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Comments: 108 +-   Crew For Final Scheduled Space Shuttle Mission Selected on Saturday September 19, @11:20AM

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 19, @11:20AM
from the make-it-memorable dept.
nasa
space
science
Toren Altair writes "NASA has assigned the crew for the last scheduled space shuttle mission, targeted to launch in September 2010. The flight to the International Space Station will carry a pressurized logistics module to the station. Veteran shuttle commander and retired Air Force Col. Steven W. Lindsey will command the eight-day mission, designated STS-133. Air Force Col. Eric A. Boe will serve as the pilot; it will be his second flight as a shuttle pilot. Mission Specialists are shuttle mission veteran Air Force Col. Benjamin Alvin Drew, Jr., and long-duration spaceflight veterans Michael R. Barratt, Army Col. Timothy L. Kopra and Nicole P. Stott." Reader Al points out other NASA news that the space agency's engineers have been testing a sleek new lunar rover that will be part of their eventual return to the moon. A video of the rover in action has been posted as well.
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  • Darn. (Score:5, Funny)

    by epedersen (863120) on Saturday September 19, @11:27AM (#29476899)
    I was hoping they would pick me, but the didn't. Darn.

    • Re:Darn. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by sopssa (1498795) * on Saturday September 19, @11:45AM (#29477025)

      The interesting thing now, as the "space race" seems to be ending with usa, is who will take the lead with space exploration. chinese, russians or private companies?

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by maxume (22995)

        Another option would be no one.

        • Re:Darn. (Score:4, Informative)

          by sopssa (1498795) * on Saturday September 19, @12:09PM (#29477193)

          However it seems like theres lots of interest and activity in private space flights currently:

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_spaceflight_companies [wikipedia.org]

          Interesting article about them [spaceref.com]

          Several other small private aerospace companies not competing for Ansari X Prize are also making news. According to Aviation Week, Bigelow Aerospace, who are developing inflatable space modules, plan to announce shortly the creation of yet another prize competition, this one for $50 million, called Americaâ(TM)s Space Prize that will go to whoever develops a spacecraft that will service their inflatable space modules.

          And yet another company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), plan to launch their first partly reusable rocket Falcon 1 early next year. In developing their space program, SpaceX has created new technology, which they claim allows them to reduce the cost of launch four times lower than their nearest competitor and increase reliability.

          This along with Tickets On Sale In Sweden For Space Tourism, Starting In 2012 [slashdot.org].

      • Re:Darn. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by kestasjk (933987) * on Saturday September 19, @12:08PM (#29477183) Homepage
        The "space race" ended with the fall of the soviet union. Now scientific equipment built in Europe is sent up in a Japanese rocket, plucked out of space by a Russian robotic arm and docked onto a US docking hold. Far more nations have space programs, all doing different things (even India is making contributions to lunar science these days), all collaborating, and the US too is preparing a new generation of space-ships.

        So yes the space race is long dead, but space exploration is booming like never before. There are less big things like landing on the moon, but make no mistake space exploration is so much more important than getting a human onto another lump of rock and getting him quickly back.

        • Re:Darn. (Score:5, Informative)

          by dryeo (100693) on Saturday September 19, @12:41PM (#29477407)

          Actually that is a Canadian robotic arm.

          • Yeah I just made a guess with that part up to be honest, the one part I wasn't sure about. :x Thanks for the correction

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Neon Aardvark (967388)

          So yes the space race is long dead, but space exploration is booming like never before.

          Space exploration isn't pissing around in low Earth orbit. Which is what humanity has done for the past 37 years.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Jackie_Chan_Fan (730745)

        Now that America is officially a dead nation...

        The rich that destroyed the US Economy and middle class will use the money to make rockets in china.

      • But they don't have the time to train the seven politicians necessary to astronauts.

        • Re:Darn. (Score:5, Funny)

          by sadler121 (735320) <msadler@gmail.com> on Saturday September 19, @12:40PM (#29477397) Homepage

          What are you talking about 7, I'm sure we can cram 536 (Congress 534 + President and Vice President) politicians on the last shuttle flight, and then have it explode.

