Last chance for a great pic (Atlantis)

[MERovingien]

Does anybody remember that fantastic shot of space shuttle Atlantis connected to the Mir space station in the 90s? The Russian crew had taken the Soyouz out for the photo opportunity.
Next year we will see the last space shuttles going to the ISS for the very last time. Are there any plans to take a few pictures of at least one of them connected to the station?
It would be child's play fo the Russian crew, and before the shuttles end up in the museum, it would be a great way to immortalize them like that after a very dangerous job so well done!

 

[3488]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

That's a great idea, I hope they do it. I'll fire off an e-mail to JSC to see if they will do it.

For those not familiar STS 71 Atlantis docked to MIR as seen from Soyuz.

Andrew Brown.

 

[rhapsodyinspace2]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

This is an idea I have posted before! So here it is again....lol

A great way to give the remaining Space Shuttles a Respectful and awe inspiring send off would be to stagger the launches of all 3 shuttles so that they can dock up to the I.S.S. at the same time. That picture would be awesome and set a people in space record. The former record was 13 I believe?

The 3 Shuttles and the I.S.S. crew would make it about 27 people. That would be an awesome picture for sure!

It would be a great "gimmick" to foster interest in the space program.

It would definately be covered worldwide by the media!

It would be something that really could be done without waiting for extra funds or endless studies and would be a needed big shot in the arm for America, Nasa, School programs(Science), and the civilian space sectors!

Even Russia could get into the whole thing by launching a Soyez capsule or 2 and adding folks for the people in space record!

Yeah, I know...the nah sayers will say....The toilets cant handle it!

So send them with Apollo era toiletries! Its just a week or so! I am sure all astronauts and cosmonauts involved will take one for the team just so they could be involved in this record setting attempt!

The neh sayers will say their isnt enough room for all those people!

There will never really be enough room....any space stations will always be cramped its just the way it is! So get over it and squeeze em in!

Anyway what do yall think?

 

[Nothke]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

wow! that would be great! Or would I say... COOL

hmmm.... but what about air?

what about impossibility of contingency mission?

and the first thing is sure... People at NASA don't like rushing! I mean since the space race is over... You can't just say: "take Apollo toilets!" That kind of mission would probably take them AT LEAST 10 years to plan.

 

[rhapsodyinspace2]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

wow! that would be great! Or would I say... COOL

hmmm.... but what about air?

what about impossibility of contingency mission?

and the first thing is sure... People at NASA don't like rushing! I mean since the space race is over... You can't just say: "take Apollo toilets!" That kind of mission would probably take them AT LEAST 10 years to plan.

Yes Nothke, They should take oxygen and probably more food! lol :roll:

And as far as a contingency mission goes, the last space shuttle mission would not have a Space Shuttle on stand by for a possible rescue mission anyway. If something happened that kept a shuttle in space they could just keep the shuttle attached to the I.S.S.

Rescue? can you say X-37B to the rescue? lol :lol:

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

This is an idea I have posted before! So here it is again....lol

Anyway what do yall think?

It is one of the silliest, stupidest, and most unrealistic ideas ever propesd. That's what I think, and I am right!

 

[rhapsodyinspace2]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

It is one of the silliest, stupidest, and most unrealistic ideas ever propesd. That's what I think, and I am right!- by MeteorWayne

Wow, MeteorWayne tell me what you really think? lol

Silly how? They have to go up anyway for the last few missions, so why not cordinate them.

Stupidest how? I am sorry I believe there was a story about that at the end of the I.S.S. life about 2015 that they were thinking of deorbiting the I.S.S. I would like to nominate that as one of the "dumbest" idea proposed here. Not my idea of having a gathering of Space Shuttles for a record breaking event.

Unrealistic I can live with! But it could be done sir, the ships are there, they have the missions and the missions are funded already. It is just a schedule that keeps it from happening. Weather changes Space Shuttle launches all the time. So you cannot tell me a change in schedules is not even remotely possible. postponed schedules and uncertain launch windows happen all the time.

Now I like this site and I like the people and shared visions and feel the frustration most feel that we are not where we should or even can be when it comes to space exploration! I enjoy this site and really hate it when haters come on this site and cause trouble.

But MeteorWayne your flat out statement really irritates me to no end, coming from a moderator...It was short...irritating and not what I expect from a moderator..Who crapped in your Captain Crunch today?

Sir, you can feel free to do a back-flip up your bo-bo anytime. But I will always respect someone elses point of view and what they would like to see happen to the space programs...And I do not believe my suggestion waranted that statement of yours.

Thanks and have a nice day! (Seems like you need one badly!) lol

Really?...Ever proposed....lol

Smack! :lol:

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

Yes, ever proposed. The ISS could not support such a 3 docked mission, it would violate all shuttle rules, there would be no rescue vehicle available, nor enough docking ports...and that's just the beginning of the reasons it's one of the silliest, most unrealistic, and yes, stupid, proposals ever made.

