snidely@nosun.UUCP (David Schneider) (03/01/90)
Well, you all know by now that Atlantis lept into the sky in the wee hours of the Cape morning (about 11 pm Tuesday for us on the west coast). (I feel silly not knowing the time of liftoff, but I was watching the screen, not the clock. Was it about 2:10 EST?) While I don't approve of thousands of repeats of widely available TV news, I do like to get a record of the launch into the net archives. The CNN commentator on the spot noted that the orbital inclination made the shuttle dissappear quicker for his position. I'm not sure why, since there would be no mountains in the way in that direction, either, and the curvature of the earth should be about the same over the significant distance. Does this indicate a different rate of climb? CNN also had a quiz about which shuttle flight held the record for launch delays; I missed the answer, so I look forward to seeing your Also, does anyone still know the record for non-shuttle manned flight launch delays? I had hoped to get coverage on CSPAN II (forwarding NASA select), but it seems they took their usual tack of just covering the launches that go from a well-publicized time. Which hasn't fit any of the recent launches, classified or otherwise. Well, congratulations to the crew and ground teams, and (to adapt the Irish wish) may they land with the wind in their face. Dave Schneider Wednesday, Feb 28 (if reply-address gives trouble, try snidely@intelisc.UUCP for pre-CSNet routing)
prune@myrddyn.hf.intel.com.ogi.edu (03/02/90)
snidely@isc.intel.com (David Schneider) writes: > CNN also had a quiz about which shuttle flight held the record for > launch delays; I missed the answer, so I look forward to seeing your > Also, does anyone still know the record for non-shuttle manned flight > launch delays? I'm pretty sure it's still Gemini 6, which finally made it to orbit four days *after* Gemini 7. Gemini 6 even got as far as "ignition" once: there was a screech like a million ambushed bobcats, a short blast of flame, and an auto- shutdown due to a malfunction in a fuel line. It looked like one of my model rocket non-launches, but was *much* more disappointing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: Intel pays me well for the opinions it wants; the other stuff remains mine. Some of the latter is posted; it's worth what you paid for it. "We're doing everything we can, and stop calling me 'Shirley'." local backbone: tektronix myrddyn!prune@uunet.uu.net USA phone: (503) 696-5192 prune@ijf2.hf.intel.com
conor@wren.inmos.co.uk (Conor O'Neill) (03/02/90)
In article <598@intelisc.nosun.UUCP> snidely@isc.intel.com (David Schneider) writes: >Well, you all know by now that Atlantis lept into the sky in the wee >hours of the Cape morning (about 11 pm Tuesday for us on the west coast). >(I feel silly not knowing the time of liftoff, but I was watching the >screen, not the clock. Was it about 2:10 EST?) >While I don't approve of thousands of repeats of widely available >TV news, I do like to get a record of the launch into the net archives. Even in (civilised?) Britain, it is easy to miss this unless you watch every news bulletin, or read every newspaper. (I only saw 1 column inch in the Times about the LDEF retrieval.) So thanks for posting the information anyway. Just a shame that it takes till Friday morning for the news to reach here! (Has it landed yet? :-) Conor O'Neill, Software Group, INMOS Ltd., UK. UK: conor@inmos.co.uk US: conor@inmos.com "It's state-of-the-art" "But it doesn't work!" "That is the state-of-the-art".
dsmith@hplabsb.HP.COM (David Smith) (03/03/90)
In article <841@gandalf.littlei.UUCP> prune@myrddyn.hf.intel.com (Prune Wickart) writes: >snidely@isc.intel.com (David Schneider) writes: >> Also, does anyone still know the record for non-shuttle manned flight >> launch delays? > > I'm pretty sure it's still Gemini 6, which finally made it to orbit four >days *after* Gemini 7. Gemini 6 even got as far as "ignition" once: there was That accounts for one delay. I believe G6 had an earlier one when the Agena failed to get into orbit. That makes two. But I don't think G6 had a large number of delays. John Glenn's flight had lots of delays, mostly for weather, as I recall. -- David R. Smith, HP Labs dsmith@hplabs.hp.com (415) 857-7898
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (03/03/90)
In article <598@intelisc.nosun.UUCP> snidely@isc.intel.com (David Schneider) writes: >CNN also had a quiz about which shuttle flight held the record for >launch delays; I missed the answer, so I look forward to seeing your... The obvious two candidates are (a) STS-1, and (b) STS-26, respectively the first shuttle flight (years behind schedule) and the first post-Challenger flight (ditto). However, that's probably not what CNN meant... >Also, does anyone still know the record for non-shuttle manned flight >launch delays? Probably Apollo 7 (18 months after original schedule for first manned Apollo flight), but again that's stretching the question a bit... The "normal" delay record is probably held by Gemini 6, as others have commented. -- MSDOS, abbrev: Maybe SomeDay | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology an Operating System. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
bro@eunomia.rice.edu (Douglas Monk) (03/03/90)
In article <598@intelisc.nosun.UUCP> snidely@isc.intel.com (David Schneider) writes: >Also, does anyone still know the record for non-shuttle manned flight >launch delays? Apollo 18. We're *STILL* waiting... :-) Doug Monk (bro@rice.edu)