StrandedonEarth

Well, the internet back then was not capable of streaming much. I think debut launches of a new vehicle would get a sound bite on the news, as well as any major deep-space missions. But regular rockets were definitely overshadowed by the Space Shuttle, and even that was soon reduced to sound bites when it launched and landed, if that. The first D4H launched in 2004, the second in 2007. I wasn't watching much TV in '04 (partially successful), and I don't recall much more than a sound bite in 2007. But most of my space news back then came from Space.com and its forum, and it was scorching on those launches. I do recall, back before the Space.com forums were closed, that the resident Shuttle program engineer there (Shuttle_guy) had his mind blown when one of the first F9 launches (2010) was recycled and launched ~90 minutes later (IIRC, may have been a few hours) after a hot abort (sensor reading outside conservative parameters; adjusted parameters and launched). A hot abort on a Shuttle launch would have been at least a 24hr recycle. But I digress....

My son showed me this, so now I have Star Wars music stuck in my head...

Well, when they’re flying 100 times a year on boosters that have seen 10+ launches regularly, it does become pretty routine. Wake me when Starship is on its final countdown…

You're supposed to call 411 for that! Way back in the day I called 411 for a baking unit conversion, hoping against hope they might know... nope! e: (sorry for the necroquote, lol)

Right now, I'm watching the original Predator, and just passed the point where one of the soldiers is yelling at the native tracker, "You know something!" (The response was "I'm scared.") Now, I also watched Prey (the most recent Predator movie), which was set ~200 years ago, involving a Predator's encounter with North American natives and French colonizers. Prey puts that line in a new light, suggesting that the legend of an alien predator was handed down through the generations. I like that idea. Of course, since the Predator movie predates Prey by some 35 years, it's really just coincidence, unless that line started a train of thought that led to the script of Prey... And yes, Prey was worth watching, IMO.

Ah yes, I remember having one Sims game where I was building up quite a cemetery, and the pool was one of the kill zones. As an aside, a buddy created a dungeon with a few slaves with the most basic furniture and no way out. They spent their time making paintings and gnomes for the dungeon master to sell. The dungeon master made their meals and the rest of the time just sat around watching TV...

That's what I was thinking. At first I thought different lighting, but the surrounding areas look the same.

It all comes down to the bean counters calling the shots, and they are probably coming down on people who rack up extra expenses in the form of extra man-hours doing "unnecessary" inspections, making people hesitant to do what is actually necessary. What's going on at Spirit is less clear, but if the facility is being run on the cheap then the grunts are probably underpaid and don't care, and it costs too much to fire them and train new ones. Or they do get fired and the replacements are no better. They get what they're paying for.

@PakledHostage, @darthgently, did you read the linked article? Boeing Whistleblower: Production Line Has "Enormous Volume Of Defects" Bolts On MAX 9 Weren't Installed - View from the Wing . It explains exactly how the bolts went uninstalled (they were installed, then removed, but never recorded as removed, so QA didn't re-inspect). It's a great article on the internal workings of Boeing, and the comments below the article are especially critical of replacing engineers in top positions with MBA's (and hiring the former CEO from McDonnell-Douglas) whose only concern is profit, not quality. But yeah, any factory (in any industry) with as many defects as Spirit was putting out should/would be shut down for intense retraining, along with heads rolling. That's what would have happened to us if we failed audits that badly.

Had to do the screen cap...

Perhaps the simplest, most foolproof way is to simply have the entire unit rotate, so no seals between moving parts are required. Docking would be at the axis, of course. Water would flow "down" to tanks in the outer circumference where it would be filtered, cleaned, and purified, and could be pumped around to maintain balance, along with sleds loaded with other stores. Moving such a station could be problematic, however, especially re-orienting it. Perhaps it could be despun to make maneuvers easier, but that would require more features, valves, etc, to keep everything where it should be during weightless operations.

Oh geez, read the whole article, yeah, not flying Boing (deliberate sic) again, not that I plan to fly anytime soon. Dang bean-counters gut everything. The comments are equally damning about MBA "leadership" culture. Another excerpt from the article: Painted over defective rivets? Seriously? There needs to be jail time. Edit: speaking of bean-counters, and I apologize for going off-topic on a tangent, but a franchise I worked for got bought by a group with no experience in the industry, with a shady CFO who misled the group about the seasonal nature of the industry and ran it into bankruptcy. The intention was to sell off the pieces at an overall profit. Luckily the original owner bought the plant back, although the franchiser was also prepared to buy the plant rather than let it close, because at the time we were just that good. To sum up, bean counters should have little authority in operations in any industry, let alone one where quality is a life-or-death issue.

That whirring sound you're hearing are all the shareholders selling off their Boeing stocks before all the penalties and lawsuit settlements hit...

As I think I posted last year, I started making custom mugs using a sublimation printer and a Cricut mug press. Is it okay if I do a little market research / design feedback on these forums? Not to sell on these forums, of course, I'm sure it's not allowed here and besides, shipping is expensive so I only intend to sell locally at markets or Marketplace. I just want feedback on designs, whether people would consider buying them if they saw them for sale somewhere or suggestions for improvement, and naturally I would limit it to one thread for that purpose. @Dakota, Deddly is suggesting I should ask a Community Manager. So can I, please huh huh pleeeease?

Good point, I didn't think it through that far. Ingenuity can control itself without comms to Percy, right? Perhaps the comm blackout was a complete, albeit temporary, loss of power resulting in the crash / hard landing. Amazing it came to rest apparently upright in that case.

RIP Ingenuity. It's not actually dead, just crippled by a broken wing From NASA Ingenuity helicopter mission on Mars ends after three years | CNN Hmm, was that divot carved out by a hard landing (or the blade itself?), or was it pre-existing? And what is that blue speck in the middle of the divot? E: It's so easy to imagine the comm dropping out as the equivalent of "Can't talk, trying to land in one piece!"

Elephants have names for each other! Elephants in a Kenya Have Been Found to Give Each Other Names (mymodernmet.com)

Luckily, in this instance, the last slice of swiss cheese held.... (Original in spoiler, which I couldn't resist modifying into the above image)

For the transfer vehicle, sure. For testing in a gravity well, there may be a bit of a difference in operation. Oops, lunar gravity is half that of Mars, so your point still stands… I suppose the best bet is a test system landed with the propellant synthesis plant two years before any crew…

Update: Kraken ban is still in effect. Nothing to see here, please move along...

I get the feeling this was inspired by Boeing...

Presumably at least some of that data is being gathered from the BEAM module currently attached to the ISS. I know, different companies, but same tech, I think (Is Sierra using Bigelow tech?)

Makes me wonder if there will ever be a situation where the customer (presumably DoD) says “We need this bird up yesterday! If the pad is go, launch it, and we’ll pay for the expended lost booster!”

Well, when you consider that it was intended to make 5 flights and has made 72, it's done pretty good. Ingenuity (helicopter) - Wikipedia