Remembr, as a moderator, I only have to moderate properly. I have just as much of a right (in fact a personal obligation as userjustlikeyou Meteor Wayne) to call something silly, stupid, and unrealistic if that's how I see it!

:lol:

 

[rhapsodyinspace2]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

by MeteorWayne » Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:36 pm

Yes, ever proposed. The ISS could not support such a 3 docked mission, it would violate all shuttle rules, there would be no rescue vehicle available, nor enough docking ports...and that's just the beginning of the reasons it's one of the silliest, most unrealistic, and yes, stupid, proposals ever made.

Remembr, as a moderator, I only have to moderate properly. I have just as much of a right (in fact a personal obligation as userjustlikeyou Meteor Wayne) to call something silly, stupid, and unrealistic if that's how I see it!

GRRRRRR....lol
Is there a Shuttle rule for not having more then 1 shuttle in space at a time?
Thats kinda dumb. Has there been a shuttle and a Soyez at the I.S.S. at the same time? Seems like there has....?

Logically there will be a final flight anyway...The last Shuttle up will not have that back-up rescue vehicle anyway so that rescue vehicle will not be on the launch pad regardless. So that point of yours would be moot. lol :lol:


Now docking ports would be a sticking point I admit....How many are available? Even if 1 or 2 couldnt dock it would still count towards the people in space record I believe. lol. :lol:


And I am making you a believer ol' MeteorWayne buddy! I have moved from "stupidest" idea to just "stupid"...VICTORY is mine! lol :lol:

Rules are made to be broken! We need to think outside the box....To get stuff done ..lol Your right we all have a responsibility to stifle and strangle in its infancy any new ideas no matter what the cost. Why not, it is what the government does to our space program, why not do it to each other here on the forum! ....NOT

Smack...lol :roll:

 

[Swampcat]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

Three things:

1) Kill the blue text. Some of us use the dark background and the blue text is unreadable.

2) Apollo toiletries??? :lol: You mean Apollo toilet bags.

3) I don't agree with MW calling this the stupidest idea ever without following that statement with some explanation, but this is the stupidest idea I've heard in a long time :lol: :lol:

Yeah, it would be cool to see pictures of all the orbiters and people in space, but the logistics of flying three orbiter missions in, what, a 30 day period would simply overwhelm NASA resources. Rather than getting upset at MW, stop and think what you're suggesting. Sorry, dude, but it ain't gonna happen.

Oh, one more thing. Being open minded is all well and good, but don't be so open minded that your brains fall out

Just a suggestion

 

[rhapsodyinspace2]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

Swampcat, Yeah the blue text was a bad idea. Sorry.

Yes I meant Apollo Toilet bags! lol

Do you think logistically they could launch 2 Shuttles without overwelming Nasa? I mean the capability is there when they have the rescue Shuttle on standby so that is not a farfetched idea at all.

 

[rhapsodyinspace2]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

So realistically to set another record of people in space and get that picture it would probably be 2 Space Shuttles and maybe a Soyez capsule attached to the I.S.S..If docking ports allow...That would still be a sweet record and a pretty damn good picture!

Not a bad way to set a record and really not that impossable to do!

 

[Swampcat]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

So realistically to set another record of people in space and get that picture it would probably be 2 Space Shuttles and maybe a Soyez capsule attached to the I.S.S..If docking ports allow...That would still be a sweet record and a pretty damn good picture!

Not a bad way to set a record and really not that impossable to do!

Yeah, now that's getting more reasonable...and if there should ever be a need for a LON STS mission, you just might get at least most of your wish as the LON orbiter would not carry a full crew.

What I can guarantee you won't see is concurrent missions just for the purposes of a photo op or record.

 

[vattas]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

So realistically to set another record of people in space and get that picture it would probably be 2 Space Shuttles and maybe a Soyez capsule attached to the I.S.S. etc etc

To undock Soyuz and take a picture of last Shuttle docked to ISS - why not? But to dock two Shuttles to ISS and have bunch of people onboard just for fun of it - complete nonsense. Give at least one good reason to do this.
BTW, it's impossible, as there's only one launch pad left for the Shuttle. Or you intend to keep shuttle docked to ISS for month and everybody to live on strict saving regime just for fun?

 

[MERovingien]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

Hmmm, my thought was about the pic of "one of the three orbiters" docked with the ISS. My English is a bit broken, sorry. I never meant several shuttles at the same time. Where would they dock indeed??

But to take the Soyouz out for taking a few pics of Atlantis (for example) docked to the ISS should be child's play no?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

Yes, the Original post in this thread is a great idea and might be done without too much effort. Still, safety is number one, so that is one consideration, and the other is what vehicles might be available. There are often times where a Soyuz is approaching just about as the Shuttle is leaving. It might be possible with a little finesse.

