Daisy. Daisy. Give me your answer, do.

[Judge Smails]

Honestly, how many people knew that there was a shuttle mission up in space right now, or that there was even a thing called the International Space Station?

On my recent trip to D.C. I visited the Air and Space Museum and they were really playing up the fact that something like 16 different nations were contributing components to build this thing, like is was some great example of international cooperation. I just was thinking that we can't even get our own subcontractors on the same page sometimes now we've got to deal with 15 other countries.

They're now thinking that this problem may have been caused when the Russian computer had trouble communicating with the new solar arrays installed by the Americans.


No Fix Yet for Space Station Computers
(http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/15/ap3825028.html)
Before trying to reboot the computers, power between the U.S. and Russian sections of the space station was turned off and then turned back on the theory that perhaps a bad connection between the Russian side and a pair of new solar arrays might be the problem. Engineers were still testing the connection theory Friday morning.

*****

NASA has said that in a worst-case scenario, the space station's three crew members might have to return to Earth early if the computers can't be fixed. The space station has a more than 50-day supply of oxygen without the Russian oxygen-machine running.

Cameras, computer laptops and some lights on Atlantis were turned off Thursday to save energy in case it needs to stay an extra day at the station to help maintain the outpost's orientation while the problem with the Russian computers is addressed. The mission had already been extended from 11 to 13 days to repair the thermal blanket.

While Atlantis is still docked, its thrusters can help, if needed, to maintain the station's position. Gyroscopes on the U.S. side of the space station also were helping maintain orientation, but they can't do the job full time.

*****

This type of massive computer failure had never been seen before on the space station, although individual computers do fail periodically.

[cupcakelove]

I blame the blacks.

[Judge Smails]

I blame the White Russians.

[King Hippos Bandaid]

I blame the blacks.


I blame the whites

its Nasa

:king:

[PapaBear]

I knew.

[patsopinion]

i blame Microsoft

[JPMNICK]

i bet they were not using firefox

[BoondockSaint]

I knew.


Me too.

[Tenbatsuzen]

well, I guess it's fortunate that they have a ride home in case something goes wrong.

[tele7]

I blame Vista

[jetdog]

kudos on the thread title.

[Mike Teacher]

kudos on the thread title.

I wonder who will get it; God I love that movie.

The ISS is very nice, but very nice doesnt justify the horrific expense with not a lot of return; this is, like the Shuttle, a classic example of post-Apollo ennui giving us a half-baked wannbe station, like the half-baked, wannabe shuttle we got.

Some say cancel the whole ISS and concentrate the money elsewhere, like actually going to other worlds, with eother manned or robotic missions. He gotta hit the other planets and stars like in the 1970s with the Pioneer and Voyager missions; get humans back to the moon, get a lunar base going, get a lunar telescope going, get a human mission to mars going...

but...

[to quote another movie]

'No bucks... No Buck Rogers...'

We dont have the energy, drive money, or most importantly, audacity to do the really cool things.

Apollo, sadly, was a fluke.

[Tenbatsuzen]

I wonder who will get it; God I love that movie.

Chandra's pretty fucking pissed off right now.

[NortonsHeiny]

Not only did I know but have NASA tv live on my desk top and have watched the space walks. I also check for sightings of the two joined but it has been to cloudy. Yes I am a nerd.

[NortonsHeiny]

NASA is replaying todays space walk right now with VERY cool shots of the Astronaut standing on a truss attached to the Space Station with the earth behind it. I am awed by such intelligence and well balls to blast yourself up to space and then go on a space walk that started about about 130 and lasted until 9....

[sailor]

don't know the movie, but my wife sings that song constantly around the house.

http://www.nexternal.com/swisher/images/MM_15_1168W%20_Bicycle_Built_For_Two_200.jpg

[Judge Smails]

don't know the movie, but my wife sings that song constantly around the house.




HAL (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706937/): I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you.
Dave Bowman (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001158/): Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me.
HAL (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706937/): It's called "Daisy."
[sings while slowing down]
HAL (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706937/): Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.

[furie]

did someone take the square root of 999999 from Dr. Floyd;s little red calculator?

If this thing goes down, it'll set back the space program by decades. the US was never really behind the program, which is why funding was cut from the original station, and we had to make it an international affair. so if we loose all the equipment, congress will never fund a second station.

[NortonsHeiny]

Any other geeks at home in front of their computers NASA is airing a live press conference with the space station. All computers are fixed.

[furie]

Any other geeks at home in front of their computers NASA is airing a live press conference with the space station. All computers are fixed.

no, but good to hear

[NortonsHeiny]

no, but good to hear

Then I should probably not tell you that at 1109 I will be looking 24 degrees above nnw to see the two pass above north america.

