Shuttle Endevour STS-134 Final Landing

[john roe]

From my mate at Nasa.

 

A short time after 2AM we heard BooM BooM and that was the signal that 134 was about to land. Turned on the NASA channel and certainly – there it was in all its splendor.

 

so happy that they completed the mission and returned safely. Sad, but necessary!

 

Here are a few shots from the center:

 

 

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Welcome home crew....

 

clark.

 

cheers john

 

 

[Guest scott fletcher]

worst decision this current US government has made so far getting rid of the shuttle. was reading in a us paper the other day nasa is down to only 64 astranauts in its employ down from 149 all the others have left to work in the private sector for boeing, lockheed, virgin galatic, spaceX ETC as test pilots etc. a damn shame these few good men and women will be lost to nasa for ever.

 

 

[willedoo]

Does anyone know what the long term plans are for a shuttle replacement? There has to be a better alternative to this, it's like something out of the sixties:

 

[ame]

 

[/ame]

[Guest scott fletcher]

yes. it will be called the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV).

 

it is Based on designs created for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle

 

 

[Guest scott fletcher]

sorry . here is more info for you..

 

http://jalopnik.com/5805152/this-is-the-new-space-shuttle

 

 

[Guest scott fletcher]

the US airforce allso currently has a formaly secret unmanned mini reusable space shuttle in orbit called the x-37b

 

 

[john roe]

Does anyone know what the long term plans are for a shuttle replacement? There has to be a better alternative to this, it's like something out of the sixties:

 

[/ame] smaller loads of Fuel, Food, Oxygen etc will go up on Computer contolled auto docking rocket space Cargo capsules, and later undocked with unwanted rubbish and burnt up in the return through the atmosphere. cheers john

 

 

[willedoo]

Thanks, John,

 

I was wondering how they'd get supplies, satellites etc. up there. Haven't done any reading up on the post shuttle plans, I suppose it's all to do with economy & logistics.

 

Cheers,

 

Willedoo.

 

 

[willedoo]

sorry . here is more info for you..http://jalopnik.com/5805152/this-is-the-new-space-shuttle

Very interesting reading Scott, a real changing of the guard. It all seems a bit retro after what we've been used to since the 1980's with the shuttles. Can't help but wonder if the economics are over riding the pure science of it all. But I suppose we wouldn't have it without the dollars & cents adding up.

 

Cheers,

 

Willedoo.

 

 

[Guest scott fletcher]

Imaging experts funded by the Space Shuttle Program and located at NASA's Ames Research Center prepared this video by merging nearly 20,000 photographs taken by a set of six cameras capturing 250 images per second at the STS-134 launch on May 16, 2011

 

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/shuttle_station/features/sts-134_launch_photo-video.html

 

 

[john roe]

Imaging experts funded by the Space Shuttle Program and located at NASA's Ames Research Center prepared this video by merging nearly 20,000 photographs taken by a set of six cameras capturing 250 images per second at the STS-134 launch on May 16, 2011http://www.nasa.gov/topics/shuttle_station/features/sts-134_launch_photo-video.html

Thats an amazing video,, along with the launch are things like 60 high tech cameras around the base and off shore, as well on the shuttle itself, and the booster tank and booster rockets, even showing them falling back into the ocean for retreival, some cameras are so high tech, with a range of 60 NM.

 

cheers john

 

 

[Guest scott fletcher]

heres some more info for you inregards to the shuttle replacement..

 

Orion was the ship being built to return America to the Moon before the project was cancelled last year by President Barack Obama.

 

The US space agency says the financial investment and the engineering lessons learned should not be wasted.

 

It wants the new Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle to benefit from that heritage.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13532968