Space - The Final Frontier

[Chuckanut]

Well, they are not all successes. Rocketry is still a difficult and unforgiving process.

http://www.space.com/27575-explosion...hap-video.html

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut Well, they are not all successes. Rocketry is still a difficult and unforgiving process. Explosion! Cygnus Cargo Spacecraft Destroyed In Launch Mishap | Video

Those dang Russians...

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Analysts at RBC Capital said that while it's not clear what caused the explosion, "a likely suspect" is the AJ-26 main engine, which are decades-old NK-33 Russian rocket engines that have been refurbished by Aerojet-Rocketdyne, a division of GenCorp, as an option to power the Antares. RBC said one of the AJ-26 engines in fact exploded in May of this year during testing.

RBC says AJ-26 engine a likely suspect for explosion

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Those dang Russians... RBC says AJ-26 engine a likely suspect for explosion

Those Russian engines have proved to be very reliable over all. They have successfully launched many American spy satellites that watch among other places, Russia.

Even Elon Musk first attempted to purchase Russian missals for his space plans. The story goes that he was treated badly by the Russians, mocked for being a 'rich boy', and then they tripled the price.

So, instead he started his own rocket company.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut Even Elon Musk first attempted to purchase Russian missals for his space plans.

I don't think he'd have a prayer of getting anything into orbit using those instructions...

[clifp]

Man that was quite an explosion. I also think part of the challenge of rocket science is the failures are so highly visible.

I am wondering would any of the proposed escape pods have been able to separate a manned capsule from that early of an explosion?

[Chuckanut]

For an interesting documentary on how those rocket engines ended up in American rockets, watch this rather interesting youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMbl_ofF3AM

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clifp Man that was quite an explosion. I also think part of the challenge of rocket science is the failures are so highly visible.

I forgot to watch the launch, but the smoke was still pretty visible from my driveway even in the night sky an hour or so after it blew. DW and I had heard a loud boom earlier in the evening, but we didn't realize what it was until after I had seen the story on TV and we went out and looked at the smoke.

[Chuckanut]

I am amazed at how the media has already started the speculation game: old Russian rockets were the cause of the explosion, commercial companies can't build rockets as well as NASA's rockets.

Bye the way, where is the NASA rocket factory? I might want to tour it one day.

[Chuckanut]

It's been a bad week for commercial companies trying to make a buck sending satellites and people into space. Bramson's Space Ship 2 blew up today killing one test pilot.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Crashes: 1 Dead, 1 Injured - NBC News

[Free To Canoe]

Serious anomaly? They will figure it out. In time.

I wonder how the bad press will affect ticket sales?

[FireBug]

Off topic…. but a quick story. I worked for Megacorp 1 which bought Megacorp2. After a program enhancement they had a big “all hands”. All the mucky-mucks were there. I and my coworkers were listening in on a conference room phone.
Mucky-muck says “Folks, you should be proud. We spent over 3 hundred thousand billable man-hours on this project and that equates to how many man-hours NASA puts into a shuttle launch. So congrats on being the NASA of the banking industry”.
My co-worker puts the phone on mute and says, “Um, no. NASA straps people onto a bomb. Blasts them into the vacuum of space, supports all their life systems for weeks, returns them thru the 3,000 oF atmosphere and lands them on a dime on a 2 mile long runway in Florida……….and we can see Megacorp2 account numbers on our screen”. I laughed and laughed.

[growing_older]

Quote:

I wonder how the bad press will affect ticket sales?

They've already sold well over a hundred launches worth, so probably plenty of time to get lots of good press.

[clifp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireBug Off topic…. but a quick story. I worked for Megacorp 1 which bought Megacorp2. After a program enhancement they had a big “all hands”. All the mucky-mucks were there. I and my coworkers were listening in on a conference room phone. Mucky-muck says “Folks, you should be proud. We spent over 3 hundred thousand billable man-hours on this project and that equates to how many man-hours NASA puts into a shuttle launch. So congrats on being the NASA of the banking industry”. My co-worker puts the phone on mute and says, “Um, no. NASA straps people onto a bomb. Blasts them into the vacuum of space, supports all their life systems for weeks, returns them thru the 3,000 oF atmosphere and lands them on a dime on a 2 mile long runway in Florida……….and we can see Megacorp2 account numbers on our screen”. I laughed and laughed.

Awesome story.

There is a reason that people describe something really hard to do as rocket science. I guess this week is good reminder why that is the case.

[Chuckanut]

I think people are being lulled back into the pre Challenger view that space travel is easy. Or, at least, they have it down pat.

We had some lucky breaks with Apollo.

