Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100711/21375810163/dailydirt-space-shuttle-stories.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100711/21375810163/dailydirt-space-shuttle-stories.shtml

Wayne Hale, a retired Space Shuttle Flight Director, explains how Columbia was damaged by the loss of insulation foam -- by finding out that Discovery was almost damaged in the same way. It wasn't due to improper foam installation, but instead thermal cycling from filling and re-filling the cryogenic fuel. [url]

On its way to a museum, Enterprise sustains damage to its wingtip after hitting a bridge. The NASA prototype spacecraft never flew in space, and it suffered only cosmetic damage while being transported to its final destination at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in Manhattan. [url]

Caenorhabditis elegans worms actually survived the Columbia disaster, and their descendants flew into space in 2011 on the Endeavour. Worms on a m*********ing spaceplane! [url]

To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.


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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100711/21375810163 Thu, 24 May 2012 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100611/1506579784/dailydirt-build-it-they-will-come.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100611/1506579784/dailydirt-build-it-they-will-come.shtml

Practical fusion is always just 30 years away, but a dilithium-powered Star Trek Enterprise could take just 20 years to build. Okay, we're joking about the dilithium chamber, but there's an engineer who isn't joking about building his own NCC-1701. [url]

The Make-A-Wish Foundation helped to create a pretty cool Millennium Falcon for a 9-year-old kid. It's obviously not a full-scale model, so no Kessel runs or hyperdrive. [url]

Browncoats aren't left out of the fun here: a 12-foot long Serenity ship exists in the Universal Archives. Real fans want to know if there's a miniature dead Wash at the helm.... "I am a leaf on the wind - watch how I soar." [url]

To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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