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What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?

arstechnica.com

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Re: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?

#51

Post by eastbound »

genman wrote: post #46
GeoAtreides wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you hate the format of these kinds of article You mean long-form articles? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-form_journalism I don't think the problem is with the format, but with your expectations. Somehow you were expecting a straight answer to the question in the title; instead, it's a detailed look into the incident and the context around it.

I think hating something is kind of personal matter. But very often these "long-form" articles can be tiring. They just circle around something, never getting to the point, adding just unimportant details that should create some form of "connection". It very often feels that it is not long because the author has something to say but it is long because it is meant to appear that "long-form" article. It's like reading…

“What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he’s not coming back?

…

Space exploration has been a long dream for humans. Starting with Aristotle… (follows 2000 years of history with excruciating details)”

I enjoy watching how youtubers circle around while never, indeed, getting to the point. In a sense, the expectation they set in the title is not respected, but an excuse to listen to them for as long as they can stretch it.

Re: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?

#52

Post by echelon »

lopis wrote: post #33
GeoAtreides wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you hate the format of these kinds of article You mean long-form articles? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-form_journalism I don't think the problem is with the format, but with your expectations. Somehow you were expecting a straight answer to the question in the title; instead, it's a detailed look into the incident and the context around it.

The tiktokification of our minds.

I didn't like these articles 15 years ago. Unless the subject matter absolutely grabs me, I still don't.

I skim voraciously, and I always have. I skimmed newspapers and magazines as a kid. It's a filter for signal. Fluff grates me.

I wouldn't blame TikTok.

Re: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?

#53

Post by voytec »

GeoAtreides wrote: post #28
wantsanagent wrote: post #17

If you hate the format of these kinds of article let me summarize: Guy builds an experiment, flies it, it doesn't work, requests more time to get it working, is denied, threatens 'not to come back', goes into a depression, worries crew that he'll open the door to space, eventually granted more time to work on the experiment, gets it working. There are consequences for letting this kind of person fly and dealing with…

> If you hate the format of these kinds of article You mean long-form articles? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-form_journalism I don't think the problem is with the format, but with your expectations. Somehow you were expecting a straight answer to the question in the title; instead, it's a detailed look into the incident and the context around it.

>> If you hate the format of these kinds of article

> You mean long-form articles?

I think the grandparent meant blabbering to get to 3k words.

Re: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?

#54

Post by klodolph »

keep320909 wrote: post #23

Mental issues are not uncommon. First japanese astronaut on Mir (Russian commercial passenger on Mir) had mental break down, and had to be restrained on the way back. It was in some Russian archives... Skylab and Sojuz had astronauts on strike... EDIT: it was not ISS, but Mir!

The “astronauts on strike” story of Skylab 4, to me, seems like more of a rational response to harsh working conditions, which somehow got exaggerated in the media.

The previous mission, Skylab 3, accomplished much more than was expected—completing something like 50% additional work compared to what was scheduled.

Skylab 4’s schedule was then both lengthened and accelerated. The mission grew by about 50% in duration, and tasks were scheduled for astronauts at the beginning of the mission at a pace that didn’t allow for solid blocks of rest and didn’t account for acclimation (it assumed astronauts would be operating at full efficiency, and didn’t allow them time to acclimate to orbital conditions, didn’t allow them time to recover from errors or deal with equipment malfunctions).

There was no “strike”. That’s a myth. There was a conference between astronauts and the ground to alter the schedule—make sure astronauts have sufficient off-duty periods, allow astronauts time to transition from one task to the next, give astronauts time when they are waking up or falling asleep.

The flight director, Neil Hutchinson, later said that ground controllers erred when they made the plans for Skylab 4. Skylab 4 still accomplished more in space than was planned!

Re: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?

#55

Post by boxed »

genman wrote: post #46
GeoAtreides wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you hate the format of these kinds of article You mean long-form articles? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-form_journalism I don't think the problem is with the format, but with your expectations. Somehow you were expecting a straight answer to the question in the title; instead, it's a detailed look into the incident and the context around it.

I think hating something is kind of personal matter. But very often these "long-form" articles can be tiring. They just circle around something, never getting to the point, adding just unimportant details that should create some form of "connection". It very often feels that it is not long because the author has something to say but it is long because it is meant to appear that "long-form" article. It's like reading…

Just saying something is "long form" because you counted the words is silly. This is Ars Technica. They aren't long because some fifth grade teacher gave them a minimum amount of pages. If the article has some length, it's because it takes the subject seriously and doesn't compromise on nuance and context just for clicks.

Re: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?

#56

Post by HarHarVeryFunny »

keep320909 wrote: post #23

Mental issues are not uncommon. First japanese astronaut on Mir (Russian commercial passenger on Mir) had mental break down, and had to be restrained on the way back. It was in some Russian archives... Skylab and Sojuz had astronauts on strike... EDIT: it was not ISS, but Mir!

I'd imagine they are likely to be more of an issue too in the future, for longer term or more risky missions to Mars/etc. NASA try to select people who are highly stable as astronauts (used to be test pilots), but when the mission only has a 25% chance of getting you home, or involves you living on Mars for a year in a garden shed, then the people who would want to volunteer are going to tend to be mentally off to begin with.

I assume they've thought of this, even for lunar missions or ISS - I wonder what the protocol is? Do they bring handcuffs? Sedatives?

Re: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?

#57

Post by tshaddox »

GeoAtreides wrote: post #28
wantsanagent wrote: post #17

If you hate the format of these kinds of article let me summarize: Guy builds an experiment, flies it, it doesn't work, requests more time to get it working, is denied, threatens 'not to come back', goes into a depression, worries crew that he'll open the door to space, eventually granted more time to work on the experiment, gets it working. There are consequences for letting this kind of person fly and dealing with…

> If you hate the format of these kinds of article You mean long-form articles? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-form_journalism I don't think the problem is with the format, but with your expectations. Somehow you were expecting a straight answer to the question in the title; instead, it's a detailed look into the incident and the context around it.

I wouldn’t like that comment of yours if you had expanded it to 20,000 words long, even if there was a name and a Wikipedia article for that type of HN comment!

Re: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?

#58

Post by jandrese »

tialaramex wrote: post #19
oscarfr wrote: post #11

Is there any such lock mechanism on the doors of an airplane? I would imagine there could be sever consequences of someone opening an emergency hatch at 10,000m

An airliner's external doors are designed such that they're held closed by internal pressure. Thus opening a door on the ground is pretty easy, which is convenient because that's the only place you should open them. But opening at cruise is extremely difficult. Now - a strong person can do it when the plane is far enough up that it's very scary, after all some normal passenger airports are a few thousand feet above s…

> Now - a strong person can do it when the plane is far enough up that it's very scary

Is this true? Some back of the napkin math: An airliner crusing at 30,000 feet is in air at about 0.3 ATM. Cabins are pressurized to about 0.8 ATM, so net air perssure is about 0.5 ATM. That's around 7 lbs/in^2. An airliner door is about 72"x42" for a total of around 3,000 in^2. So you need to be able to lift about 10 tons to open it. That would be a very strong person indeed.

Re: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?

#59

Post by sebzim4500 »

araes wrote: post #5

Do these people get affiliate money from that I.S.S movie? The topic seems suspiciously timed.

I don't think we need a conspiracy theory to explain why Eric Berger wrote an article about space. It isn't even about the ISS.
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