If the Apollo 13 explosion had occurred shortly after the moon landing, the astronauts would not have had the lunar lander to use as a life boat until they were close enough to earth.

Apollo 12 was hit twice by lightening that knocked out all telemetry from the Saturn V. They were close to aborting the flight when one fellow remembered an oddity from a simulation run done a year before. He gave his suggestion "take SCE to AUX" and telemetry was instantly restored. The mission continued on and was a success. Most of the flight crew had no idea what he was talking about. This engineer earned the title of 'steely eyed missile man."

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the phrase “SCE to AUX” used to describe a situation where one narrowly averts a catastrophe by coming up with an ingenious plan.

This Day in Space History: Apollo 12 and SCE to AUX

The video below is a great, short film about this relatively unknown but harrowing event in Project Apollo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWQIryll8y8

[FireBug]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clifp Awesome story. There is a reason that people describe something really hard to do as rocket science. I guess this week is good reminder why that is the case.

That guy in the above story is a very bright guy.... also a wicked sense of humor. He gets tired of hearing 'Rocket scientist' or Brain Surgeon' .... he now just calls them Rocket Surgeons

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut Quote: “SCE to AUX” This Day in Space History: Apollo 12 and SCE to AUX The video below is a great, short film about this relatively unknown but harrowing event in Project Apollo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWQIryll8y8

Great video. It seemed weird to me that the astronauts were barely aware of an SCE switch, or what setting it to "AUX" would do. Good thing this guy had it in his brain.

I am just dying to be able to use “Try setting SCE to AUX” in a conversation, hopefully in front of my kids so I can get that treasured 'rolling eyes' response!

-ERD50

[clifp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut I think people are being lulled back into the pre Challenger view that space travel is easy. Or, at least, they have it down pat. We had some lucky breaks with Apollo. If the Apollo 13 explosion had occurred shortly after the moon landing, the astronauts would not have had the lunar lander to use as a life boat until they were close enough to earth. Apollo 12 was hit twice by lightening that knocked out all telemetry from the Saturn V. They were close to aborting the flight when one fellow remembered an oddity from a simulation run done a year before. He gave his suggestion "take SCE to AUX" and telemetry was instantly restored. The mission continued on and was a success. Most of the flight crew had no idea what he was talking about. This engineer earned the title of 'steely eyed missile man."

This week a game/simulation Buzz Aldrin Space Program Manager was released, which is a sequel to an much early game Buzz Aldrin Race Into Space (BARIS). I've been following the game since Beta. I wish I could recommend it since the subject matter is so cool. Sadly I can't the game isn't particular fun, but it is a decent simulation.

Much of the games revolves around doing R&D and test to improve the reliability of the various components engines, capsules , space suits etc. Even when you have things in the high 90% range, if you have enough tests, stuff always fails sometime relatively minor fixes like turning SCE to AUX, other times catastrophic. It is inevitable in the game that you end up with destroyed satellites and almost inevitable the you end up with dead astronauts.

[growing_older]

Quote:

If the Apollo 13 explosion had occurred shortly after the moon landing, the astronauts would not have had the lunar lander to use as a life boat until they were close enough to earth. Apollo 12 was hit twice by lightening that knocked out all telemetry from the Saturn V. They were close to aborting the flight when one fellow remembered an oddity from a simulation run done a year before. He gave his suggestion "take SCE to AUX" and telemetry was instantly restored. The mission continued on and was a success. Most of the flight crew had no idea what he was talking about. This engineer earned the title of 'steely eyed missile man."

Apollo 11 LEM came down in a boulder field on the moon which would have destroyed the lander. Armstrong was able to hover long enough to reach a smoother patch with only seconds of fuel left - past the abort point - so they were going to have to land in whatever place they found themselves. When time came to blast off from the moon they discovered that the LEM control panel was damaged and the switch to ignite the lift-off was broken off and it was unclear how much damage had been done to the circuitry. Aldrin rigged up a felt tip pen to jab where the switch would have made contact and was able to ignite the blast off from the moon.

There were multiple near catastrophic events on every one of these early flights, but the astronauts and engineers just keep improvising and solving each one. Dangerous as space flight is, it's amazing how much success has been accomplished.

[Lakewood90712]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut It's been a bad week for commercial companies trying to make a buck sending satellites and people into space. Bramson's Space Ship 2 blew up today killing one test pilot. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Crashes: 1 Dead, 1 Injured - NBC News

The loss of one of the test pilots reminds me of what the father of Rodger Chaffee (Rookie astronaut killed in the Apollo 1 accident ) said at the funeral for his son :

" The price of progress is quite high sometimes "

[Walt34]

Amazing story about "SCE to AUX". I had never heard that one.