Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's due to be around 4:30pm GMT (edited to correct the time, I was out by an hour)
No, it's 3:30pm GMT. It's 4:30pm BST aka. London time. GMT is not whatever the time is in London.
I'm an idiot.
Live coverage of the last Shuttle launch (STS-135, Atlantis)
41–50 of 94 posts
Re: Live coverage of the last Shuttle launch (STS-135, Atlantis)
#42Thank goodness for HN, wouldn't have wanted to miss that.
Re: Live coverage of the last Shuttle launch (STS-135, Atlantis)
#43They did it!
Congratulations to Atlantis crew, NASA, and everyone involved. Maybe the Space Shuttle program wasn't exactly cost-effective and had it failures, but it sure sparked imagination of many, me included.
Re: Live coverage of the last Shuttle launch (STS-135, Atlantis)
#44It's sad to see that we are retiring the US Shuttle program. In a recent article in the Economist about how the space race is now dead, the US is now are reliant on other countries to send folks up into space or the ISS ... even though they are planning on retiring the ISS in 2020.
I'm hoping that the privatization of the space programs (like SpaceX or Virgin Galatic) gets enough interest to fuel more funding and research into space travel though only a handful of rich folks could ever pay for a ride in one of those programs ...
Re: Live coverage of the last Shuttle launch (STS-135, Atlantis)
#45Thanks for letting me watch this NASA. Wow.
Re: Live coverage of the last Shuttle launch (STS-135, Atlantis)
#46[deleted]
Re: Live coverage of the last Shuttle launch (STS-135, Atlantis)
#47Congratulations to NASA for the successful launch.
Time to focus on our next space endeavors.
Re: Live coverage of the last Shuttle launch (STS-135, Atlantis)
#48Being able to watch a live video feed of the launch is pretty amazing. Previously, TV coverage (if it existed at all) was terrible. This makes me wonder what the fate of NASA would have been if the past few generations had grown up with access to this kind of coverage. I'd like to think that NASA would have had a lot more support than they currently do.
Re: Live coverage of the last Shuttle launch (STS-135, Atlantis)
#49This is so sad. Are we betting on SpaceX to get us back into space now?
There's no betting going on at all. We're using the Russians (Soyuz) for now, and for the foreseeable future. Private firms like SpaceX or another NASA vehicle are a possibility, but neither of those options has been proven out at all, and certainly will not be ready for at least several years.
Not exactly correct. Spacex hopes to do the first resupply mission to the station before the end of the year.
Re: Live coverage of the last Shuttle launch (STS-135, Atlantis)
#50Being able to watch a live video feed of the launch is pretty amazing. Previously, TV coverage (if it existed at all) was terrible. This makes me wonder what the fate of NASA would have been if the past few generations had grown up with access to this kind of coverage. I'd like to think that NASA would have had a lot more support than they currently do.
Nearly 10% of the earth watched the lunar landing. But IMO the problem is that the "space race" was initiated & presented -- well, as a race! The goal was to beat the Russians, and once we did, interest waned.
The most depressing realization comes from comparing our actions between the Apollo days & now. As a response to Sputnik, this country managed to go from an insignificant investment in space to putting a man on the moon, and we did it in just over a decade.
Today? We don't seem to pay attention to these challenges.