Comments on: Hubble Shuttle launch live coverage

By: Shuttle Launch Online | Most Popular Searches - webmastereye.net

Shuttle Launch Online | Most Popular Searches - webmastereye.net — Thu, 28 May 2009 04:06:38 +0000

[...] Hubble Shuttle launch live coverage | Bad Astronomy | Discover …Uncategorized | I am now covering the Shuttle launch live on Twitter using my BA News feed. Launch is scheduled for 14:01 Eastern time (18:01 GMT) today! You can also watch on. Read more [...]

By: dre

dre — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:44:44 +0000

Seems like the exhaust was browner than previous launches. Is there something different with the boosters these days, or was it the light on this particular day? Just wondering.

By: Tikifire

Tikifire — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:29:35 +0000

About half of our middle school went out and watched the launch. We’re several hundred miles away (on the gulf coast) and we still were able to see the flame and smoke trails. Pretty cool stuff!

By: BigBob

BigBob — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:03:18 +0000

Spiv : Excellent pictures. Reminds me of watching STS-118 launch (Endeavour) in August 2007. Phoenix launched just a few days before and we saw that go too. I’ll never get over witnessing those events. Brilliant.

By: PsyberDave

PsyberDave — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:33:42 +0000

I saw the launch from Fort Lauderdale. It was a spectacularly clear day. Seeing could not have been better. I saw the orange glow of the thrusters from hundreds of miles away.

AWESOME!

YAY!

By: alfaniner

alfaniner — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:15:04 +0000

I flicked between the Science Channel and HDNet (totally forgot about the NASA channel, but would have remembered, if no one else covered it). HDNet had great camera work, letting us just watch the proceedings with minimal interruption. SC (for all their blasted on-screen advertising of it) had talking heads most of the time, commercials, and kept interrupting the video feed to put their talking heads back on (or in PIP).

My vote for coverage goes to HDNet.

By: pontoppi

pontoppi — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:54:51 +0000

I don’t want to be a party pooper, but I really hope this is the last time manned space flight is used for an astronomy mission. It’s very simple:

estimated cost of Hubble servicing mission, at least 1.7-2.4 billion $
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0534.pdf

estimated cost of JWST 2.4 billion $ until lunch, 1 billion $ for 10 years of operations.
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/newsletter1.html

In other words, for essentially the same price as refurbishing an old 2.4 m space telescope, we can get a brand new 6.5 m primary mirror robotic space telescope – with no need to risk the lives of 7 people. Insane if you ask me. The only valid reason for doing this is to practice complex space walk procedures. But please do it in a different context so that we astronomers do not end up with blood on our hands!