May 11 2009
Reminder: Hubble’s Big Mission Starts Today!
Just a reminder on the historic event coming today which I posted on previously. Today is the day NASA launches the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, a challenging upgrade mission to allow Hubble to operate for another 4-5 years. And it won’t be trivial:
Nasa is set to dispatch seven astronauts on its most dangerous ever shuttle mission as it attempts to rescue the $7 billion Hubble Space Telescope from meltdown.
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The mission, which is costing Nasa $1.4 billion and is due to blast off from Florida tomorrow, is considered so perilous that it was once cancelled by space agency chiefs who feared that it could cost the astronauts their lives.Â
It was resurrected only after they agreed to place a second shuttle and crew on emergency standby, ready to blast into space to save their colleagues should a catastrophe occur. The move is unprecedented in the 28-year history of the shuttle fleet.
In my previous post I noted the Science Channel will be covering the launch live, and promises to have some good background on this historic science instrument and its amazing exploration of the universe.
Hubble can see to the edge of the Universe, is this a great country or what?
And yet what instrument will we use to peer into a man’s heart. By what great deed does he walk on water? Has he brought peace or inflamed tyrants? Does he rise from a sorce of justice or does he rise on a wave of hate. Does he have respect for the political stage or does he laugh at the idea of the death of his political opponents? Does he confront a great crisis or does he use it as an excuse to gather yet more power.
When you sift his words are they wise, or are they an opiate. Are his aims transparent or are they hidden and obscure? Is he humble? Or is he slick? Is he loyal, or does he cast his friends aside when they are no longer useful.
How will you see a man’s heart?
I disagree with this statement:
“its most dangerous ever shuttle mission”
In fact, this mission to Hubble is probably the *least* dangerous Hubble service mission they have ever flown because this time there is a rescue shuttle on the pad if needed. In the past there was no rescue craft and we didn’t realize how dangerous that was until we lost Columbia. I don’t like they way this mission is being hyped as being more dangerous simply to build the drama.
And actually, this mission would be a lot less dangerous if it weren’t for “global warming” and “ozone hole” hype. If it weren’t for a change in the formula of the foam that goes on the main tank, done to mollify climate hysterics, the foam would stick to the tank instead of flying off and possibly killing astronauts and destroying shuttles.
More government waste. The US federal government is filled with parasites. America is dragging down the rest of the world with its ridiculous spending – especially on those glorified civil servants known as the armed forces. The Chinese and others need to cancel the American credit card.
Jules, why would you say this is a waste?
Without space flight, the human race is ultimately doomed. The Earth will be uninhabitable in a relatively short period on a geological timescale due to CO2 depletion of the atmosphere (the brief pulse of CO2 we are adding will be eliminated over time) and the Sun’s output increasing as it ages.
The plants will die, then the animals will die, then the oceans will outgas into space and Earth will be a warmer version of Mars for the last several billion years of the Sun’s life.
Without space flight we are doomed to die when Earth dies as a life giving planet. And we need to do it now while we have the opportunity as we may not have the opportunity to do so in the future. Without space flight, nothing matters.