[net.columbia] Mission 23/61B touchdown

rjnoe@riccb.UUCP (Roger J. Noe) (12/04/85)

Space shuttle Atlantis touched down on runway 22 at NASA's Dryden Flight
Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base, California at the end of its
second mission at 13:34 PST today, 3 December 1985.  Mission 61-B was
pronounced an unqualified success by NASA managers.  Three communications
satellites were launched, including one each for Mexico and Australia.
The third, Satcom Ku-2, used for the first time a larger version of the
McDonnell Douglas PAM (Payload Assist Module) used by other communications
satellites to reach geosynchronous orbit.  A set of experiments was
conducted in two days of extravehicular activity by astronauts Jerry Ross
and Sherwood Spring that paves the way for future assembly of space structures
including the space station.

Mission 24/61C is currently scheduled for launch from Kennedy Space Center
in Florida on December 18.  It will be orbiter vehicle Columbia's seventh
mission.  Columbia was last used two years ago on mission 9/41A, Spacelab 1.
Since then it has undergone extensive refurbishment and upgrading from the
flight test equipment it originally had (unlike the other orbiter vehicles).
Since this newsgroup can go for two years named after a non-functioning space
shuttle vehicle, couldn't it just as well be named after a permanently non-
functioning vehicle, the FIRST flying shuttle, Enterprise?
--
Roger Noe			ihnp4!riccb!rjnoe

andrew@orca.UUCP (Andrew Klossner) (12/04/85)

[]

	"Since this newsgroup can go for two years named after a
	non-functioning space shuttle vehicle, couldn't it just as well
	be named after a permanently non- functioning vehicle, the
	FIRST flying shuttle, Enterprise?"

Are you crazy?  Do that and we'll be inundated with postings from
trekkies who are new to the net.

The overhead of renaming a newgroup is not worth it.  Renaming a
newsgroup consists of deleting the old and creating the new.  You lose
all the archived articles, because the old directory is trashed and a
new one is built.  You also invalidate everyone's ".newsrc" file, you
stand a chance of losing some contributors to confusion, and you'll
find the group resurrected under its old name several times by news
administrators who decide that the group died by accident (system file
corruption, etc.)

Let's let this proposal die.

  -=- Andrew Klossner   (decvax!tektronix!tekecs!andrew)       [UUCP]
                        (tekecs!andrew.tektronix@csnet-relay)  [ARPA]

inc@fluke.UUCP (Gary Benson) (12/06/85)

> []
> 
> 	"...this newsgroup ... named after a
> 	non-functioning space ... vehicle, couldn't it just as well
> 	be named after ... the ... Enterprise?"
> 

>> Are you crazy?  Do that and we'll be inundated with postings from
>> trekkies who are new to the net.
>> 
>> The overhead of renaming a newgroup is not worth it.  Renaming a
>> newsgroup consists of deleting the old and creating the new.  You lose
>> all the archived articles, because the old directory is trashed and a
>> new one is built.  You also invalidate everyone's ".newsrc" file, you
>> stand a chance of losing some contributors to confusion, and you'll
>> find the group resurrected under its old name several times by news
>> administrators who decide that the group died by accident (system file
>> corruption, etc.)
>> 
>> Let's let this proposal die.
>> 
>>   -=- Andrew Klossner   (decvax!tektronix!tekecs!andrew)       [UUCP]

*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***

HEAR HEAR!! Besides all those logical reasons, some of us feel a certain
sentimental attachment to the name of the group, not only because we feel a
spark of pride about the orginal shuttle, but also because the anachronism
of naming this group after it is an endearing part of the newsgroup. I'm not
some kind of emotional slob, but the shuttle holds a special place in my
view of human accomplishments. I'd like to see this newsgroup be called
net.columbia long after the retirement of its namesake.

Can't you just see it? The year 3000: our successor's successors submitting
articles on space flight to net.columbia! I think it would be fun in the
same sense that today it would be fun to pick up a ringer-type phone
somewhere in a tiny town in Maine, spin the crank a few times and hear a
crackling voice say, "Central".

Hail Columbia!


-- 
 Gary Benson  *  John Fluke Mfg. Co.  *  PO Box C9090  *  Everett WA  *  98206
   MS/232-E  = =   {allegra} {uw-beaver} !fluke!inc   = =   (206)356-5367
 _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-ascii is our god and unix is his profit-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_