          536, cause I think it is safe to say most /.ers would want to keep Ron Paul around...

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by tverbeek (457094)

            Um... if the entire line of presidential succession, plus Congress except Ron Paul is going to be killed in a freak Shuttle accident... I want to be the one to go in his place. I love him for his counterbalancing influence on the government we have; I would not want to live in a country where he was the government.

  • from the make-it-memorable dept. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Angstroem (692547) on Saturday September 19, @11:29AM (#29476907)
    Hopefully not memorable like Challenger or Columbia.

    • Re:from the make-it-memorable dept. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by kestasjk (933987) * on Saturday September 19, @12:02PM (#29477147) Homepage
      Of over 100 missions 2 disasters isn't too bad, it much better than Apollo and no-one brings up the failures of Apollo whenever it's mentioned like they do with the Shuttle.. It's a shame people will remember the Shuttle for the disasters and not for the triumphs, I don't think the astronauts who died would have wanted it this way (imho).

      • Re:from the make-it-memorable dept. (Score:5, Informative)

        by DerekLyons (302214) <fairwater AT gmail DOT com> on Saturday September 19, @02:13PM (#29477959) Homepage

        Of over 100 missions 2 disasters isn't too bad, it much better than Apollo and no-one brings up the failures of Apollo whenever it's mentioned like they do with the Shuttle.

        For that matter, other than the Apollo 1 fire and the Apollo 13 fire/explosion (and maybe the computer faults on 11) - most people aren't even aware of the multitude and magnitude of the failures experienced during Apollo.
         
        For example:

        • Apollo 13 - severe POGO vibration came within seconds of reaching a magnitude sufficient to destroy the launch vehicle, averted only because the vibration caused the center J2 engine on the S-II stage to fail and shutdown.
           
          Severe vibration were also encountered on 11 and 12 but never reached dangerous levels. A fix was available in time for 13's flight, but management elected not to delay the flight to retrofit the fix into the booster.
           
        • Apollo 14
          • Docking mechanism failure after Trans Lunar Injection. Contrary to mission rules, the flight controllers directed the crew to 'brute force' the docking risking severe damage to the CM and LM.
             
          • Loss of Landing Radar. In violation of mission rules, crew continued with landing.
        • Apollo 15 - During landing, one parachute failed to deploy.
           
        • Apollo 16 - While in lunar orbit, it was discovered that the primary wiring harness for the SM's main propulsion system was damaged and inoperable. Despite a mission rule requiring an immediate mission abort and return to Earth, management and controllers elected to continue with the mission.
           
        • Skylab IV (Carr, Pogue, Gibson) - leaking tanks in the SM nearly caused the mission to be cut short. Management elected instead to make preparation to use the standby rescue vehicle.
           
        • Apollo Soyuz Test Project - During landing, crew error resulting in filling the cockpit with toxic fumes from fuel being vented from the reaction control system. The crew managed to vent the spacecraft, postflight investigations show that gas levels just shy of lethal were reached in the cockpit.

      • Re:from the make-it-memorable dept. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Kell Bengal (711123) on Saturday September 19, @02:16PM (#29477983)
        You make an excellent point.

        Arguably, the STS program has contributed more to space science than Apollo did. Not to say that we didn't learn many useful and valuable things from Apollo, but Apollo was about a destination, STS was about doing useful stuff in space. We'll reap the benefits from both for a long time to come.

        I personally believe that the loss of astronauts and cosmonauts in the last 50 years has not gone in vain. They gave their lives for their country, their countrymen, their planet and for science. Because of them we have global satellite communications, GPS, advanced materials, highly developed engineering, improved cosmology and a vision of the heavens we only dreamed of.

        They knew the risks and they took them gladly - they are heros, every last one of them.

      • Re:from the make-it-memorable dept. (Score:4, Informative)

        by frieko (855745) on Saturday September 19, @02:23PM (#29478013)
        While I agree that the Shuttle gets a bad rap on safety, the fact that in 32 manned flights, Apollo, Mercury and Gemini lost just one crew and zero vehicles is pretty remarkable.

