- This topic has 14 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 1 month ago by
Bruce R. Schaefer.
Bruce R. Schaefer.-
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Jeffrey Joe Hinton
FINALLY!!! Appropriate that school will be starting soon for millions and millions of kids and teenagers and young adults and now finally, an educator has been given a starring role on Endeavor. Risky trip? Shucks, some classrooms are more dangerous.
Bruce R. Schaefer
an educator has been given a starring role on Endeavor
And, Barbara Morgan was the backup for Christa McAuliffe on the ill-fated Challenger mission. 21 years have passed. Read her bio and learn about patience and perserverance: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/morgan.html
Ken Plattner
Try “Riding Rockets” by Mike Mullane. A true astronaut’s inside look at the shuttle program. I can’t imagine what Barbara has endured.
Ken.
ps: JW, It’s on it’s way. Had to read it again before sending it…
Bruce R. Schaefer
I can’t imagine what Barbara has endured.
Don’t think that before she drifts off to sleep she won’t be thinking about Christa and how she should have had the experience, too. The thing that blows me away is that she’s two years older than me! Maybe there’s hope… nah. I also realize that some younger members of our club weren’t born 21 years ago, including Art. Right, Art? Close, by almost a year? I THINK we only have three years left for the shuttle program, then it’s up to Orion, I believe made right here in Denver at Lockheed Martin, to take over.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/index.html
Adrian
A lot of Orion is getting designed right here in some buildings at Wadsworth and Hampden, and there is at least one NCR member working on it. The rest is spread out between Houston, Arizona, Cleveland, Chicago, Louisiana, and probably plenty of other places. Definitely a big program. The structural parts will be built in Louisiana and it will get tested in Houston and at the Cape in Florida.
The idea for Orion is to remove most of the inherent fragility of the Shuttle, (falling ice, huge aerodynamic forces during ascent, no abort modes for certain phases of flight) while making a vehicle that’s a lot more capable than Apollo. The challenging part is that most of the avionics guys are used to making heavy, power-hungry boxes for ISS and the shuttle, and the launch vehicle is a single Shuttle solid booster with a brand new second stage stuck on top, and it can’t get any bigger. I’m more humbled by the Apollo achievement every day. Pretty much whenever something in the design is out of whack, it turns out that it’s because we’re doing it differently than Apollo did. As indispensable as our powerful computer tools appear to be now, it’s not at all clear that they’ve made us better engineers.
Bruce R. Schaefer
I’m more humbled by the Apollo achievement every day. Pretty much whenever something in the design is out of whack, it turns out that it’s because we’re doing it differently than Apollo did.
God Bless Wernher von Braun, my childhood mentor, and his crew of ex-patriot German rocket boys! Same problems as we’re facing now though and we’ll always face, and there’s ALWAYS more than one way to solve a problem. Apollo was more the TRA way, more power will get you there, than NAR sophistication. However, what gets you there gets you there. 😉
Chris LaPanse
Well, it’s not really possible to get to the moon with 3 people with any less power than Apollo used. The current plans already call for the use of far more total power than any Apollo mission 🙂
It was an amazing achievement, no doubt (and it really bugs me when some people claim that it was all a hoax 🙄 )
Conway Stevens
I’m more humbled by the Apollo achievement every day. Pretty much whenever something in the design is out of whack, it turns out that it’s because we’re doing it differently than Apollo did.
God Bless Wernher von Braun, my childhood mentor, and his crew of ex-patriot German rocket boys! Same problems as we’re facing now though and we’ll always face, and there’s ALWAYS more than one way to solve a problem. Apollo was more the TRA way, more power will get you there, than NAR sophistication. However, what gets you there gets you there. 😉
And even more so Be sure not to forget to bless Wernher Von Bruan’s Mentor and hero. The grandfather of Rocketry and the future of space flight and all what seems the ideas of where we are at in that realm today. Robert Goddard. I was fortunate enough on a trip that James and I took together to Roswell NM. to go to the Goddard museum. Its his entire shop as it was left by him (moved to the museum piece by piece and put just as it was left by Goddard by the USN) Outside on the front lawn of the museum is an actual A5 Goddard in its original launch tower. One of 3 original A5’s left. But to see it there in this enormous tower pointing upwards still looking ready for flight. What a sight. Just to think he was flying to 3000 to 4000 ft max back then. That was back close to 80 years ago that he got started doing things. What a genius. What ingenuity. I highly recommend the visit if ever in Roswell.
I remember the challenger disaster. I was even watching it on TV when it happened. Such was a sad day. Now 21 years later Barbera Morgan gets the dream ride. Thinking about the Challenger again brings back the feelings I felt then. Godspeed to all. May they all come home safe. And if only Werner and Goddard could see us now.
Bruce R. Schaefer
I was fortunate enough on a trip that James and I took together to Roswell NM. to go to the Goddard museum.
My wife and I went there on our first vacation, like being in a church for us rocket guys, right, bro? 😉
Conway Stevens
I was fortunate enough on a trip that James and I took together to Roswell NM. to go to the Goddard museum.
My wife and I went there on our first vacation, like being in a church for us rocket guys, right, bro? 😉
Amen to that..!
Jeffrey Joe Hinton
Bruce R. Schaefer
Ken Plattner
Adrian
Chris LaPanse
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