From Vimeo, that wonderful Space Shuttle launch video that Phil Plait raved about, just over a month ago. Just for fun.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Bob Park is probably right (he usually is). The International Space Station doesn’t have enough science value to justify the expense of it. A lot of the work we do in space exploration could better be done by robots. But you know, I grew up in that era when a manned space launch was a school-stopping experience. I was still in high school when Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon. So I will be saddened when the shuttle launches come to an end.
Let’s hope the next chapter of space exploration will be at least as cool.







All through the sixties, my father and I would get up early to watch the launches. First Mercury, then Gemini and finally Apollo.
I am sorry we never had the opportunity to see one in person. It would have been especially impressive to see one of the Saturn V lift-offs. Such a contrast with the shuttles. With the solid rocket boosters, the shuttles leap off the pad, whilst the Saturn seemed to linger, as if reluctant to tear itself free of earth.
Did you know that a Saturn V expends more energy in a few minutes climbing up earth’s gravity well than the ancient Egyptians did in twenty years to build the great pyramid of Cheops?
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