International Space Station

[ramblingboy42]

This is good news. I have followed the ISS from it's inception and been to Johnson Space Centre and actually been inside a section of it's structure.

Fantastic that Obama believes in it's use and has granted a life extension of another ten years.
10 More Years for the ISS - NASA Science (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/14feb_10years/)

[p38arover]

Should this be in the Flight area? :angel:

[Mick_Marsh]

Technically speaking, the ISS is not flying.
It's falling like a big stone. It's just not managing to hit the ground.

[ramblingboy42]

It has power, and it's orbit is constantly being corrected......

[Mick_Marsh]

It has power, and it's orbit is constantly being corrected......
It also has propulsion.
Boeing: International Space Station (http://www.boeing.com/boeing/defense-space/space/spacestation/systems/propulsion.page)

[stallie]

Flying would imply interacting with air molecules creating lift.

The ISS doesn't that.

It orbits due to newtonian physics. Even though it's in space, it does slightly interact with the outermost tiny remnants of our atmosphere that has the effect of slowing it down and descending, hence the rockets are fired every so often to bump it back up another few kms.

[Redback]

Should this be in the Flight area? :angel:

I think that's a no Ron:angel:

[ramblingboy42]

good to see.

giving the ISS another ten years opens up all sorts of possibilities for the private sector to become more involved in space .

it also means that many scientific projects that may have been shelved will come to light.

it will also deepen international friendship by allowing other nations to participate in long standing experiments and projects , which ultimately will benefit mankind.

[isuzurover]

Flying would imply interacting with air molecules creating lift.

...

Exactly.

So then is a wingsuit flying or just controlled falling? It creates lift (as per your definition) - but not enough to overcome gravitational forces...

[85 county]

Exactly.

So then is a wingsuit flying or just controlled falling? It creates lift (as per your definition) - but not enough to overcome gravitational forces...

AHH but thay can produce lift equal or greater than there own weight. it just needs speed. unfortunatly the only energy it has is gravity

[AndyG]

This is getting very Zen

[AndyG]

ISS Flights:
American: 35 Space Shuttle flights
Russian: 2 Proton flights
25 Soyuz crew flights
2 Soyuz assembly flights
41 Progress resupply flights
European: 2 Automated Transfer Vehicle flights
Japanese: 2 H-II Transfer Vehicle flights

[stallie]

NASA is under the illusion it is in a spaceflight :)


And what would they know about it?











:wasntme:

[87County]

Just in case you're not aware, if you want to see the ISS (there's a little bit of detail when viewed with binoculars) you can go to this site

Heavens-Above (http://www.heavens-above.com/)

enter your location, and you'll end up with a schedule like the following

ISS - Visible Passes (http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx'satid=25544)

this can be further interrogated by clicking on the date which will give a star chart with the path of the ISS on it

[85 county]

Just in case you're not aware, if you want to see the ISS (there's a little bit of detail when viewed with binoculars) you can go to this site

Heavens-Above (http://www.heavens-above.com/)

enter your location, and you'll end up with a schedule like the following

ISS - Visible Passes (http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx'satid=25544)

this can be further interrogated by clicking on the date which will give a star chart with the path of the ISS on it


what a brillant site. i am thinking kids camping, print out the maps and lists before you go.

thanks for that

[87County]

Glad you like that site, just remember if you travel to view, then your observing location will be different from home.

Another interesting predictable after sunset event for kids is the "Iridium Flares" also referred to on that HA site.

These are the extremely bright sunlight reflections from the solar panels of the Iridium satphone satellites and last only for a very short time (from one second up to perhaps five seconds). As these satellites are relatively low you need to have your observing location correct, and your viewing direction and altitude estimation right, for the prediction to be observable.



(Just in case anyone who reads this is not aware, the magnitude referred to in the tables isn't what would be logically expected - the greater the negative value the brighter that the object apparently is)

[ramblingboy42]

better way to explain that is the lesser the magnitude the brighter it is.

mag 5 is so dim it can't be seen by human eyes.

mag -5 is so bright it would need sunglasses to look at

[AnD3rew]

With NASA having no current manned space flight capacity it will be interesting to see how long this is sustainable with deteriorating international relations with Russia.

[DiscoMick]

A very good move.

[stallie]

better way to explain that is the lesser the magnitude the brighter it is.

mag 5 is so dim it can't be seen by human eyes.

mag -5 is so bright it would need sunglasses to look at

The human eye can see dim stars to mag +6 on a perfect dark sky.

Bright stars about mag 0

A bright Venus is around mag -4

The moon around mag -12

The sun around -26