Naaaawwww!!:D

Thank you SO much for this fantastic alternative.

At LAUNCH when you include the solid rocket boosters and topped off external fuel tank the entire stack weighs 4.4 million pounds.

A failed APU fuel heater could cause significant damage if the hydrazine inside froze while in orbit and ruptured the tank. They have these tests and checks in place for a reason.

Steven Young from SpaceFlightNow explains what we know about why Endeavour’s launch today was scrubbed. Short version: Not the weather, but reportedly because of a problem with one of the orbiter’s Auxillary Power Units

Which would spell certain disaster if they were to find themselves trapped in one of the Empire’s tractor beams!

I think I’d rather land with the space shuttle than the airbus.

Or maybe you were joking. I can’t tell.

Have we become the laughingstock of space programs?

Yeah, they laugh… and then NASA is all like “Oh, we’re sorry. Is our reusable space transport not as good as your reusable space transport? Yeah, well, you’ve probably got a way better reusable space transport.”

Enjoy the liftoff! Thanks for live-blogging.

Those guys might actually get some space-flying done once those white elephants are out of the way.

Thanks for covering this.

Gusts are so forceful out here that my Mac Air just blew right off the table and hit the ground when I stepped away for a moment.

They should turn that into a Macbook Air commercial….

If you don’t go, I’ll even regret it. $240 is totally a bargain.

Unless you’re trying to be sanctimonious, I think godspeed is just fine. English is full of words from many origins. By the way, if you have a problem with godspeed, you might also consider eliminating “sanctimonious” from your vocabulary too – look it up. “Sciencespeed” is about sensible as freedom fries.

If atheists had to avoid using words with a religious derivation, we’d need to rename the days of the week, and a thousand other things. Intent, not etymology!

it’s a space pickup truck, for christ’s sake.

The shuttle program certainly had its share of flaws, limitations, and misguided priorities… but how can you say something like “space pickup truck” as if that idea isn’t totally awesome?

“Yeah, me and some buddies are drivin’ down to Florida this weekend to help move a couple of Commsats. Into SPACE.“

I would say “bon voyage”, but I’m not French.

I’m making a cross-country drive for unrelated reasons and with a very open schedule and very soon, and while Florida is a *bit* out of the way for a New York – California trip, this would definitely be worth seeing when it actually launches (assuming it will be a few days until a re-launch). I won’t be available for the final shuttle launch so it would be my last chance.

Well, it’s ~1500 miles out of the way to be more precise, which is about $240 worth of gas alone in my car, so maybe I can’t afford it… but I’ll certainly regret it later.

If it makes you feel better, throw out a “Goodspeed Atlantis,” but then you seem just as bad as the ultra-religious people who write out G-d because they consider it blasphemy to write out the whole word.

The Airbus A380 has a maximum take-off weight of approx. 715 tons.

(Is this right? I’m going by the listings on Wikipedia.)