on the station like a small airport.

[AussieMan]

Wasn't aware of that Bill. I thought it was all done with computer navigation.

Cheers
Pat

[Cazzie]

Too bad I am going to be obscured with clouds from the coming Winter storm. I don't think we'll get anything but rain, the poor mid-east are in for another dumping.

Rain will be bad enough for us, it will melt the accumulation of ice and snow we have and for sure flood the Dan River for the fourth time in four months. Maybe I should learn my cubits and start building an ark!

Anyhow, the ISS will not be visible for me again until the evening of the 19th. Perhaps, if the shuttle debarks from there in that time period, I can see the two together again. It is quite a sight to see.

Caz

[FengZ]

Thats one huge ship to put in space in just several min's. What is that, 200 miles? I think the station is 400 miles up, (I think) so now they must coordinate their orbit and speed with the station for the reandevous.

Did you know they have a VOR system for tracking each other? The station has a VOR beacon which enables the Shuttle to home in on the station like a small airport.

Really? That's crazy that they use a older system for finding each other. The weird thing is, there's more technology in games these days. Like in X3, you can automate a lot of tasks. How come they can't use the same code on real-world objects? For examples, GTR2 has great car driving AI, X3 has great ship navigation AI...etc.

But we still can't make a car that can drive itself. A few years ago they had a "x-price" contest where the car had to drive itself from point A to point B in the middle of the desert (u win 1million if your car pulled it off) - it was a total disaster! I mean, the furthest a car made was a just a few hundred feet or something....even though some teams spent years building them....so weird. The funniest part was watching the start line. When the gun fired, half of the cars just sat there.....lol....

-feng

[Bjoern]

Really? That's crazy that they use a older system for finding each other. The weird thing is, there's more technology in games these days. Like in X3, you can automate a lot of tasks. How come they can't use the same code on real-world objects? For examples, GTR2 has great car driving AI, X3 has great ship navigation AI...etc.

Games =/= real world.

You have to account for *way* more factors when developing a "real" AI.

[jhefner]

Computer/software technology that goes into space is always several generations behind what we have on our desktops. Two reasons for that:

1. The length of time it takes for a spacecraft to go from design to first flight. During that period, computers and software continue to evolve.

2. The reliabilty required for space flight certified equipment. It requires lots of testing, and near perfect reliability; a reboot of the space shuttle during the launch phase is an unacceptable event.

There was an article I found years ago on the process required to modify the code in the space shuttle's onboard computers. It is an exacting process; with every change carefully tested, signed off, and documented; the far end of the scale from the overnight Mountain Dew-and-pizza crash code sessions that still take place in the corporate world.

-James