        Don't worry, I'm sure in time the shuttle will be remembered as a white elephant rather than a death trap ;)

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by sconeu (64226)

        Gemini 8 had the crew closer to death than did Apollo 13.

  • Thank you for playing (Score:4, Funny)

    by tverbeek (457094) on Saturday September 19, @11:31AM (#29476929) Homepage

    Those would-be astronauts who were not chosen are welcome to join the crews of Apollo 18, 19, and 20 in the lounge, where they will receive some lovely parting gifts.

  • ... the USA won't have the ability to put its own astronauts into orbit by choice (as opposed to by circumstance after shuttle accidents).

    Way to go NASA.

    *sigh*

    • You mean "Way to go, Congress that has no closed the pursestrings so tight that even developing nations look like they have better prospects for manned spaceflight."

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Darkness404 (1287218)
      While NASA doesn't have the greatest track record, I'm not sure if we can blame NASA for all these problems. NASA's budget is getting tighter and tighter every year. In general the shuttle program was a failure, it failed to really cut costs or be any more reliable than Russia's space program and even though it did do some neat and useful things such as the space telescope, it really couldn't do more than that. If we want to have people back on the moon again, we need to make some new rockets, something we
    • To be fair human kind hasn't left low earth orbit since December 1972.

      Way to go lack of public interest and dwindling funding.

      *sigh*

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by K. S. Kyosuke (729550)
      Uhm, wasn't there a six-year window in US manned spaceflights after the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975? And the world did not end.
      • Unless you are significantly over 30 you won't realise what you're saying. 6 years is 6 wasted years. When you reach 40 you see that 1 year is nothing. Time speeds by, and nobody does anything ! Oh to be young and have all the time in the world. I just hope you do have the time you need. Don't expect me to stop pushing though ...

    • Re:For the first time in almost 50 years... (Score:4, Informative)

      by dryeo (100693) on Saturday September 19, @12:46PM (#29477433)

      There was a long stretch between the end of Apollo and the first Shuttle where America didn't have the capability of getting an astronaut to orbit.

    • Avast ye scurvy unbelever, NASA has plans for some of the finest ships to sail the voids! Ye may think that the budget flounders but by God she'll settle straight yet! When America's budgetary concerns pick up this not having money blarney will sink and her captain keelhauled, and cash will flow from the grand admiral's treasury! ye haven't seen anything like the ships that will sail when the economic blow heads south and the seas are smooth again. Avast I say!

  • Too bad "Cash for Clunkers" has ended... (Score:3, Funny)

    by HouseOfMisterE (659953) on Saturday September 19, @11:38AM (#29476979)

    ...they could have traded the Shuttle in towards a nice Hybrid.

  • The crew should be VERY afraid! (Score:4, Funny)

    by NoYob (1630681) on Saturday September 19, @11:42AM (#29477019)
    "Last scheduled mission"

    That's is always how it starts. The last scheduled missions are always the ones that get lost in black holes, freak accidents where they get frozen or some such then they all appear in the future with every one being apes or something or thrust into another dimension.

    I DON'T want to be them! Something's going to happen!

  • Great! We got a slick lunar rover! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Hawthorne01 (575586) on Saturday September 19, @11:43AM (#29477023)
    Now if we only had a rocket to get it to the moon...

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by kestasjk (933987) *
      It's called the Ares V, and it too is still under development
        • Well I'm not a US citizen so I have no say in that, but I think the Constellation program will pull through

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by kestasjk (933987) *
          Then why are they going with Ares V?

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by camperdave (969942)
            The other thing I don't get is the pro-NASA, anti-Direct attitude on Slashdot. On every other topic the crowd here is anti-Proprietary, Pro-Open-Source, yet when you point out that a bunch of NASA engineers and industry personnel band together in their spare time and essentially put together an "open source" launch vehicle which has been independently verified in terms of capabilities, engineering, budget, etc. you get downmodded. It's The Cathedral and the Bazaar NASA style, and Slashdot is a community
  • ... seems to be a bunch of hangers on at Kennedy getting their last ride up. Per the article, they're mostly NASA management types with a semirookie pilot. I wouldn't expect any science from these guys, I'm thinking they're up there for the photo opportunities.

