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Americans attempted a space launch today

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Astrallite said:
Might be cheaper to just keep launching with Russian rockets.
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Antares pretty much is a Russian rocket (at least the first stage):

The first stage uses RP-1 (kerosene) and liquid oxygen (LOX) as propellants, powering two Aerojet AJ-26 engines, which are modified Soviet-built NK-33 engines. Together they produce 3,265 kilonewtons (734,000 lbf) of thrust at sea level and 3,630 kN (816,100 lbf) in vacuum.[6] As Orbital has little experience with large liquid stages and LOX propellant, some of the Antares first stage work was contracted to the Ukrainian Yuzhnoye SDO, designers of the Zenit series.[11] The core provided by Yuzhnoye includes propellant tanks, pressurization tanks, valves, sensors, feed lines, tubing, wiring and other associated hardware.[19]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antares_(rocket)


The engines were built 50 years ago and modified/refurbished recently.
 
GoPackGo said:
It sounds like they were cheap! As someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s... to imagine that the US is no longer capable of launching anyone or anything into orbit is quite disappointing. Really pathetic.
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You would be imagining that since there are at least three other launch systems in active use. None are yet man-rated but two are expected to become so by 2017.
 
GoPackGo said:
It sounds like they were cheap! As someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s... to imagine that the US is no longer capable of launching anyone or anything into orbit is quite disappointing. Really pathetic.
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more like unwilling, than not capable, its not like NASA somehow forgot...
 
elon-musk-meme.jpg
 
Zargon said:
due in 2018......until then we are unwilling because we retired our old working launch vehicle 😛
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I wouldn't categorize a project in active in development as "unwilling".

This also isn't the first gap in manned spaceflight capability the US has experienced.
 
GoPackGo said:
It sounds like they were cheap! As someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s... to imagine that the US is no longer capable of launching anyone or anything into orbit is quite disappointing. Really pathetic.
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Before we get all doom and gloom.

A Atlas-V launched succesfully today from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral and placed a Block-IIF GPS satellite into orbit. Just remember the succesful launches don't get talked about.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/10/ula-atlas-v-gps-iif-8-launch/
 
Zargon said:
more like unwilling, than not capable, its not like NASA somehow forgot...
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It is more like lack of funding. Remember no bucks, no buck rogers.

The original Commercial crew development schedule had manned test flights by 2015. However Congress kept giving NASA about 50% of the funding they requested so now the schedule has slipped by 2-years and we are looking at 2017. This isn't the first time this has happened. Congress has a hard time funding the full development of a replacement space vehicle while the other one is in operation. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission was in 1975 and we didn't fly in space again until 1981. All the funding was being sucked up the Space Shuttle development.
 
Zargon said:
we could continue to limp th shuttle along some more if we *really* wanted to Im sure....
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We could have but that decision was made years ago.

You have to remember with the Space Shuttle Billions was needed every year to just find the infranstructure. So even if you kept the Shuttle and still flew 2-3 missions a year you would still have to pay Billions to maintain all that equipment. The actual missions wouldn't have large incremental costs. You also have to remember the Shuttle was still dangerous and had issues. Congress wasn't willing to continue funding the Shuttle and give NASA more money to develop a new launch vehicle/spacecraft. The biggest problem is that you have members in Congress making engineering decisions for NASA that are not the best technical decisions.
 
Zargon said:
more like unwilling, than not capable, its not like NASA somehow forgot...
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I was about to rip this apart.......
Brovane said:
Before we get all doom and gloom.

A Atlas-V launched succesfully today from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral and placed a Block-IIF GPS satellite into orbit. Just remember the succesful launches don't get talked about.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/10/ula-atlas-v-gps-iif-8-launch/
Click to expand...

Brovane said:
It is more like lack of funding. Remember no bucks, no buck rogers.

The original Commercial crew development schedule had manned test flights by 2015. However Congress kept giving NASA about 50% of the funding they requested so now the schedule has slipped by 2-years and we are looking at 2017. This isn't the first time this has happened. Congress has a hard time funding the full development of a replacement space vehicle while the other one is in operation. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission was in 1975 and we didn't fly in space again until 1981. All the funding was being sucked up the Space Shuttle development.
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But I guess I just need to chill the fuck out.

Brovane's got this. :thumbsup:
 
I thought for sure the pad would look worse after that explosion. It doesn't look to bad at all. I am amazed that even the nearby tanks don't even look scorched. Looks like the top of the water tower got smacked by something. The light posts got really scorched and two got knocked down. If you look closely to the left of the pad you can see the crater where the rocket came back down, just missed the pad itself. Overall I think most of that will buff right out. 🙂

launch-pad-looking-south-after-failure_zps4d457420.jpg
 
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