wow

Is it bad that watching all I could think of was a bunch of deep voices repeating Koyaanisqatsi...

Hmmm... seems like they need to work on the parachute design.

+1 video is +1

Oops. So one chute did fail.

and...

CtrlAltDelete: Is it bad that watching all I could think of was a bunch of deep voices repeating Koyaanisqatsi...

No shiat ;)

Very cool, but I want to see the footage of the upper portion's descent. I don't think they put parachutes on that one. It likely made a satisfying splash when it hit the water.

SpinStopper: No shiat ;)

Same thing happened with Dr. Manhattan's story during The Watchmen. The whole time all I could think of was this scene.

CtrlAltDelete: SpinStopper: No shiat ;)

Same thing happened with Dr. Manhattan's story during The Watchmen. The whole time all I could think of was this scene.

That's the scene.

I saw it for the first time of the Challenger disaster. My brother had it playing on one TV with the sound up, and the Challenger coverage on another with the sound off. Very surreal.

33% fail rate on the chutes - that's pretty awful, considering the experience level with Shuttle SRBs.

Although given the amount of Ares-hate by the about-to-be-unemployed KSC Shuttle staff, would employee sabotage be that unlikely?

Filmed from a Cessna Skymaster???

I love me some Cessna planes, but doesn't NASA have enough money left for a chase plane that might be... oh, I don't know... a jet??

Rain-Monkey: I love me some Cessna planes, but doesn't NASA have enough money left for a chase plane that might be... oh, I don't know... a jet??

Station keeping is a lot easier at prop-driven speeds.

DarthBrooks: Station keeping is a lot easier at prop-driven speeds.

Ok. Here is a station-keeping mother:



Man, this is AMERICA. I want NASA to be flying some ultra-high performance scramjet with cameras that use scintillated platinum apertures just for the launch photos.

DarthBrooks: 33% fail rate on the chutes - that's pretty awful, considering the experience level with Shuttle SRBs.

Although given the amount of Ares-hate by the about-to-be-unemployed KSC Shuttle staff, would employee sabotage be that unlikely?

They likely designed it to allow for one parachute to fail every time and to still have a 'within spec' landing.

As an engineer, I'd rather have one chute fail just to see what would happen and to gather that extremely useful data. It's better to tell the 'mucky-mucks' that if one fails, this is exactly what to expect.

And I'm pretty sure the two contracts are kept quite separate. Usually that's a requirement when you're dealing with one organization doing more than one contract. They don't want you spending money on one project out of the budget of the other... also there's some anti-trust issues that make lawyers spooge.

CtrlAltDelete: Is it bad that watching all I could think of was a bunch of deep voices repeating Koyaanisqatsi...

Oh dear. Junior-year film class just came rushing back to me.

Bonus: Sweet prandtl glauert shock cloud on descent

I thought I told you to stop making up animal names!

Bonus: Sweet prandtl glauert shock cloud on descent

Should I check for what that term means on Urban Dictionary?

That video was fantastic and the shock cloud looked to be right where it transitioned to subsonic. I'm sad about the chutes :(

portscanner: Bonus: Sweet prandtl glauert shock cloud on descent

Should I check for what that term means on Urban Dictionary?

Nescio quid dicas: portscanner: Bonus: Sweet prandtl glauert shock cloud on descent

Should I check for what that term means on Urban Dictionary?

I guess, based on your reply, rule #35 applies here?

portscanner: I guess, based on your reply, rule #35 applies here?

wut?

The payload placeholder was also hit during separation, oops. Take a look at the chutes again, I say more like a 50% failure, as the left's effectiveness had obviously been compromised by the failed chute.

Breadhead: The payload placeholder was also hit during separation, oops. Take a look at the chutes again, I say more like a 50% failure, as the left's effectiveness had obviously been compromised by the failed chute.

They're still working on the chutes and haven't completed testing yet.

This video was not interesting.

Wow!!! You can put an extra section and an empty tank on an SRB and it flys! AMAZING!! This is the future of space travel!

This video was cool - watched the launch from the beach, was wondering how it was gonna come down.

portscanner: Bonus: Sweet prandtl glauert shock cloud on descent

Should I check for what that term means on Urban Dictionary?

Basically, momentary vapor clouds that appear around objects moving at transonic speeds due to air pressure wackiness. The F-22 picture posted is a prime example.