First UK space launch due next year

[maxjam]

There are a few negative comments in the thread but as far as I'm concerned, its great news ?

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, maxjam said:

There are a few negative comments in the thread but as far as I'm concerned, its great news ?

About time really. It's been 69 years since the British space programme was established, and nearly 60 since the first Ariel launch.

[Rev]

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

About time really. It's been 69 years since the British space programme was established, and nearly 60 since the first Ariel launch.

Was that Danny Baker?

[i-Ram]

3 hours ago, Rev said:

Was that Danny Baker?

I thought it was Rod Hull who led the Ariel launch.

[ariotofmyown]

14 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

I thought it was Rod Hull who led the Ariel launch.

Too soon

[Carl Sagan]

For those who don't know, Ariel was a British satellite launched atop an American rocket. But maintaining the theme from The Tempest, Prospero was a later British satellite launched atop the original British rocket, developed in the 1960s and called Black Arrow (the lipstick rocket). It was launched from Australia:

But freaked out by how well we were doing, the Americans said if we stopped work on our rocket programme they'd let us launch on theirs for free. The UK Government believed them and cancelled our programme, but it turned out the Americans had their fingers crossed behind their back. We're the only nation to have developed and then abandoned a space launch capability.

Great to see there might be launches from UK soil in the near future, but what a waste of 50 years.

 

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Carl Sagan said:

For those who don't know, Ariel was a British satellite launched atop an American rocket. But maintaining the theme from The Tempest, Prospero was a later British satellite launched atop the original British rocket, developed in the 1960s and called Black Arrow (the lipstick rocket). It was launched from Australia:

But freaked out by how well we were doing, the Americans said if we stopped work on our rocket programme they'd let us launch on theirs for free. The UK Government believed them and cancelled our programme, but it turned out the Americans had their fingers crossed behind their back. We're the only nation to have developed and then abandoned a space launch capability.

Great to see there might be launches from UK soil in the near future, but what a waste of 50 years.

 

At least there is one other non-Philistine on here. Aren't you worried that you might catch 'teh dumbass' from some of these piss-artists? 

?

Edited July 30, 2021 by Eddie

[Grumpy Git]

2 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

For those who don't know, Ariel was a British satellite launched atop an American rocket. But maintaining the theme from The Tempest, Prospero was a later British satellite launched atop the original British rocket, developed in the 1960s and called Black Arrow (the lipstick rocket). It was launched from Australia:

But freaked out by how well we were doing, the Americans said if we stopped work on our rocket programme they'd let us launch on theirs for free. The UK Government believed them and cancelled our programme, but it turned out the Americans had their fingers crossed behind their back. We're the only nation to have developed and then abandoned a space launch capability.

Great to see there might be launches from UK soil in the near future, but what a waste of 50 years.

 

The Yanks did the same thing with Concorde. They banned it long enough for Airlines to get cold feet and that was that.

At least Airbus has shoved it up Boeing with the A320 Neo. Can you imagine the stink the Yanks would have kicked-up if the 737 Max fiasco had happened anywhere else? You'll never get me on one of those flying coffins. 

[Carl Sagan]

9 hours ago, Grumpy Git said:

The Yanks did the same thing with Concorde. They banned it long enough for Airlines to get cold feet and that was that.

At least Airbus has shoved it up Boeing with the A320 Neo. Can you imagine the stink the Yanks would have kicked-up if the 737 Max fiasco had happened anywhere else? You'll never get me on one of those flying coffins. 

There was a brilliant whistle blowing social media post around the time of the accidents of how the 737 Max was basically not aerodynamic, but tried (and failed) to use elaborate software to fix the problem. Yesterday in space, the Russian Nauka module docked with the International Space Station but then "inadvertently" fired its thrusters sending the ISS out of attitude (its orientation versus Sun and Earth) and impacting the orbit. The Russians couldn't shut it off so, while the Crew Dragon was powered up for an emergency lifeboat, the ISS thrusters had to battle the Russian ones until the Russian module ran out of fuel. The damage is still being assessed.

Lots of people have been scathing of and laughing at the Russians for this, but one consequence was it delayed Boeing's second uncrewed Starliner test fight due today, putting it back until Tuesday. But it's ironic because on the first Boeing Starliner testflight they had a very similar problem and couldn't stop their thrusters firing, so ran out of fuel before the thing reached orbit! The NASA investigation was scathing of Boeing. It seems to have really lost its way and if anything else goes wrong with the 737 Max or Starliner they're really in trouble. To think they berated NASA when the agency dared to give SpaceX a contract for Crew Dragon as well as paying Boeing twice as much to develop their Starliner.

Meanwhile, I dreamt I was flying on Concorde last night! 

[Grumpy Git]

2 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

There was a brilliant whistle blowing social media post around the time of the accidents of how the 737 Max was basically not aerodynamic, but tried (and failed) to use elaborate software to fix the problem. Yesterday in space, the Russian Nauka module docked with the International Space Station but then "inadvertently" fired its thrusters sending the ISS out of attitude (its orientation versus Sun and Earth) and impacting the orbit. The Russians couldn't shut it off so, while the Crew Dragon was powered up for an emergency lifeboat, the ISS thrusters had to battle the Russian ones until the Russian module ran out of fuel. The damage is still being assessed.

Lots of people have been scathing of and laughing at the Russians for this, but one consequence was it delayed Boeing's second uncrewed Starliner test fight due today, putting it back until Tuesday. But it's ironic because on the first Boeing Starliner testflight they had a very similar problem and couldn't stop their thrusters firing, so ran out of fuel before the thing reached orbit! The NASA investigation was scathing of Boeing. It seems to have really lost its way and if anything else goes wrong with the 737 Max or Starliner they're really in trouble. To think they berated NASA when the agency dared to give SpaceX a contract for Crew Dragon as well as paying Boeing twice as much to develop their Starliner.

Meanwhile, I dreamt I was flying on Concorde last night! 

Apparently, there will be an emergency launch of an unmanned SpaceX shuttle to the ISS next week with a fresh supply of Y-fronts.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Grumpy Git