[weekapaugjz]

Then I should probably not tell you that at 1109 I will be looking 24 degrees above nnw to see the two pass above north america.

oh i wish i wasn't in a city cause i would be out there with my binocs [slurp]

[NortonsHeiny]

oh i wish i wasn't in a city cause i would be out there with my binocs [slurp]

I am in the woods and just returned from a very bright and clear pass. My boyfriend has no interest in this at all and swore I was making up that you could see the shuttle/iss from the ground. He was swearing that it was an airplane and then finally had to admit to what it was it was with a "cool" but not a you were right and not nuts. The ISS guys just went to sleep and the station guys are in the airlock for tomorrows space walk and the others are getting ready for bed.

[sr71blackbird]

Chicks into astronomy makes my weewee hard

[high fly]

HAL (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706937/): I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you.
Dave Bowman (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001158/): Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me.
HAL (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706937/): It's called "Daisy."
[sings while slowing down]
HAL (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706937/): Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.


The film this puts me in mind of is Marooned.
Sorry, I have no quotes from it that nobody knows.....

[Mike Teacher]

did someone take the square root of 999999 from Dr. Floyd;s little red calculator?

If this thing goes down, it'll set back the space program by decades. the US was never really behind the program, which is why funding was cut from the original station, and we had to make it an international affair. so if we loose all the equipment, congress will never fund a second station.

Well to be technical, you know this already of course, but that's from the just a bit better then horrific sequel, 2010. Anyway...

I think the complete opposite might happen. If the ISS fell to Earth tomorrow, maybe, just maybe, it would be a blessing in disguise.

Frankly, scientists are really not sure what they can get in microgravity places like low earth orbit. Scientists do know, however, the vast majority of this kind of research can be done for a timy fraction of the ISS.

Meaning; do we need THAT orbiting platform now; I dont think it's cost justifies what is coming out of it; and the cost not only in dollars, but in programs cancelled/curtailed because of what I see a an orbiting Money Pit.

Congress funding a secong station doesnt concern me as much as the fact that they funded this one. The cost and time over-runs have been so horrific former political/sapce program supporters and employees now say it's a money vacuum.

=

The film this puts me in mind of is Marooned.
Sorry, I have no quotes from it that nobody knows.....

=

Yeah but I cna do a few from memory, like the scene where Peck gets all mad and slams his hand down and says 'Dammit!' when the winds dont die down enough in time for a liftoff. MST3K did an episode with it; one of the bots did a killer Peck.

That movie, as bad as it was, was pretty controversial when it came out, took some flack for a doom and gloom angle for the space program, when it had enough doom and gloom with the Real Deanger built in already.

[zathrus]

i knew that we had a space station, but didn't realize that we had the shuttle up there now.

[high fly]

done for a timy fraction of the ISS.

Meaning; do we need THAT orbiting platform now; I dont think it's cost justifies what is coming out of it; and the cost not only in dollars, but in programs cancelled/curtailed because of what I see a an orbiting Money Pit.



=

The film this puts me in mind of is Marooned.
Sorry, I have no quotes from it that nobody knows.....

=

Yeah but I cna do a few from memory, like the scene where Peck gets all mad and slams his hand down and says 'Dammit!' when the winds dont die down enough in time for a liftoff. MST3K did an episode with it; one of the bots did a killer Peck.

That movie, as bad as it was, was pretty controversial when it came out, took some flack for a doom and gloom angle for the space program, when it had enough doom and gloom with the Real Deanger built in already.


I'm with you on the ISS being an orbiting money pit.
Hey Mike, I heard that originally the big fuel tank on the shuttle was supposed to be carried into space and hooked together to form the frame for a space station, but for some reason the concept was dropped.
You ever hear anything like that?

I think what they need is a high-orbit job that spins and has gravity. Seems to me that the shuttles could be left in space to ferry building materials to a new station, as well as provide a large emergency reentry vehicle should there be some bad accident. Such an emergency vehicle could carry a lot of people back.


As for Marooned, I don't think I ever saw it sober.
I liked watching the protaganist go nuts! nuts! nuts!
I don't think I ever saw the beginning.
I'd like to see it again to see if it was any good.

[FUNKMAN]

if Nicole Smith died on the Space Station i'm sure we would have heard more about it...

they're probably keeping it low-key due to the massive amounts of money that's being pumped into it along with the war in iraq... probably nothing better to spend the trillions of dollars on

[Mike Teacher]

Hey Mike, I heard that originally the big fuel tank on the shuttle was supposed to be carried into space and hooked together to form the frame for a space station, but for some reason the concept was dropped.
You ever hear anything like that?

=

Ya I heard that exact plan was talked about; to send up a whole bunch and assemble them into a big circular ring; and we'd have a big donut shaped exterior to built whatever in. Can't remember if it was external shuttle tanks or Saturn V/Skylab type tanks, Shuttle sounds better.

[furie]

Well to be technical, you know this already of course, but that's from the just a bit better then horrific sequel, 2010. Anyway...

yes i know. and anyway, i liked the book

[NortonsHeiny]

Maybe I am being naive but my opinion is perhaps the ISS is a stepping stone to bigger and better things in space exploration. At any rate if NASA didn't believe in it would they send up people and spend so much time helping develop it? I know nothing of science and find it all quite amazing that circling 240 miles above the earth are humans living in space.