The Aviation Thread [Contains Lots of Awesome Pictures]

I'm pretty bummed I never managed to get over to the US in order to see a live Shuttle launch. Stupid lack of monies! :-(
I also find it pretty ironic / funny that the US has to rely on it's old Cold War enemy to get it's personnel onto the ISS from now on. Sorry guys. :lol:

On the B1, that's my favourite active bomber! Very awesome to see (and hear, Holy freaking balls, I thought the F-111 was loud but it just wins everything.) in action. Seen it twice at a couple of air-shows down at Avalon over the years, despite not being used as a display aircraft very often when visiting Downunder - I just managed to pick the right years, so to speak!
 
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1960s: Apollo

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Circa 2020s: Orion

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I guess if it works...

RIP Shuttle. :(

I thought Orion was going to crash on land like Soyuz.

I'm confused with what Obama has done to NASA, is there a good concise list of what we're still doing? Are we still doing Orion or not, is the moon on or off, or the asteroid, muslim outreach, etc? Because I really feel like our space program is dead.
 
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I thought Orion was going to crash on land like Soyuz.

I'm confused with what Obama has done to NASA, is there a good concise list of what we're still doing? Are we still doing Orion or not, is the moon on or off, or the asteroid, muslim outreach, etc? Because I really feel like our space program is dead.

you want them to keep pumping money in research, so people like richard brandson can run away with the technologie? i say let him invent his own! and let the US invest in school or sth, so there will be enough engineers to be hired by virgin...
 
So are they launching the shuttle today or what? If they are, is there a livestream somewhere? I?d kind of like to watch when they send the thing up for the last time... :|
 
Never mind, turns out I?ll be in the vicinity of a TV for the next few hours after all, and CNN seems to deliver. But thanks anyway!
 
I lived in Central Florida for 25 years, and never saw a shuttle launch. Don't give a fuck either. Like a boss.

Edit: Before people get all angry, its because it was always there and never cared enough to drive over to see it. I could see them from my house just fine.
 
So why comment if you "don't give a fuck, like a boss"? The door is over there >>>

boss...
 
Because living in the area, I never understood the fascination with something that was a constant in my life. It wasn't special because it was always there.
 
Skydiver Tries for 100 Jumps in 24 Hours

A local man tested his endurance as he took to the skies to promote a special message.

Starting Thursday evening at 5:18 p.m., Todd Ames began jumping from an airplane, determined to reach his goal, all in an effort to raise awareness for osteogenesis imperfect, a genetic disorder also known as brittle bone disease.

People who suffer from the disease are born with it and have fragile bones that break easily. Ames says this disease has hit close to home.

"We've had one adult and four kids with the disease out here," said Ames. The guy that loaned us that light tower, his son has the disease. So it's more prevalent than I thought."

Armed with determination and some sugar and food for fuel, Ames plunged to earth over and over, until the heat and his own body could not go on any further.

In the neighborhood of 80 jumps, the hot conditions - along with packing his own chute every time he jumps - started to take a toll.

"It's very time consuming and it's physically very tiring for him to be down there packing all those [parachutes]," said Alexa Matthews, a skydiving instructor at Harry Brown Airport in Saginaw County.

Throughout the day, people from around the community turned out to support Ames in reaching his goal, something that he appreciates very much. "Awesome, that'll help, that will help," said Ames.

Through grit and determination, Ames managed to complete 86 jumps over 22 hours.

http://www.wnem.com/story/15050915/skydiver-completes-86-jumps-in-22-hours

We have a lot of pictures of pretty planes in this thread but this achievement is truly awesome.
 
Because living in the area, I never understood the fascination with something that was a constant in my life. It wasn't special because it was always there.

It's people going into space. How can that not be special?

STS135launch_lrg.jpg
 
And some lame-o non-space thingies.

C0SsA.jpg


fAjao.jpg


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you want them to keep pumping money in research, so people like richard brandson can run away with the technologie? i say let him invent his own! and let the US invest in school or sth, so there will be enough engineers to be hired by virgin...

First, it leaves Russia as the only spacefaring nation.

Second, countries like India and China are moving towards space exploration.

This is the environment in which the US essentially halts it?

I agree NASA like all government is bloated and slow but this is not the way to end it and usher in private spaceflight. The shuttle was designed in the early 1970s, we've learned so much and could have done something new and inspiring with those lessons. Spaceship one is not quite ready to handle the load.

The US spent all that money on the ISS and now has to buy seats on Russian ships to actually get to it. Pathetic!

We are privatizing space flight while we are nationalizing health care. Which is it?

The shuttle and concorde now rest together.

Finally, as to investing in schools, usually a national need urges on the development of talented and educated people, not vice versa. There have been generations of engineers and scientists inspired by NASA. As it is now we now have thousands of unemployed NASA people because the program has been shut down and there is no replacement. How does "investing in schools" solve the problem that already educated people are out of work? If we educate thousands more aerospace engineers where are they going to work?
 
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In all probability we really need an outside enemy like the Klingons in order to get backward nation-based thinking out of people's heads and start seeing spaceflight as a business that in it's very nature has to be a global venture.
 
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