MetaFilter posts tagged with Russia and space

Rocket Shots

Chinese Jet Pilot — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:38:03 -0800

Soyuz rocket rolls to launch pad. A fine photoset of an otherwise routine Russian rocket rollout. I can tell that photographer Bill Ingalls loves rockets. His favs.

Space, to lick the very fuzzy navel of the heavens

oxford blue — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:59:43 -0800

Ever wondered what life is like on the International Space Station? Wonder no more. Excitement!

Yuri getting ready for velo and Sergei warming up TVIS. Got a master alarm and the red light for "other" (warning) on the caution and warning panel

Drama!

End of the workday. Disc 2 of Apocalypse Now. Found "Kurtz" .

International Intrigue!

Shep is in the habit of reading the form 24 to the last "bykvia" and this slows things way down. For instance, misinterpreted the English letters "st"on the form 24--thinking this meant the Russian word "stranitsa" (page) when it really stood for "step". (Too early in the a.m.)

High-tech thriller!

Attempted backup of SSC file server (20 minute procedure) Hardware configuration requires saving files and shutting down SSC2 to get at the PC extender. Extender won't go on File Server until hardware is removed, which requires shutting down FS, and removing PC card bracket and ethernet card. More restarts required to get things going. Backup procedure unexpectedly shuts down FS. When restarted, FS comes up but network is down. FS is down again. Sergei helping with the troubleshooting--already spent 2 hours on this and still not working. Something wrong with the power supply? We swap supplies with the router--FS is working. Then the suspect power supply starts working again. We're stumped. The good news is that the network is up. The bad news--we will probably see this again.

Even the quotidian, in space, takes on a different feel!

Dinner in the wardroom as usual. Decided not to go for the ham and smoked turkey--saving this for tomorrow.

And that's just for the first month... Of course, if being an astronaut doesn't tickle your fancy, there's always astronaut-herding opportunities.

Space: 1989

dersins — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:20:46 -0800

Some photo galleries (and youtube video) of Buran, the USSR's space shuttle program (previously) from the 1980's, long since abandoned. Bonus: A comparison between Buran and the US space shuttle. Double Bonus: More on Buran from russianspaceweb.com, which is awesome. Combo breaker: An official page with NASA's take on Buran, (and their photos), frozen in time a decade ago.

"All guilty had been punished already."

Alison — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 10:53:03 -0800

The Nedelin disaster remains the most fatal catastrophe in the history of rocketry. On October 26, 1960 an R-16 ICBM designed by Mikhail Yangel accidentally ignited killing over 100 within moments. The incident remained in strict secrecy for thirty years until it was unearthed by James Oberg. The true casualty rate remains a mystery and Kazakhstan still sees more than its fair share of rocket mishaps.

Soviet

Snyder — Fri, 07 Feb 2003 17:12:40 -0800

Phantom Cosmonauts On November 28, 1960, a morse code transmission reading "SOS to the whole world" from an orbiting spaceship was picked up by the Judica-Cordiglia brothers with their home-made radio tracking station in San Maurizio Canavese, Italy. Sometime between February 2-4, they picked up telemetry of a dying cosmonauts heartbeat and breathing. Yuri Gagarin, the universally acknowledged first man in space, did not make his flight until April 12, 1961. These brothers claimed that they intercepted radio transmissions of other secret flights as well. Were there secret Soviet spaceflights that ended in the death of Cosmonauts? Most tend to disagree, and offer an excellent debunking. I started reading about this several weeks before the Columbia, but it now has a new poignancy. I agree that it is exceedingly unlikely that these alleged flights took, but the claims of these brothers, mingled with various other rumor and various Soviet urban legends, (along with the fact of Russian/Soviet general secrecy about most everything,) create an alternate history that is exceedingly disturbing.

moz — Fri, 07 Dec 2001 12:55:37 -0800

Secrets of the Cold War in Space. Deep Cold is an website with detailed renderings, quicktime movies and information about the ideas and concepts being developed for both U.S. and Soviet presences in space during the cold war.

holgate — Wed, 11 Apr 2001 19:22:00 -0800

"Having flown around the earth in the first satellite I saw how beautiful our planet is, let us not destroy it!"

Remembering Yuri Gagarin, 40 years on.

jdiaz — Thu, 22 Mar 2001 16:04:47 -0800

Capitalism wins! Does anyone need more proof than seeing sponsors in Russia's mission control room?

iceberg273 — Thu, 08 Mar 2001 13:17:07 -0800

The ~~Andromeda~~ MIR Strain. Russia pushed back the MIR deorbit dates by another two weeks on Tuesday. Meanwhile, questions have surfaced about whether the mutant micoorganisms that inhabit the station will survive the fiery decent. Just another sci-fi story? Or should we be worried both about the ISS and Biosphere One (a.k.a. Earth)?

jammer — Wed, 31 Jan 2001 11:57:04 -0800

The first "space tourist" is scheduled be lifted to the ISS by the Russians, in exchange for millions of dollars, on 30 April.

davidgentle — Wed, 10 Jan 2001 22:47:44 -0800

Is this really very likely to happen? The Russians plan a new space station.

Cavatica — Tue, 26 Dec 2000 05:18:10 -0800

Russia to Mir....come in Mir... Russia's been recently unable to sustain radio contact with Mir. The station itself is empty, but radio communication is necessary in order to control the autopilot. They are supposed to try again in about an hour, but if they are unable to do so within that hour, they'll have to send someone up. I think they're more afraid that it might fall out of orbit before it's planned sinking into the Pacific this coming February.