Shuttle to launch in about 7 minutes

[karlrschneider]

For those who're interested. :D
sorry for the dupe, the other post sank off page 1
:shrug:

[BlueJazz]

1. Thanks ..I'm gonna' walk outside and see it.

[karlrschneider]

2. Cool, I used to watch when I lived in Tampa!

:hi:

[karlrschneider]

5. T minus 3 minutes

and counting

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. Right there with ya, Karl. T minus nine minutes started about 45 seconds ago...6:29PM

Go Endeavor. Go Flight

[karlrschneider]

4. T minus 6

...

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. I was going by what C-Span said just before i posted above...3 mins now

[karlrschneider]

7. 1 minute, all go

...

[A HERETIC I AM]

8. 1 min....here we go.

[supernova]

10. Caught it in time!

Thanks for the reminder! :thumbsup:

[A HERETIC I AM]

9. Gorgeous. Perfect. Good job.

[wuushew]

11. The shuttle is a big waste of money

the sooner they retire it the sooner we can start on a manned Mars mission.

[supernova]

12. We have to finish building the ISS

The plan is to retire the shuttle in 2010.

But I have to say, the space program is one of the very best things we do.

[RL3AO]

13. It would be a waste of money to not finish the ISS.

[karlrschneider]

14. I'm not opposed to a Mars mission but how, using your criteria, could that

not be an even bigger "waste"?

I don't think it's a waste, I think the invasion of Iraq is the real waste and could have bought a hundred shuttles by now.
:eyes:

[supernova]

15. You speak truth, Karl

the invasion of Iraq is the real waste and could have bought a hundred shuttles by now.

[wuushew]

16. It would be something new at least

Look at the new fields of study

-non-terrestrial geology

-non-terrestrial geo-chemistry

-searching for past or present Martian life

-developing instu propellant manufacturing

-developing greenhouse and agriculture techniques for eventual colonization



The shuttle is a 30 year old deathtrap desperately searching for a mission. People forget that its original design was in a very large part dictated by the need to launch and retrieve over sized military satellites. I am not against the ISS per say, but thanks to Bush Russia is slipping into a second Cold War with us anyway.