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SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

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Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

#41

Post by joe_the_user »

tw04 wrote: post #7
jiggawatts wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a matter of perspective. The mission is what you call it. Sure, it’s not a “rescue”, it’s just an “unplanned itinerary change to another vessel”. Also, they’re not “marooned”, they’re “getting an extended work opportunity”.

So if you ride a ferry on a regular basis (which I'm sure at least a handful of HN folks do) - if that ferry breaks down before the return trip, when you catch the next ferry is that a "rescue mission", or are you just catching the next ferry? Replace ferry with bus, car, taxi, airplane, your transportation mode of choice. Calling this a rescue is, to OPs point, just dramatizing the situation for clicks. In pretty mu…

If you're on an island, the ferry breaks down and the next one is in three months, yeah it's a rescue mission.

I don't know why people want to quibble about usage that seems clear.

Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

#42

Post by elteto »

tw04 wrote: post #7
jiggawatts wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a matter of perspective. The mission is what you call it. Sure, it’s not a “rescue”, it’s just an “unplanned itinerary change to another vessel”. Also, they’re not “marooned”, they’re “getting an extended work opportunity”.

So if you ride a ferry on a regular basis (which I'm sure at least a handful of HN folks do) - if that ferry breaks down before the return trip, when you catch the next ferry is that a "rescue mission", or are you just catching the next ferry? Replace ferry with bus, car, taxi, airplane, your transportation mode of choice. Calling this a rescue is, to OPs point, just dramatizing the situation for clicks. In pretty mu…

A more apt analogy would be:

You are the captain and pilot of the ferry. And it is such a complicated ferry that you are extensively trained on how to navigate it. It is, in fact, so complicated and different that there are other ferries around but you can only sail yours. You can't just hop on another one and do the same trip.

You took this ferry to an island in the middle of nowhere and after you got there you realized the ferry was broken. Nobody knows how bad... it might snap in half in the middle of the return trip.

You have plenty of provisions for the next few months and you are not alone on the island. Other ferries still come and go but you can't just hop on those, you don't know how to operate them.

They sent one of those other ferries just for you with a smaller crew to accommodate you. Without it you are not coming back.

Is it a rescue?

Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

#43

Post by joe_the_user »

dotnet00 wrote: post #3

Man the reporting on this ordeal has been so awful and so representative of how media misleads the public into thinking things are worse than they actually are. It isn't a rescue mission, it's a regular crew rotation mission with modifications to account for the extra crew left on the station, and those crew are 'stuck' only in the sense that they're expected to stay there as part of their duties and it would be unne…

"It isn't a rescue mission, it's a regular crew rotation mission with modifications..."

Rescue definition: an act of saving or being saved from danger or distress. The mission to take astronauts off the space station clearly fits this definition - an extended, unplanned and indefinite stay in space has to be distressing at the least.

Has the HN standard become that you can argue the most ridiculous thing if you make that argument against the media?

Edit: "regular crew rotation" implies normal and expected but the point is, even if the crew is in no danger, this wasn't regular or expected.

Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

#44

Post by blackoil »

jwagenet wrote: post #11
teruakohatu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that calling it a rescue is a bit much, but this is hardly a case of missing a bus or ferry and catching the next one. If you missed a ferry, expecting to be away from your family for a week, only to find you are stuck on a desolate island for 8+ months you would probably feel like you were being rescued.

My understanding is the astronauts don’t mind staying longer because they enjoy it and for some (all?) it may be their last mission in space, in part due to the decommissioning.

And most people like visiting islands. That doesn't change the fact that this was supposed to be 8 days not 8 months.

Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

#45

Post by justin66 »

dotnet00 wrote: post #3

Man the reporting on this ordeal has been so awful and so representative of how media misleads the public into thinking things are worse than they actually are. It isn't a rescue mission, it's a regular crew rotation mission with modifications to account for the extra crew left on the station, and those crew are 'stuck' only in the sense that they're expected to stay there as part of their duties and it would be unne…

So “regular” they had to bump two astronauts who had trained for a mission on ISS.

Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

#46

Post by glenstein »

tw04 wrote: post #7
jiggawatts wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a matter of perspective. The mission is what you call it. Sure, it’s not a “rescue”, it’s just an “unplanned itinerary change to another vessel”. Also, they’re not “marooned”, they’re “getting an extended work opportunity”.

So if you ride a ferry on a regular basis (which I'm sure at least a handful of HN folks do) - if that ferry breaks down before the return trip, when you catch the next ferry is that a "rescue mission", or are you just catching the next ferry? Replace ferry with bus, car, taxi, airplane, your transportation mode of choice. Calling this a rescue is, to OPs point, just dramatizing the situation for clicks. In pretty mu…

> Replace ferry with bus, car, taxi, airplane, your transportation mode of choice.

I mean I've certainly been stuck at an airport because I had a ticket for a flight that ended up getting canceled, which necessitated me remaining at the airport for an extended period of time. I had an expectation of getting a new ticket for a new flight, but none of that changed the fact that I was indeed stuck.

Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

#47

Post by fracus »

Seattle3503 wrote: post #12

> By the time they return, the pair will have logged more than eight months in space. They expected to be gone just a week when they signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut flight that launched in June. What kind of overtime do you think they are clocking?

And wasn't the mission already on the schedule? The title says "launches mission for 2 astronauts.."

Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

#48

Post by justin66 »

electriclove wrote: post #14
neverrroot wrote: post #8

Thank you Elon!

SpaceX is pretty much America’s space program at this point - absolutely incredible!

Weird way of looking at it. Was Roscosmos “America’s space program” when they were selling the rides?

Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

#49

Post by samatman »

eth0up wrote: post #33
addaon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is the situation normal, or common? They went up on an experimental spacecraft on its shakedown cruise. They’re coming down on a different spacecraft than planned — a different make of spacecraft, even. That’s never happened before, and is neither normal nor common. The spacecraft type they flew up will almost certainly never fly again because of how badly the shakedown went. That’s never happened before to a manne…

Because I cannot upvote comments on HN, I'll clutter the thread by thanking both you and the other fellow who gave pretty good explanations.

It appears you're referring to this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30742539

The most likely explanation of the effect you're observing is that the server, having done a database fetch to get you the profile once, is not interested in doing it over and over again.

It's cached. You do not have a uniquely broken upvote button.

Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS

#50

Post by gpm »

joe_the_user wrote: post #43
dotnet00 wrote: post #3

Man the reporting on this ordeal has been so awful and so representative of how media misleads the public into thinking things are worse than they actually are. It isn't a rescue mission, it's a regular crew rotation mission with modifications to account for the extra crew left on the station, and those crew are 'stuck' only in the sense that they're expected to stay there as part of their duties and it would be unne…

"It isn't a rescue mission, it's a regular crew rotation mission with modifications..." Rescue definition: an act of saving or being saved from danger or distress . The mission to take astronauts off the space station clearly fits this definition - an extended, unplanned and indefinite stay in space has to be distressing at the least. Has the HN standard become that you can argue the most ridiculous thing if you make…

This launch was normal and expected crew rotation, they just kicked a few people off the mission so that there would be open seats on the way back.
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