The ISS Marks 10 Years In Space 153
Matt_dk writes to point out the upcoming tenth anniversary of the International Space Station in two days' time. "On 20 November 1998, a Russian Proton rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a historic mission: It was carrying the first module of the International Space Station ISS, named Zarya (Russian for 'dawn'). This cargo and control module, which weighs about 20 tonnes and is almost 13 meters long, provides electrical power, propulsion, flight path guidance and storage space. The launch of the module... heralded a new era in space exploration, as, for the first time ever, lasting cooperation in space was achieved between Russia, the US, Europe, Canada and Japan. Over the next ten years, many other modules were brought into orbit, and ISS developed into the largest human outpost in space. Since that time, the building blocks, transported by Russian launch vehicles or the US Space Shuttle, have expanded the ISS to the size of a soccer pitch and a current total mass of about 300 tons."
Pee (Score:3, Funny)
In Soviet Space (Score:4, Funny)
Space marks 10 years with ISS!
Re:Pee (Score:5, Funny)
Water, the refreshing beverage that rusts pipes, and fish fuck in!
Makes recycled pee seem tame by comparison.
Re:Pee (Score:4, Funny)
We all drink recycled pee - there's only so much water on this planet and, according to some estimates, most of it has been drunk eight times already. So unless they were drinking outer space water, rather than earth water, they most certainly were drinking recycled pee for the past ten years.
Our destiny is clear we must mine Haleys Comet for water.
Re:Should it really cost as much as it does? (Score:2, Funny)
"Looking at our space program, it's like going back home and seeing the people you went to school with who peaked in high school and are hanging around the old haunts just looking underachieving and pathetic. I mean yeah, it's cool to point and laugh"
I thought I saw you by the old gym the other day. It wasn't nice of you to point and laugh at me.
Re:For the rest of us... (Score:1, Funny)
How long is a meter? Why is so hard to just give a size in furlongs?
A dish best served cold... (Score:3, Funny)
We stuff clowns into cars to see how many cubic feet they can reasonably allow. The reason the US, Russia, Japan, and all our other friends are collaborating on this project is to get all of our clowns up there, stuffed into the space station, to see how many can fit, and this will be our new standard of measurement for cubic space. Then, once we've tallied how many tens of thousands of clowns can fit into the space station, we launch it into the sun.
I'd like to see anyone disagree that all the money has been ill-spent on this endeavor.
Re:A dish best served cold... (Score:3, Funny)
The true, insidious purpose of the space station has yet to reveal itself. It's up there to allow for a new unit of measurement. Even with tons, tonnes, elephants, library of congresses, football fields, million millions, we don't have a good cubic-meter measurement yet. So we'll use the obvious choice, (how many xxx can fit into a car?) We stuff clowns into cars to see how many cubic feet they can reasonably allow. The reason the US, Russia, Japan, and all our other friends are collaborating on this project is to get all of our clowns up there, stuffed into the space station, to see how many can fit, and this will be our new standard of measurement for cubic space. Then, once we've tallied how many tens of thousands of clowns can fit into the space station, we launch it into the sun. I'd like to see anyone disagree that all the money has been ill-spent on this endeavor.
By clowns you mean lawyers right?
Re:Should it really cost as much as it does? (Score:3, Funny)
Relating it to other, more expensive, projects does not make it any less exppensive or justified. It just shows how we spend/waste money in other ways.
Re:Pee (Score:5, Funny)
What'll really blow your mind is the amount of recycled T-rex farts you breath on a daily basis.
Re:Joost (Score:3, Funny)
Shooting stuff into space has been tried already. But it ended badly, with an eye being put out. [filmsite.org]
Re:A dish best served cold... (Score:1, Funny)
we don't have a good cubic-meter measurement yet. So we'll use the obvious choice, (how many xxx can fit into a car?)
We stuff clowns into cars to see how many cubic feet they can reasonably allow.
By clowns you mean lawyers right?
Lawyers fit real good, if you puree them first....
Will it blend??
Re:Should it really cost as much as it does? (Score:4, Funny)
Well, to be fair, ISS really hasn't accomplished all that much. So, for the same benefit, it was a much better return on investment when compared to invading Iraq.