Nibb31

The Russians had a program similar to the X-1, based on a capture German prototype, the DFS 346. The prototype, program, and the German team (including engineers and test pilots) were transferred back to Russia. It is possible that they actually flew a supersonic flight before the US, but they never claimed the record, maybe because the pilot and the technology was German and not Russian. The first Soviet airplane to go officially supersonic was the Lavochkin La-168 in December 1948, one year after Chuck Yeager's flight. They also had an earlier domestic program, called the LL-1, but I was unable to find anything about it beyond the few lines in astronautix.com...

The Delta IV in that picture is Boeing. Orion is Lockheed Martin. Those are private industry.

Why would SpaceX divert resources to adapt an inadequate spacecraft onto their working rocket instead of their own spacecraft. DreamChaser isn't a spaceplane. It's a lifting body capsule, an overcomplicated design that still goes up on a freaking Atlas V. The lifting body shape only makes it more much complex and riskier than it needs to be for the job. Nobody asked for "reduced G-forces" and "cross-range". And CST-100 has many advantages over DreamChaser, including a protected TPS, a proven and reliable aerodynamic profile, survivable abort modes, and engines that actually work. The legal appeal process is only going to add more delays to the program without changing the outcome. The whole Commercial Crew Program only has time for 6 to 8 flights before the ISS is cancelled. More delays only means less flights, which makes the whole point of spending $6.8 billion for the program pointless.

The diplomacy in Civ 5 made it unplayable. Whatever you did to please the AIs, they would always attack you out of the blank, even if it was completely dumb. You really just had to ignore the diplomacy and play as a free for all until they were all destroyed.

We know all about the Soviet space program, including its numerous failures. We have detailed blueprints of the vehicles. We have corroborated first hand accounts of the people who were there. Archives about the N1 program, the Nedelin disaster, or Soyuz 1 have all been published, despite those events being denied by the Soviets at the time. In fact, we know more about the Soviet space program than we do about some of the USAF cold war projects that are still classified. I don't see why the "lost astronauts" would be kept secret when much more embarrassing things have gone public.

Erm... okay.

Yes, KSP's "monopropellant" is equivalent to hydrazine, which is mostly used for RCS systems. It is highly toxic and volatile stuff, which is why most spacecraft dump it before reaching the ground, so as to not endanger ground crews or to avoid catastrophic leaks during the landing.

Metal fatigue. Bend a piece of aluminium several times and it's going to break.

My favorite visualization was MilkDrop 2.0 for Winamp. I think it's still around on iOS and Android under the name Project M.

It looks like it has some sort of HDR processing going on, which brings out the details.

Because that would negate your arguments about the superior design and build quality.

Seasons are defined by the period between equinoxes and solstices, which are related to the angle of the axial tilt to the sun. It seems to me that as long as the axial tilt itself doesn't wobble all over the place, a season will always be equal 1/4 of a year.

Crossing the Atlantic in one of those would be orders of magnitude easier and faster than travelling to Alpha Centauri on chemical propulsion, actually. Interstellar travel with current technology would be more like emptying the Atlantic Ocean with a teaspoon.

It looks eerily like a mountain top in the Alps, but floating in space... You could nearly picture a Swiss chalet on the slope

A tiny old iPhone might be ok, but the iPhone 6 Plus or Galaxy Note phones are a bit big and heavy for shirt pockets. But do you always wear a shirt with pockets 100% of the time? I wear t-shirts most of the time and have been carrying my android phablets in my trouser pockets for years, even sitting on them in my back pockets, with no damage. People shouldn't need to change their clothing habits to adapt to a new phone. The "you're carrying it wrong" sounds a lot like Apple's "your holding it wrong" during the iPhone 4 reception debacle. If a phone gets permanently damaged after 2 weeks of everyday normal use, then it has a design flaw. Telling people not to carry a phone in their pockets is a pretty big restriction.

And so much for Apple's "superior build quality" and "Apple doing it right": http://mashable.com/2014/09/23/bent-iphone-6/ Oops!

You forgot the Newton.

64GB storage actually. I've got one, and I love it

Explaining why we aren't going to the moon is not advocating that we shouldn't.

You don't need to be able to build a working system to apply for a patent. Patents cover methods, not implementations.

You're assuming the flag is even still there. The nylon it was made of has probably degraded under the UV and temperature cycles so much that it has probably crumbled to dust.

Yes, I think we understood the story, you've told it 4 times already. There isn't much else to say other than: if you see blue lights and a siren, get out of the way.

It is illegal to use a blue flashing light and a siren if you are not an authorized emergency vehicle AND responding to an emergency situation. If you see a flashing blue light and a siren, you have to assume that it's an emergency vehicle and pull over/make way. If you don't, then you are obstructing it purposely and breaking the law. If it's an idiot pulling a prank with a fake blue light and siren, then he's the one breaking the law. Impersonating police forces is a crime much worse than not pulling over. It's the sort of thing that will land you in jail.

Not worse than the hoards of people who drop-test or dunk-test $700 phones for 5 seconds of "fame" on YouTube... Stupidity has no limits.

So what is your question this time Pawel ?