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APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 5:11 am
by APOD Robot
To Fly Free in Space
Explanation: What would it be like to fly free in space? At about 100 meters from the cargo bay of the
space shuttle Challenger, Bruce McCandless II was living the dream -- floating farther out than anyone had ever been before. Guided by a
Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), astronaut McCandless,
pictured, was
floating free in space.
McCandless and fellow
NASA astronaut Robert Stewart were the first to
experience such an "un
tethered
space walk" during
Space Shuttle mission
41-B in
1984. The
MMU worked by shooting jets of
nitrogen and was used to help deploy and
retrieve satellites. With a mass over 140 kilograms, an
MMU is heavy on
Earth, but, like everything, is weightless when drifting in orbit. The MMU was replaced with the
SAFER backpack propulsion unit.
[/b]
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:55 am
by Ann
Anyone who really wants to float free in space must either have a death wish, or have imbibed too much!
Of course, the view must be beyond spectacular!
Bruce McCandless II made it to 80. I salute him!
Ann
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 1:11 pm
by E Fish
I would love to float free in space, of course, with the knowledge that I'd easily get back.
An amazing photo!
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 1:18 pm
by heehaw
It's lonely at the top!
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:48 pm
by owlice
I love this APOD and was glad to see it today.
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 8:29 pm
by Chris Peterson
Ann wrote:Anyone who really wants to float free in space must either have a death wish, or have imbibed too much!
Do you really mean that? How is this different from a million other things people do where they are dependent upon their own skill and the quality of their equipment? Mountain climbing, scuba diving, skydiving.
I don't think the astronaut here was in much danger. The dangerous part about space is mainly in getting there and getting back, not being there.
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 8:51 pm
by heehaw
Chris Peterson wrote:Ann wrote:Anyone who really wants to float free in space must either have a death wish, or have imbibed too much!
Do you really mean that? How is this different from a million other things people do where they are dependent upon their own skill and the quality of their equipment? Mountain climbing, scuba diving, skydiving.
Reminds me that for a few years (a few years ago) at my university we had a Dean who had a horror of black holes. It seemed to come up in every talk she gave. I was startled; it was interesting psychology!
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 11:26 pm
by Ann
Chris Peterson wrote:Ann wrote:Anyone who really wants to float free in space must either have a death wish, or have imbibed too much!
Do you really mean that? How is this different from a million other things people do where they are dependent upon their own skill and the quality of their equipment? Mountain climbing, scuba diving, skydiving.
I don't think the astronaut here was in much danger.
The dangerous part about space is mainly in getting there and getting back, not being there.
That's horrible enough for me!!!
Ann
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 11:44 pm
by Ann
heehaw wrote:Chris Peterson wrote:Ann wrote:Anyone who really wants to float free in space must either have a death wish, or have imbibed too much!
Do you really mean that? How is this different from a million other things people do where they are dependent upon their own skill and the quality of their equipment? Mountain climbing, scuba diving, skydiving.
Reminds me that for a few years (a few years ago) at my university we had a Dean who had a horror of black holes. It seemed to come up in every talk she gave.
Well... this is the first time I've mentioned any fear of floating free in space, I think.
I'm not afraid of floating free in space, because I trust the gravity of good ol' Earth not to let go of me!
I think the root of whatever fear I may have of the thought of floating free in space harks back to 1969, when I first saw
2001: A Space Odyssey. One of the astronauts in the ship that is on course for Jupiter falls out, and I realized that he would be falling and falling and falling and falling forever in the black emptiness out there. (Today, of course, I would say that he'd be orbiting the Sun.)
David Bowie's video
Blackstar spoke pretty strongly to me. Bowie sang about his own imminent death, and he portrayed himself as a jewel-encrusted cranium inside a space helmet, and as a skeleton falling into the Sun. Those images resonated with me.
(And now, when I watched that video again, the scene with the skeleton falling into the Sun was gone. Well, it was there before.)
