Recent content by mcswell

No, there are 17 Atlas 5s still laying around, and six of them are designated for future Starline missions. I don't know whether any of the others could be re-assigned to Starliner if need be.

You are displaying your lack of understanding. Go read about those missions. The difference between SpaceX's approach to new rockets and NASA's is that NASA thinks everything needs to work the first time; hence the multi-billion dollar Senate Launch System, aka Space Launch System (SLS)...

Irrelevant. The booster is not supposed to land on the Moon or Mars, only Earth. Why? You carry enough of those supplies to get you to Mars and to last you for awhile there, and you recycle as much of the water and oxygen as possible so you don't have to carry as much as if you just vented...

Umm, let's see, that's a trick question, right? Ok, I'll answer anyway. So they can re-use the booster. Just in case this isn't clear, the booster isn't supposed to land on the Moon or Mars, only the Starship, which is the top stage.

From the article: "If the astronauts leave, engineers lose the chance to not only observe the spacecraft's behavior but also to use the service module that houses the propulsion system. " How so? The spacecraft can be directed to return without humans on board, and surely it can be told to do...

If they are still wearing the same smelly clothes, then I guess those two astronauts are loners... unless they got loaners, that is.

The two astronauts have 140 pounds of extra clothing for a two week stay? Was there going to be a costume party up there?

Not sure what you're saying. Helium atoms are larger than hydrogen *atoms*, but helium molecules (which consist of a single helium atom) are smaller than hydrogen *molecules* (which consist of two hydrogen atoms). So in the molecular state (which is where you find gaseous un-ionized hydrogen...

"The leak began at 7 pounds per square inch (psi) and has increased to between 50 psi and 70 psi": Huh? Leaks aren't measured in psi, they're measured in mass or volume of the substance leaking. It *sounds* like they're saying the leak started when the helium was pressurized to 7 psi and...

I know of two SciFi stories that relate to life in Saturn's rings. The first is Footfall, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, in which the alien Fithps make a fueling stop at Saturn. In the process, their ships' exhaust creates a kink in Saturn's ring, which was seen by Voyager 1 but not...

I think we should call them Oley Stars. Why, you ask? I'm glad you asked! Oley was driving home from work one night, when his wife Lena called him on his cell phone. "Oley, you be careful out there!" she said. "The radio, they say someone is driving the wrong vay on de freevay." Oley...

"Kepler noticed that the farther Mars was from the sun, the more slowly the planet moved, and the closer it was to the sun, the faster Mars moved along its orbit. ... Brahe and Longomontanus... were geocentrists and dismissed Kepler's Copernicanism." Assuming that "closer to the Sun" means...

The slopes look very steep. What, if anything, is the vertical exaggeration?

C'mon, FAA, the Senate Launch System already launched, so there's no political reason to delay the certification for the bigger and better Starship any longer.

Wait, 14 billion years isn't enough? :)