Discussion
Cor, it almost took me back 46 years ago. I did have my heart in my mouth, especially as they had a great feed of the guys in the capsule during blast off.
I just thought what about those excited kids if something awful had happened.
Great work and maybe it might ignite an interest in the young, most of whom don't seem to believe that we did land on the moon nearly half a century ago.
I firmly believed that by 2000 we would have cities on the moon, oh! and hover cars.
I just thought what about those excited kids if something awful had happened.
Great work and maybe it might ignite an interest in the young, most of whom don't seem to believe that we did land on the moon nearly half a century ago.
I firmly believed that by 2000 we would have cities on the moon, oh! and hover cars.
croyde said:
Cor, it almost took me back 46 years ago. I did have my heart in my mouth, especially as they had a great feed of the guys in the capsule during blast off.
I just thought what about those excited kids if something awful had happened.
Great work and maybe it might ignite an interest in the young, most of whom don't seem to believe that we did land on the moon nearly half a century ago.
I firmly believed that by 2000 we would have cities on the moon, oh! and hover cars.
Don't know if you saw the coverage on the 10 o'clock news, but they filmed his son watching lift-off. That really hit me; the son's complete amazement and excitment and the fragility of the whole endeavour.That moment really hit me and I can't explain why. Amazing.I just thought what about those excited kids if something awful had happened.
Great work and maybe it might ignite an interest in the young, most of whom don't seem to believe that we did land on the moon nearly half a century ago.
I firmly believed that by 2000 we would have cities on the moon, oh! and hover cars.
YorkshireWhisky said:
First Briton in space my ass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Sharman
First 'official' Briton in space. Not sure what was unofficial about Sharman's trip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Sharman
RobDickinson said:
el stovey said:
First 'official' Briton in space. Not sure what was unofficial about Sharman's trip.
Was a privately funded trip , not officially through any UK government body, not sure why that matters.. Agree about Helen Sharman, shouldn't really matter how she got into space. Although there is a definite difference between Helen and Tim. Helen was selected for a private contract with the Russians, so was really a space tourist and flew within 18months, Tim entered ESA in 2009.
Michael Foale took US citizenship. There have also been 4 or 5 others with duel citizenship.
Michael Foale took US citizenship. There have also been 4 or 5 others with duel citizenship.
Edited by Russ35 on Wednesday 16th December 00:26
Edited by Russ35 on Wednesday 16th December 00:27
ash73 said:
Enjoyed Stargazing live tonight, good coverage. Pity they lost the camera feed at the moment of docking. There was a strange moment when they all exited the compartment sharply while one of them was undoing the hatch, even knocked the camera out of the way. Didn't look planned to me.
Someone dropped one......davegreg said:
How come it took them 6 hours to travel the 250 mile journey to the Space Station - why so long? 
Six hours is a big improvement on what it used to take using earlier Soyuz vehicles. In 1991, Helen Sharman's Soyuz took three days to rendezvous and dock with Mir. It's only since the use of the latest Soyuz model that the shorter journey time has been possible.The spacecraft heading up into orbit has to be launched at precisely the right moment so that when it arrives in orbit it is on a path that that will bring it within a few kilometers of its target. It also will have to make changes to its direction of travel to align its path with that of the target. This is especially necessary when the launch site of the spacecraft is different to that of the target.
Back in the 1960s, on one Gemini mission, they were able to rendezvous with an Agena after only one orbit i.e. 90 minutes - but that was because both spacecraft were launched from the same location and Gemini was launched exactly 90 minutes after the Agena.
Between 1968 and 1971, ALL Soyuz flights were "stand alone" missions i.e. - they did not dock with a space station as no space stations had been launched into orbit yet. Quite a few of these early Soyuz missions lasted a lot more than three days. Soyuzs 6,7 and 8 were all just under five days and Soyuz 9 was 18 days - which remains the longest "space capsule" only mission.
The Soyuz is a bit roomier than the internal TV images show. The spacecraft actually has two habitable areas. The internal TV shots showed the three astronauts in what is called the "Re-entry Module". Ahead of the re-entry module is the spherical "Workshop Module" or "Orbital Module". On the non-space station missions, the Workshop Module was where the cosmonauts spent quite a bit of their time. It even featured the first "Space Loo" - before the toilet fitted to the Skylab space station. That's a "first" the Russians don't talk too much about - the first to flush a loo in space.
One thing I did find lacking in yesterday's coverage was even a brief description of the internal layout of the Soyuz craft which nobody in the studio seemed to talk about. It would have explained a bit better the post docking procedures that needed to be gone through before the two hatches could be opened and the crew transferred to the ISS.
In the old days they used to have lots of models on hand so that the presenters could literally point to the various components. That would have been very informative.
The Soyuz is a bit roomier than the internal TV images show. The spacecraft actually has two habitable areas. The internal TV shots showed the three astronauts in what is called the "Re-entry Module". Ahead of the re-entry module is the spherical "Workshop Module" or "Orbital Module". On the non-space station missions, the Workshop Module was where the cosmonauts spent quite a bit of their time. It even featured the first "Space Loo" - before the toilet fitted to the Skylab space station. That's a "first" the Russians don't talk too much about - the first to flush a loo in space.
One thing I did find lacking in yesterday's coverage was even a brief description of the internal layout of the Soyuz craft which nobody in the studio seemed to talk about. It would have explained a bit better the post docking procedures that needed to be gone through before the two hatches could be opened and the crew transferred to the ISS.
In the old days they used to have lots of models on hand so that the presenters could literally point to the various components. That would have been very informative.
Eric Mc said:
davegreg said:
How come it took them 6 hours to travel the 250 mile journey to the Space Station - why so long?
Six hours is a big improvement on what it used to take using earlier Soyuz vehicles. In 1991, Helen Sharman's Soyuz took three days to rendezvous and dock with Mir. It's only since the use of the latest Soyuz model that the shorter journey time has been possible.The spacecraft heading up into orbit has to be launched at precisely the right moment so that when it arrives in orbit it is on a path that that will bring it within a few kilometers of its target. It also will have to make changes to its direction of travel to align its path with that of the target. This is especially necessary when the launch site of the spacecraft is different to that of the target.
Back in the 1960s, on one Gemini mission, they were able to rendezvous with an Agena after only one orbit i.e. 90 minutes - but that was because both spacecraft were launched from the same location and Gemini was launched exactly 90 minutes after the Agena.
Only if MechJeb did all the hard work - I know a lot of gamers regard using an autopilot as 'cheating' but in the real world no spaceflight would be possible without automatic controls and computers !
Some nice satire here about Tim Peake http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2015/12/16/tim-peak-posts...
Some nice satire here about Tim Peake http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2015/12/16/tim-peak-posts...
MartG said:
Only if MechJeb did all the hard work - I know a lot of gamers regard using an autopilot as 'cheating' but in the real world no spaceflight would be possible without automatic controls and computers !
Some nice satire here about Tim Peake http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2015/12/16/tim-peak-posts...
Poor Helen Some nice satire here about Tim Peake http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2015/12/16/tim-peak-posts...
Feeling a bit miffed.
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