Ann
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 11:59 pm
by ta152h0
Did not have to read the descript to know instantly it was Bruce McCandless ( RIP ) bpoldly going where no man has gone before
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 12:57 am
by Boomer12k
Awesome.... and when they got back in, the Nitrogen was used to cool a couple of "TALL ONES".... no doubt....
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 1:11 am
by Boomer12k
Ann wrote:heehaw wrote:Chris Peterson wrote:
Do you really mean that? How is this different from a million other things people do where they are dependent upon their own skill and the quality of their equipment? Mountain climbing, scuba diving, skydiving.
Reminds me that for a few years (a few years ago) at my university we had a Dean who had a horror of black holes. It seemed to come up in every talk she gave.
Well... this is the first time I've mentioned any fear of floating free in space, I think.
I'm not afraid of floating free in space, because I trust the gravity of good ol' Earth not to let go of me!
I think the root of whatever fear I may have of the thought of floating free in space harks back to 1969, when I first saw
2001: A Space Odyssey. One of the astronauts in the ship that is on course for Jupiter falls out, and I realized that he would be falling and falling and falling and falling forever in the black emptiness out there. (Today, of course, I would say that he'd be orbiting the Sun.)
David Bowie's video
Blackstar spoke pretty strongly to me. Bowie sang about his own imminent death, and he portrayed himself as a jewel-encrusted cranium inside a space helmet, and as a skeleton falling into the Sun. Those images resonated with me.
(And now, when I watched that video again, the scene with the skeleton falling into the Sun was gone. Well, it was there before.)
Ann
Ann... Frank Poole does not "fall" off of the Discovery...he is SHOVED by HAL...his oxygen tube is severed, and he frantically tries to get it reconnected...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3m-Zu3 ... MA%20CLIPS
And...he does not "fall forever", as Dave Bowman goes out and gets him... so, nothing to fear.....EXCEPT HAL!!!!!
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 5:26 am
by ta152h0
hmmmm, nitrogen can be used to cool down a couple liquid in a bottle things ?
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:23 am
by Ann
Boomer12k wrote:Ann wrote:heehaw wrote:
Do you really mean that? How is this different from a million other things people do where they are dependent upon their own skill and the quality of their equipment? Mountain climbing, scuba diving, skydiving.
Reminds me that for a few years (a few years ago) at my university we had a Dean who had a horror of black holes. It seemed to come up in every talk she gave.
Well... this is the first time I've mentioned any fear of floating free in space, I think.
I'm not afraid of floating free in space, because I trust the gravity of good ol' Earth not to let go of me!
I think the root of whatever fear I may have of the thought of floating free in space harks back to 1969, when I first saw
2001: A Space Odyssey. One of the astronauts in the ship that is on course for Jupiter falls out, and I realized that he would be falling and falling and falling and falling forever in the black emptiness out there. (Today, of course, I would say that he'd be orbiting the Sun.)
David Bowie's video
Blackstar spoke pretty strongly to me. Bowie sang about his own imminent death, and he portrayed himself as a jewel-encrusted cranium inside a space helmet, and as a skeleton falling into the Sun. Those images resonated with me.
(And now, when I watched that video again, the scene with the skeleton falling into the Sun was gone. Well, it was there before.)
Ann
Ann... Frank Poole does not "fall" off of the Discovery...he is SHOVED by HAL...his oxygen tube is severed, and he frantically tries to get it reconnected...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3m-Zu3 ... MA%20CLIPS
And...he does not "fall forever", as Dave Bowman goes out and gets him... so, nothing to fear.....EXCEPT HAL!!!!!
:---[===] *
Thanks, Boomer!
I was just telling you what my 14-year-old and extremely impressionable self thought of that scene.
Thanks for the info!
Ann
Re: APOD: To Fly Free in Space (2017 Dec 31)
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 10:04 am
by JohnD
This picture was an "In Memoriam" for Bruce McCandless, who died just before Christmas, but many in this thread seem to have missed that.
An appreciative obituary appeared today in the UK national newspaper the Gaurdian:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... s-obituary
John