    And yeah I'm bitter that they didn't pick me.

  • America's fall from grace, causes humanity's fall from space. Will all progress be backwards from now on?

  • Progess (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Wowsers (1151731) on Saturday September 19, @12:38PM (#29477377) Journal

    Retiring the Shuttle programe is called technological progress!?! Look at us mere mortals still flying supersonically in Concorde. Oh wait, now we all have to use slow subsonic 747's and Airbus'. THAT'S progress for you.

    • Re:Progess (Score:4, Insightful)

      by couchslug (175151) on Saturday September 19, @01:18PM (#29477639)

      Technological progress doesn't always equal "going faster".

      We don't _need_ supersonic aircraft for passenger use, the public didn't want to pay for it, so Concorde is history. We need to haul people in bulk at low cost per seat, low fuel expense, and with as little pollution as practical.

      We don't _need_ to hurry putting _people_ in space, because the rest of our supporting technology can be developed less expensively (and without the loss-multiplier effect when expensive manned systems crash). We do _need_ robots and to develop remotely-manned systems for use on and off-world. Never send a human to do a machines job. Just as we use ROVs under the ocean because the environment is hostile and they are cheaper than manned systems, so we should deal with space exploration. The purpose of space exploration is to learn about the universe. The purpose of human sustainment experiments is only to learn how to sustain humans. These things are not the same.

      The commercial world will eventually develop ways to send rich tourists to space, which is perfectly appropriate.
      NASA should be doing pure research, not romantic tourism. So what if other countries put up more people sooner? We do the very same thing they did with our previous research and exploit it later.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by jabithew (1340853)

        We don't _need_ supersonic aircraft for passenger use, the public didn't want to pay for it, so Concorde is history.

        That, and the fact that it was banned from flying supersonically over the US (ostensibly for environmental reasons), reducing the number of routes it could take dramatically, and the fact that it had that crash in Paris. Plus it was an Anglo-French project and the British and French flag-carriers were the only ones who could ever be persuaded to fly the damn things.

        • Not "that and" anything. Concorde had one crash, ever, a good 20 odd years after the stupid woman in NY complained about the noise. You wouldn't hear it over the cars these days. Concorde was making a profit. Politics took that bird down, the same as every other British technological advance since the US became the saviour of the human race. Our rocketry was part of the space race, our technology and innovation helped create satellites, manned rockets, computers and the atom bomb, and yet here we are buying
    • In a way it is. We, joe public, want cheap airfares and only cheap airfares. So expensive planes like the Concorde were no long a good long term investment (supersonic flight is always going to cost more fuel than subsonic). The development is that almost anyone, and almost everyone in the western world now travels all over the world. Its no long just the rich jet setters... *Thats progress*!

      The shuttle costs ~500M per flight... Thats one expensive first class ticket.... Getting back to normal people is

  • "Space, the Final frontier...

    Its last mission, to Boldly go where no man will go again.

  • This is not how the Face of Boe got his name.

    Or maybe so.

  • Viewing the rover video has convinced me the US will go throuh with this space program. Real work, real schedules, real tests, capable technology. I wish NASA and the US all the best with the upcoming establishment of the lunar base.

  • Call me sexist but... (Score:3, Funny)

    by FlyingGuy (989135) <flyingguyNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Saturday September 19, @08:43PM (#29480317)

    Nicole P. Stott - Uhm, oh yes indeed.

    FULLY qualified, smart, intelligent and yet still Saaaamokin!

  • Lunar-Electric Rover (Score:3, Funny)

    by RealGrouchy (943109) on Sunday September 20, @09:47AM (#29482787)

    TFA says the rover is Lunar-Electric. I assume this means it's a hybrid that runs partly on electricity and partly on lunacy.

    - RG>

  • I dare them... (Score:3, Funny)

    by RogueWarrior65 (678876) on Sunday September 20, @11:33AM (#29483355)

    I dare the pilot to do a barrel roll on reentry.

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