Starship Asterisk*

Borc wrote:I disagree about robots being able to do better work. Not always. Curiosity, for example, is a brilliant AMAZING piece of machinery which was(is) a huge stem forward in exploration of our solar system, however having a team of geologists with microscopes on the surface of Mars and the subsequent sample return would provide an enormous amount of information.

Skytreker wrote:Well the MMU was way cooler than any robotic arm would ever be. And all these tethers attaching the astronauts to the shuttle/station and all the instruments to the astronaut are just plain ugly. Making the EVA guys look like pregnant shrimps with all these "tentacles" coming out from their bellies. I recon that flying to any point of the now enormous ISS is far superior and much more inspiring, than crawling like snails. No one gets inspired by crawling astronauts, having to reattach every other step.

Skytreker wrote:
It's a shame that NASA abandoned the MMU after proving the concept viable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manned_Maneuvering_Unit wrote:
<<After the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the MMU was judged too risky for further use and it was found many activities planned for the MMU could be done effectively with manipulator arms or traditional tethered EVAs. NASA also discontinued using the Shuttle for commercial satellite contracts, and the military discontinued the use of the Shuttle, eliminating the main potential uses. Although the MMU was envisioned as a natural aid for constructing the International Space Station, with its retirement, NASA developed different tethered spacewalk approaches. Additionally, the MMU gas ejecta was considered too damaging for the only other ongoing task, upkeep of the Hubble Space Telescope.>>

Skytreker wrote:It's a shame that NASA abandoned the MMU after proving the concept viable.

sinanipek wrote:
Did she say the MMU enables the astronaut to return to Earth?
Is it possible for an astronaut to return to Earth by using just this kind of equipment?

neufer wrote:

gurky wrote:
I assume the astronaut must have been on a long leash but I don't see one. Or was he free flying?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92ZRVlKuc0U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EFpsmDDXLg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westar

gurky wrote:
I assume the astronaut must have been on a long leash but I don't see one. Or was he free flying?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westar wrote:
<<Westar was the name for the fleet of geosynchronous communications satellites operating in the C band which were launched by Western Union from 1974 to 1984. There were seven Westar satellites in all, with five of them launched and operating under the Westar name. Westar 6, also an HS-376 based satellite, was launched from STS-41-B on February 3, 1984, to be put into service afterward, but the perigee kick motor (also known as the Payload Assist Module, or PAM) on the satellite failed during its approach to geosynchronous orbit, placing it at an improper and inoperable low Earth orbit. It was retrieved on November 16, 1984, by the STS-51-A mission of NASA's Space Shuttle, where it was brought back to earth. It was then resold to AsiaSat in Hong Kong, who refurbished it and relaunched it on April 7, 1990 as AsiaSat 1. The Space Shuttle mission to retrieve Westar 6, as well as the Palapa B2 satellite which shared the launch payload with Westar 6, was funded by the insurance companies that insured the launch of those two satellites. An on-ground spare satellite to Westar 6, Westar 6S, was in development by Western Union and Hughes when Western Union decided to divest themselves of their telecommunications-based assets starting in the early 1980s after suffering heavy financial losses. This resulted in Western Union selling the Westar satellite fleet and operations to Hughes in 1988.>>