What I really don't want to know
either is if their bowel movements are still regular.
Astronauts ride robotic arms into space
The crew of the space shuttle Discovery have wasted no time and are already hard at work extending the International Space Station (ISS). An astronaut on the end of a robotic arm. Credit: NASA TV An astronaut on the end of a robotic arm. Credit: NASA TV Mission specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock started the …
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Friday 26th October 2007 18:19 GMT Anonymous Coward
Just a curious thought
Just wondering, if an astronaut were to become detached and float away" approximately how far would the body travel before being consumed elsewhere?
Answers in any reg unit other than light years please. How far is a light year? What use is that?
Assuming of course It Doesnt CoLLide withAmanFrommars
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Sunday 28th October 2007 00:13 GMT El (not Reg)
@Anonymous Coward no.2
"if an astronaut were to become detached and float away approximately how far would the body travel before being consumed elsewhere?"
They'd continue in a slowly diverging orbit, until their orbit decayed through atmospheric drag (there is still a trace of atmosphere @ 300-400km, which will eventually slow things down) & they fell back to reentry. They certainly wouldn't have any sufficient energy to go 'up' (i.e. away from the earth).
"How far is a light year?"
Rather far. Nine & a half quadrillion kilometres. i.e. 9.5 petametres.
Back to the article... if NASA, ESA or Roscosmos had bothered to build a rocket which was four times as powerful as a Saturn V, then they would've lifted the entire space station in one go, without much need for slow & expensive orbital construction. If NASA thinks that it's going to manage any full-on, permanent, lunar exploration & development with anything as underpowered as a handful of Ares V rockets, then they've got another thing coming - & that thing will likely be from China. Which is why the space agencies need bigger rockets with air-breathing first stages, to cut down on fuel payload. The ISS could also do with an ion engine to be retrofitted, to keep it aloft (it needs an engine burn every once in a while, anyway) or to move it into a higher orbit. An old-fashioned liquid fuel rocket engine burn (courtesy of the shuttle orbiter or Soyuz), in this situation, is wasteful of fuel mass/payload.
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Sunday 28th October 2007 00:13 GMT Ken Lord
CanadArm
Just once, I'd like to see an american news outlet actually give credit to the fact that the 'robotic arms' used on the shuttle and space station, that allow astronauts to check the shuttle for launch damage and have been indespensible in the building of the ISS and repair missions to the Hubble Space Telescope are a Canadian technology that is properly reffered to as the Canadarm.
http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/exploration/canadarm/default.asp
Yes, I'm still holding a grudge after you bastard americans repaired the Hubble Space Telescope years ago, but removed the red Canada and Canadian flag from the arm before launch so that the common dumbass american watching the highly televised event would not know that the repair could not have happened without Canadian technology.
Are you really that pathetically insecure?
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Monday 29th October 2007 00:35 GMT Steven Raith
P6 section
"Meanwhile, NASA says, the spacewalkers are also getting the P6 section of truss ready to be moved."
Excellent to see that a classic piece of British automobile history will be put into space for future generations to appreciate.
My mockup of the ISS after the work is done:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v713/Beany2004/issp6.jpg
A beautiful sight, I'm sure you will agree.
Steven R
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