 

[MERovingien]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

Ok, so Atlantis is gonna be on the starting blocks pretty soon, and for the last time. Does any one know if the pic of that shuttle, or another one, docked to ISS is in the works?
I'd love to see my favourite shuttle getting this kind of hommage on its last flight.
Wishful thinking...

 

[MERovingien]

Last Flight of Atlantis

It sounds like an episode of the Matrix. Unhappily, this is the sad truth, Atlantis last flight is getting closer. Its last tank is getting ready as I write.
So I was wondering what I could do to salute my favourite shuttle for its last mission, and I thought about starting this thread were we could all post our best moments with Atlantis. Like an hommage of sorts.
Well, for me this first thing coming to mind when I think about that shuttle it's when it was going after the ISS in the skies of Montreal, and then the ones of France. What a show everytime!!
And back in the 90s, Atlantis was the one doing the unthinkable: docking to a RUSSIAN spacecraft, unbelievable after so many years of cold war!!
And picking up the work on Hubble where Columbia had left it...
What a shuttle!
I can't wait to know in which museum it will retire! I couldn't watch it fly, but at least I will visit it in its retirement home!!

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

Oh, one more thing. Being open minded is all well and good, but don't be so open minded that your brains fall out

Haha, that's great. :lol: Mind if I use it in the future?

 

[Lepidoptera]

Re: Last chance for a great pic

Hello everyone.
A photo of the ISS and shuttle together taken on orbit is a wonderful idea but I wonder how it would be achieved. Would it be wise to undock a Soyuz just to take a picture? would all 3 cosmonauts/astronauts, who will be using the Soyuz to return home, need to be on board in the unlikely event that it was unable to re-dock? the only other way I can think of to take this picture would be, again from a Soyuz, while it is on approach to the ISS or departing from the ISS, am I right in thinking that flight rules do not permit a Soyuz to dock/undock while the shuttle is docked to the ISS.
Personally i`m hoping that NASA puts one of the orbiters on the SCA and takes it on a world tour like they did with Enterprise in the early 1980s.

 

[MarkStanaway]

Re: Last Flight of Atlantis

Apart from the name written on the side, I was wondering if there is any distinguishing external characteristic on a Shuttle that would enable the average person to distinguish one vehicle from the other.

 

[CalliArcale]

I don't think it would be physically possible to dock more than one Shuttle to the ISS at a time and have the whole thing work. For starters, there are only a couple of ports available for Shuttle, which is actually quite a bit spacecraft and requires considerable clearance. I don't think you could dock a Shuttle at one without impinging on the clearance for another. They'd be intersecting one another.

From a practical standpoint, there are also massive timing issues. Shuttles actually can't stay up very long. Unlike Soyuz, they don't have solar panels, so they are limited by the amount of fuel cell reactants they're carrying. You'd have to launch the Shuttles very close together to be able to get them all up at once, and I am absolutely positive that LC-39 could not support that launch rate. If you'll recall, for the "rescue Shuttle" mission prepped and waiting during the last Hubble servicing mission, the rescue shuttle stood over on pad B the whole time. They can't do that any more; pad B has been converted for Ares 1. And even if it hadn't been, that only gives you two pads. You wouldn't be able to get the third one up before the first one would have to come back down.

It would be extremely cool, I admit. But alas, not possible.

(And it is definitely not the stupidest idea I've ever heard for Shuttle. Not by a long shot.)

 

[orienteer]

Not quite the same, but the next best thing would be to send the Canada arm out to the end of a solar panel and shoot the picture. I doubt it would happen because the arm will be needed for any installations of shuttle cargo. Even if PMA2 were acessible for a second shuttle, the arm would not be able to work in such tight quarters.

 

[CalliArcale]

I'm pretty sure they could move the SSRMS out to the end of the truss for a photo op during docked operations. They can always move it back. I guess it would mostly be a question of finding a time when the arm doesn't have other duties.

I really like the idea of undocking one of the Soyuz for the photo op. Should be quite doable. Three crew would have to go in it, in case it can't redock, but the other three could stay on the ISS; they wouldn't have to (and probably shouldn't) undock both.

 

[CalliArcale]

Re: Last Flight of Atlantis

Apart from the name written on the side, I was wondering if there is any distinguishing external characteristic on a Shuttle that would enable the average person to distinguish one vehicle from the other.

Sadly, the easiest to distinguish Shuttle was lost. Columbia had black chines (the skinny bit of the wings at the front where they join the fuselage); later Orbiters were built without that extra reinforced carbon-carbon because Columbia's early flights demonstrated that the chine region didn't experience as much heating as had been predicted. Also, Columbia had a special sensor on the tip of her tail which was installed for the early test period, and never installed on any other Orbiters as it had done its job. It was never removed from Columbia, and provided useful data for analyzing the Columbia accident.

The others are visually difficult to distinguish. They are all unique, but their differences are mostly internal. Endeavour, for instance, is the lightest of the Orbiters and thus has the most payload capacity. But you can't tell that by looking.