[LINK] Re: aint the internet great?

[Adam Todd]

At 10:49 AM 19/12/2006, Howard Lowndes wrote:


>Jan Whitaker wrote:
>>At 10:02 AM 19/12/2006, Adam Todd wrote:
>>>BTW - URL URL URL!  Stop teasing us and tell us the URL!
>>>
>>>Not Happy Jan!
>>Just google Nasa TV. They are using Yahoo Broadcast this time, which I 
>>think is new.  I've just watched them manually fix the solar array and 
>>pull it back into storage. They've been working on it for two days. 
>>Imagine folding a map in space that won't cooperate.
>
>...at least they only have to cope with the solar wind  :)

And a bit more.  Last week there started on the Sun a solar burst that has 
interfered with GSP, Military and other satellite and earth based 
communications.  Nasty stuff too.

If it's powerful enough to wipe out the function of radio communications, 
imagine what it would do to a chook in a space suit!

As to folding maps in space that won't cooperate, Jan, I suspect nothing 
folds easily in space, even inside the space station - once it's larger 
than a few feet in size!

Not a job I envy at all.  In fact to be totally honest I reckon cleaning 
sewers would be an easier and less frustrating job that anything these 
astronauts (if we must call them that) do beyond being strapped in a seat 
for a very face warping start.

As much as I'd love to go into space, doing the construction, movements and 
space walks, as thrilling as they might appear, would have to be the most 
frustrating tasks you could experience.  Going over ever process in 
numbered steps, like the recent dropped bolt incident and recovering the 
same, the slow, tedious process.

Film making has it's slow moments, but at least if we drop a bolt it's not 
moving at 32,000 km's per hour in a perpetual direction, and only takes us 
about 3 seconds to pick up!

I hear that the stress in these people isn't all that big a deal, but I 
think it's more the psychology they apply to themselves, the passion that 
have to the tasks they have to do (and probably really loath doing 
sometimes) and the majestic power of actually achieving what they know, as 
so few others know, is not a simple process.

My scalp is off to them!  Setting aside the risk of exploding space craft, 
which in terms of comparison to car accident is en enormous high risk, but 
in terms of number of events, is very low, they are true heros of mankind.,

Just a shame that the moon and broader exploration hasn't happened, and has 
been stalled by mans own failure to cooperate and achieve unification 
across all races, religions and ideals.

Anyway ...