StrandedonEarth

Your slate is obsolete. Let me upgrade that for you...

Sounds like a couple of not-as-strong strongbacks holding a couple of clamshell thermos halves over the rocket shouldn't be toooo complex. If these problems continue then it's either something like that or insulating the tanks. But then that would add to refurbishment as well, since some foam would probably be lost during flight.

Alice Cooper's "I Love the Dead"? (no link due to, um, content)

Ribbit?

I think it would run out of propellants before reaching the end of the runway...

A ship strayed into the mo-go zone of the launch range, causing the range safety people to call a hold. The delay caused caused all sorts of problems with the super-chilled LO2 warming up, and so on. According to the twitter there was a helium bubble too. Elon Musk puts the blame on that hold

I dont't think that'll work on this guy...

Why is abbreviation such a long word?

Take away their bombs, and it doesn't really affect them, except in an abstract way. Take away their cars, and they're affected in a very concrete way, and will scream blue murder about it. Now if for some reason the only way to generate more power to charge their iPhones without raising taxes was to build nuclear power plants, they'd be all for it.

I guess I should have said "9 candles lit, but one is flickering...."

The first Falcon 9 launch several years went through an abort after ignition. The countdown was recycled and the rocket successfully launched later that same day, which amazed a shuttle engineer (shuttle_guy, who frequented the now-defunct space.com forums and was an incredible source of Shuttle information). From Wiki: So I was hopeful they could do the same today, but alas, um, nope.

User Actions Follow Elon MuskVerified account‏@elonmusk @SpaceX Launch aborted on low thrust alarm. Rising oxygen temps due to hold for boat and helium bubble triggered alarm.

Probably no motion evident as the clamps open

My sentiments exactly

Scrubbed

No, apparently not, I had typed that in the last 30 seconds of countdown... and then had to add more. I saw the engines light and then was like "ok, lift off already... where's the liftoff?"

9 candles lit!.... but no liftoff

Another way is to put docking ports on those nodes you want connected, so they are pretty much touching. The translation gizmos make that even easier. Once the craft loads on the pad, the ports will snap together. I know, it increases the part count, but it's pretty sturdy, and docking ports can be staged now too. I've used this method instead of struts to attach huge radial boosters, and it was quite rigid.

It is commonly thought that the left side of the body is controlled by the right side of the brain, and vice versa. This means that left-handed people are the only people in their right minds. Also, dyslexics of the world, UNTIE!

Katniss Everdeen is just a wimpy whiny little crybaby

Space tape is better

Smithers, BC

I'm a tire retread technician, laying new tread on worn tires (not to be confused with simply regrooving tires). Not my original career choice, for sure, but I don't mind it. Certainly better than being an order picker, but it's a far cry from my original ambition of being a mechanical engineer. I work at a Michelin Retread Technologies franchise, and I got a bit of a kick when I found out that the Space Shuttle lands on Michelin tires. Fun Fact: What Goodyear spends on advertising, Michelin spends more on R&D, and they're the ones that figured out how to bond rubber to steel, making steel-belted radial tires possible. My wife was once asked what I did, and she said I was a retread technician. The reply was "Oh, he's a retard? Sorry to hear that..." Which harkens back to Forrest Gump, with his mother not wanting him to have a career regrooving tires, which is what the mentally handicapped did back in those days.

China has been mentioned in this thread a few times. They certainly had the manpower and the tech to give it a shot, more so than the Egyptians and at least equal to the Romans. I went with Egypt partly because they *may* have been able to do it earlier, but mostly because I've read Wilbur Smith's Egyptian books. Plant the space bug in Taita's ear and watch out....