Discovery ready to fly.. weather permitting..
The weather is the only factor left in the decision on whether the Space Shuttle Discovery will launch on schedule today – that’s 3.49pm local time, which turns into 8.49pm here. Both The Guardian and the BBC have reports, including the safety concerns following the damage caused during last year’s launch when sections of foam broke away. As then, NASA TV will broadcast the launch live on the internet in a variety of formats, and this time round they’ve decided to blog it too. I’d expect a repeat podcast from space at some point.. Fingers crossed then. Update Weather was not permitting, launch delayed 24 hours.
A live disaster maybe? hope not.
Pete – no offence meant – but I sometimes wonder why you blog things that have no relevance to NI whatsoever?
(says the man who blogged about a German footballer yesterday..)
well if it crashes, it could land on top of us
None taken, Aaron.
The reason is simple.. it’s important to look up from our navels every once and a while.. and where better to look up to than at the stars?
Fair enough!
the lanch has been canceled guys, due to weather. Apparently there are lighting clouds that could case an explosion if the space shuttle were to be hit and they wont be making a second attempt today
So?
I come to Slugger’s for what it says on the tin.
Believe it or not Mr Baker, if I want space stuff I go to a space website, ther are many.
You do realise there are other internet sites? Media? We read them?
We don’t need you to expand our gaze. We do that ourselves you arrogant little …..
You seriously think it takes you to expand our horizons?In your own arrogant bs style *sheesh*
I’m interested in space and would be interested from time to time in hearing other northern irish and irish people’s views on it. I don’t think it’s fair to so viciously criticise Pete over this when he’s correct about how big space is and how small a place our planet is by comparison. It doesn’t make him arrogant to say so.
What??? No Space Shuttle Talk? I want my money back!
Just kidding.
Charles Laughton gazing at the moon in a puddle.
‘na’ stamping his petulant little feet on the image. Nothing changes. But good try Pete.
Will we ever reach Mars?
The last 50 years have quietly gone by but our understanding of the Universe has increased by leaps and bounds. So much to explore so much to see and learn if only we could had the technology to do it effectively. Will we ever travel between the stars over the vast reaches of space?
Shuttle or no shuttle planet NI will keep revolving in it’s eternal orbit between two worlds , one dead and the other powerless to be born
‘I look at the stars and I sez to meself ,what is the stars ?’
We are all ‘Joxer Daly’s . It is part of the human condition .
Joxer Daly in Sean O’Casey’s ‘Plough and the Stars
‘ but our understanding of the Universe has increased by leaps and bounds.’
Both micro and macro universes . However a grand unifying theory of everything remains somewhat elusive .
‘ Will we ever travel between the stars over the vast reaches of space? ‘
If we survive long enough as a species perhaps ? . Looking at the limitations that humanity is bound to by the present ‘laws’ of physics and our short human lifespan it does not seem likely anytime soon .Nothing wrong with the ‘vision’ though .
I’m reminded of the Wright brother’s sister who was so excited by the call from her brothers that they would be home soon from their ’54 seconds in the air ‘ flight in Kitty Hawk that she contacted a local journalist and asked him to put the news in the local paper .
In a brief remark in the local paer the story read .
‘Local bicycle mechanics will be home for the holidays ‘
Sight without vision is the norm for most of us . Which is another reason why many are rooted to the past and have no vision of the future ?
Whenever one travels by air spare a thought for the ‘vision’ of two ‘culchies’ in the boonies of Ohio . Without their vision and that of some others it would be more than just a long way to Tipperary or Shanghai
Best of luck to the Discovery crew:)
Greenflag
Whenever one travels by air spare a thought for the ‘vision’ of two ‘culchies’ in the boonies of Ohio . Without their vision and that of some others it would be more than just a long way to Tipperary or Shanghai
They are among my heroes. Truly amazing the progress in the last century.
As for the theory of everything, life, the Universe, the ingenuity of the mathematical concepts and theories being used are amazing. It is a joy to see how people are pushing forward the boundaries of knowledge. There are so many things we really don’t understand, but someone somewhere will hit on a major idea that will propel us forward again.
Space is such a challenging environment, it is utterly merciless and the advances needed in technology to enable space exploration could have significant spin off on earth. As you say ‘if we survive as a species’ there is no where else to go for more land (of sorts) and resources. Perhaps 1000 years from now.
‘Pete – no offence meant – but I sometimes wonder why you blog things that have no relevance to NI whatsoever?’
Well, not Northern Ireland, but its neighbour at any rate. One of the experiments to be carried out with the help of this launch is Irish…
http://www.online.ie/News/IrishNews/News.aspx?newsId=390637
Wais a sec… there might be a link to NI after all…
The current method of checking, which this experiment hopes to avoid, involves sticking a probe where the sun don’t shine. So, at least the Free Ps should be happy! Good enough link!?! to NI? :¬)
Ah, one of the great things about blogs. If I didn’t like a story because it’s about space or whatever then it’s gone with one flick of my mouse wheel. Now, who’s going to add more mathematics stuff for me?
OC
Perhaps a discussion on string threoy post holidays?
Would be interesting to see how some turn it into justification for a United Ireland and some how it proves the converse.
Crat,
Happy to take up the challenge – the fact that by the end of this century man will have permanent bases off-planet emphasises once again that hanging onto old artificial boudaries based on bygone empires is insane.
Time to build a stronger European entity in which the Irish have no need nor wish for an unnecessary layer of goverment at Westminister.
Northern Ireland as presently constituted will always be a remote part of Britain. By contrast Newry is already part of Dublin’s commuter zone and that’s where our future lies. The Belfast-Dublin corridor is becoming a real factor in the here and now.
If the British wish to continue excluding themselves from the decision-making process by clinging to a non-existent ‘Special Relationship’ let them do so. The EU is good for Ireland and Ireland is good for the EU. Let’s give our allegiance where we have something useful to contribute.
lib2016
The fundamental question is whether or not the strings are required to be closed loops and does the particle spectrum includes fermions? For if it does there must be a special kind of symmetry called supersymmetry, which means for every boson there is a corresponding fermion.
In relation to NI politics it is obvious that there are Bosos if not bosons but are there a corresponding number of fermions? Is supersymmetry a valid concept and can it be applied to the random nature of politics here?
Crat,
The strings tying us to Dublin will prove to be the strongest.
Don’t give up yet on the chaos that is Northern Ireland – somewhere a butterfly is stirring.
Lib2016
Good to see you support the concept of closed loops.
Hopefully a good summer for butterflies.
Crat,
It would probably be good if more of our politicians were bosons instead of fermions. Bosons would happy to occupy the same parliament at the same time, whereas fermions cannot thanks to the Pauli exclusion principle.
OC
Nice one! Occupying the same state simultaneously does seem to be a problem here.