"Frickin' Fantastic" Launch of NASA's Ares I-X Rocket 383
coondoggie writes "With a hiss and roar, NASA's Ares I-X rocket blasted into the atmosphere this morning at about 11:33 am EST, taking with it a variety of test equipment and sensors but also high hopes for the future of the US space agency. The short test flight — about 2 minutes — will provide NASA an early opportunity to look at hardware, models, facilities and ground operations associated with the mostly new Ares I launch vehicle. The mission went off without a hitch — 'frickin' fantastic' was how one NASA executive classified it on NASA TV — as the upper stage simulator and first stage separated at approximately 130,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean. The unpowered simulator splashed down in the ocean."
But it wasn't as cool (Score:1, Funny)
Frickin' Fantastic (Score:5, Funny)
"Heck yeah!"
Re:Test flight examination? (Score:5, Funny)
Did a search for Lawn darts... best picture ever http://www.core77.com/blog/images/vanbezooyen_core77_worsttoys.jpg [core77.com]
Re:Test flight examination? (Score:3, Funny)
They did that by doing programmed attitude changes that put forces on the structure
I'm sorry ground control, I can't do that.
Re:What's next? (Score:2, Funny)
Ares 1-Y [wikipedia.org] in 2013
Ares 1-Y-not?
Re:Full Circle? (Score:3, Funny)
NASA's priorities....? (Score:5, Funny)
Great. First we bomb the moon, looking for water. [slashdot.org] Then we bomb the Atlantic Ocean. Were we looking for Moons?
Re:economic stupidity (Score:3, Funny)
It is, however, a wonderful time to rein in your spelling.
Re:What's next? (Score:3, Funny)
your user name is remarkably appropriate
Re:Test flight examination? (Score:4, Funny)
I remember making our own (though I was born in '81 so I could have gotten my hands on the real thing). My grandfather kept chickens, ducks, and geese as farm animals, and there were always some feathers laying around the yard (I think - I'm hoping that my cousins weren't just pulling the feathers where they could get them :)).
Anyways, we'd take a bundle of feathers and push them through a large heavy hex-nut. The hex-nut gave it enough weight to throw and come down with force, and the feathers stabilized the flight and made for a good tip when coming down :).
what we have to figure out (Score:4, Funny)
Re:economic stupidity (Score:3, Funny)
We will always have the poor.
Not if we launch them into space.
Re:Uh huh (Score:4, Funny)
Another hitch, only reported on Fox, was that after it landed in the ocean the booster section was captured by Somali pirates and is currently being held for ransom...
Re:Uh huh (Score:3, Funny)
Nobody is going to say "I'd told you so!", if the Shuttle were to be zapped by aliens while on the pad.
I bet the "timecube" guy would.
Re:economic stupidity (Score:3, Funny)
""Space is a frontier for our great-grandchildren to consider"
We will always have the poor."
And that's why we have to fling the poor into a hyperbolic escape trajectory.
It's for science!
Re:Uh huh (Score:3, Funny)
There is justice on slashdot. You have been modded up, finally.