They also used a falcon that was at the end of its life. Like this was its last mission because of its age or use or whatever, so it was gonna be retired or exploded either way.
How cool is this? https://www.inverse.com/science/nas...lly-back-online-11.5-billion-miles-from-earth They just brought Voyager 2 back online... 11.5 billion miles away.
They were launched the year I was born, left the solar winds almost ten years ago and will take another 300 years just to leave the Oort Cloud of our solar system. I think it is safe to say that we as a species are never getting far from here.
We have company from far, FAR away. I don’t know what threw this comet, but they threw it 100,000 mph. https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/borisov-comet-1.5539309
SpaceX sending humans up tomorrow. 60% probable on the launch, for weather. https://www.spacex.com/launches/index.html
For a second I read that as 60% probable the launch doesn't blow up on the pad and had an image of Musk thinking "those are pretty good odds, let's roll with it."
lol, when I typed it, I had the same thought, hence the "weather" tack on. I'm watching the Discovery series from a few years ago "When We Left Earth." One of the astronauts (I can't remember who now) said something about how there were so many precise and concurrent things that have to happen correctly that it's amazing we ever get off the ground. I think a lot of the astronauts through the Space Shuttle may have felt that 60% number at times. And willingly went anyway. Astronauts are some badass motherfuckers, actually. Not as much the mission specialists and scientists (although, they're all brilliant), but the commanders and pilots are. What's the most exclusive club of things most people know about? Is it people who walked on the moon? That is a group of 12.
Original astronauts are a group of men who belong to a very, VERY exclusive club of badasses consisting of genius-level war heroes who were put in vehicles never tested before and shot into the stratosphere using a controlled explosion underneath them. Make somebody do that today. How somebody like Buzz Aldrin got his spacesuit on with his gigantic balls in the way is beyond me.
For all the glitz, The Right Stuff was based on all the right stuff. To me, there are no two greater men in that field than Chuck Yeager and Jack Ridley. Sure, the astronauts were a special team, but so much of it was propaganda driven that they kind of missed some of the real jocks in the process. Jack, despite not being one of the featured test pilots, is a huge hero of mine... Dude was all the test pilot that the others were, but was an out of this world engineer, which is what set him apart for all the rest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ridley_(pilot) "Colonel Jackie Lynwood "Jack" Ridley (June 16, 1915 – March 12, 1957) was an aeronautical engineer, USAF test pilot and chief of the U.S. Air Force's Flight Test Engineering Laboratory. He helped develop and test many Cold War era military aircraft. He worked on the Bell X-1, the first aircraft to achieve supersonic flight. He was highly respected among fellow test pilots, most notably Chuck Yeager, for his engineering skills." We don't get to see many guys like that any more... it was a weird mix of shitty technology, lax safety standards, balls-to-the-wall testosterone, and a Cold War that combined to give you some crazy fucking results. In a weird way he was like the Ken Miles (from Ford vs Ferrari) of military aerospace, but without being a dick.. that much better of a test pilot because he was an incredible engineer. Same went for Marc Donahue in sports car racing... killer engineer who was a fantastic race car driver as a result.
Man... they appear to be in a bit of a weather delay... and are really celebrating the achievement that hasn't happened yet. This REALLY better not be a bad case of "premature celebration"... I hope everything works out.
Yeah, the weather was not at all cooperative. I really do enjoy the SpaceX broadcasts, though... great mix of technical information, PR, and solid video production.
They may still abort, but propellant load is GO and the crew access arm has retracted. I love that the crew is Bob & Doug. (Take off, eh)