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WTF Is Going On At NASA?
from the I-mean,-seriously... dept
NASA isn't exactly having a good few months. Following the love triangle/murder attempt/diaper driving astronaut scandal that captured the nation's attention, two reports have just come out that have people scratching their heads over what is going on at the agency formally known for taking people only with "the right stuff." First there was the report that astronauts have been drinking alcohol before flying and possibly even being drunk during launch. There's not really much of a technology angle to that, but that news was quickly followed up by a story of sabotage on a space station computer. The details aren't entirely clear, but someone at a subcontractor deliberately cut internal wires in a computer that was supposed to be sent up to the space station on the space shuttles' next mission. Apparently it wouldn't have been life-threatening -- but it would have been a nuisance. It must not be very fun to be in PR at NASA these days, but it really does make you wonder what's going on there. It didn't take the agency very long to go from a position of respect to a series of punchlines on late night talk shows.
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Let's get the whole story
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Had to say...
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The sabotage thing? Sure I believe that. It was an emplyer of a contractor. Coulda been an anti-tech whack-job, unabomber style, coulda been a guy pissed at his boss, coulda been a Muslim Extremist. WHo knows? The comp was going to go through testing before being deplyed, anyway. Actually don't consider that that big a deal, just cuz there's so many random reasons it could've happened.
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Re:
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UK News coverage
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Maybe the guy was just bored with the s.o.s. the last 30 or so years
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Maybe the guy was just bored with the s.o.s. the last 30 or so years
You must be living in a cave. The shuttle and ISS are very respectable achievements, despite many difficulties. Maybe Apollo was "awesome" but it was also a colossally ineffective use of funds. The remarkable unmanned missions since Apollo have been very successful. I consider two remote control rovers on Mars to be truly awesome, not to mention the voyagers, pathfinder, galileo, cassini, mars orbiters, ulysses, hubble, and a dozen others. Try achieving something instead of complaining.
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Two thoughts...
Secondly, on the being drunk: I don't buy it. Most of the other news stories I've read about it have phrased it like "they had used alcohol less than 12 hours before liftoff (a violation of policy) and may have not been safe to fly." So I'm not seeing drunk astronauts on the launchpad here, I'm seeing, at worst, astronauts with a hangover. But it's much more likely that they went out and had a few drinks the night before takeoff, and while that may be a violation of policy it's a far cry from "astronauts flying drunk."
But keep in mind that there's a certain section of American population that is anti-NASA. There are some who think it's a waste of money. For example, my wife would prefer the money went to homeless shelters or education. But she doesn't understand the scientific advances that have come from the space program that have resulted in new technology that keeps me employed.
Then there are others who want it moved under the control of the military. Maybe they want to militarize space. Maybe they want more money in their Defense budget. Who knows, but there are definitely high ranking DoD types who chafe at the notion that NASA is under civilian control.
Then there are the people who are just pissed off because a lot of the scientific research that they have done contradicts the current administration's stance on global climate change.
I'm curious where the report came from and who was involved in writing it, and more importantly, what their agenda is.
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Drink up boys and girls
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As far as sabotage, who knows what the intention was.
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Let them drink!
Honestly, this is not similar to airplane pilots or even automobile drivers getting behind the wheel drunk. Astronauts take off only when there is no chance of collision from other aircraft and they quickly get past commercial airspace to a place where there is literally NOTHING to crash into. Don't get me wrong, I know that astronauts have complicated tasks requiring the utmost in physical and mental readiness during their time in space, but not on takeoff. The first part of any astronauts mission has successfully been performed by MONKEYS in the 1960's - how sober do you REALLY have to be?
I say let them have their drinks. Considering the bureacracy they are working for, they need them.
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derrr...nicely retarded.
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Re: derrr...nicely retarded.
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Example of society downward spiral
As for the sabotage, I would first suspect a pissed off employee from the above group.
NASA under civilian control? I don't think so. Navy or Air Force probably. Navy seems to have hands in a lot of things. They still have stuff we don't see in civilian use yet so can't let the common person get hold of that.
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Too much spare time
First: NASA had way more astronauts than crew slots, and was having to find other things for them to do, even before Columbia was destroyed and the vastly reduced current launch schedule was put in place. Astronauts have to have advanced degrees and go through essentially test pilot training before they ever have a hope of being on a shuttle. If you sacrifice half your life just getting the entry-level qualifications for your dream and then have to spend years in a make-work position, wouldn't that start to dull your morale a bit?
Second: drunken astronauts being allowed to fly? That's small compared to other things that were routinely ignored. Challenger's accident happened even though a group of engineers sent a strongly worded plea to NASA not to launch, because there was enormous pressure to launch on time, no matter what. The Columbia investigation found that that culture hadn't changed.
If there is a hopeful note to find in here, it's that you don't necessarily have to be ultra-super-fit to survive a trip into space. Good news for the space tourism industry.
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YOU MAY AS WELL GIVE UP!
nothing will survive!
...except corgis.... they're silly....we like corgis.
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doesn't surprise me
in the military, when you head out on a mission, it will be a while before you get to party again, so the night before you usually have a big blowout.
i can't tell you how many times we shipped out on maneuvers hung over or still drunk, and i would imagine launching in to space is just a more expensive version of rolling out.
i never did anything dangerous while drunk like operate machinery, handle explosives, or participate in live fire exercises, but i spent several trips out to the woods sleeping it off in the back of a truck or an APC... or driving said vehicle while someone else slept.
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Slow news at NASA?
One thing I've always wondered is why the physical requirement on astonauts? If the hope is for regualr people to go into space one day then NASA has to realize that not everyone on Earth can complete a 4 mile run (or whatever requirements) period much less in a time limit. Perhaps its so the space suits can all be made in one size?
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Waste of tax payer's money
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No BFD
Now, I don't really care. The astronauts aren't my personal heroes; I don't even know their names.
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When they deployed the tether, it became overloaded with energy. The power surge snapped the cable and the whole contraption when drifting off into space...
Shortly thereafter, a ton of "debris" began to swarm around the now coiling tether. The "debris" looked uniform in shape, they change direction in space, and they seemed to grow denser in number around the tether.. Not to mention how they all appeared into what was previously empty space to surround the tether. You have to see it yourself, it just looks too coincidental.
Thanks to freedom of information, NASA's footage of this flight is available for your personal criticism on youtube etc. Simply look for "tether incident" and see for yourself. Or check this link out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuFBUS0kiSA&NR=1
NASA is trying to reorganize their space strategy and change the shuttle program, meanwhile there's questionable phenomenon happening in space with increasing frequency. The tether incident isn't the only STS video with odd occurances in it. Maybe NASA's clueless about it too and trying to figure out what course of action to take next.
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Rejoice!!!
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Drunks and would be murderer's
As for the Tether incident, I saw the videos and the close ups and have to say, there is something definately going on in space other than the people that are being sent up there.
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math
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