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Principia mission - Tim Peake Soyuz launch live online


Jonk

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Ho hum.......all the way there then loose pictures!

Nutz to that.....I simply cant fathom even the basic mathematics of it all, let alone the tech involved. I look at it this way:

The ISS is traveling at 17500 mph or thereabouts. 

Lets just say I fired a bullet. The bullet travels at 500 mph. I then ask you to go after it. You either go like hell and go much faster than the bullet to catch up, or you only go a little bit faster so you can intercept it more easily. Going like hell will make the interception pretty much impossible. You will fly past the bullet, or crash into it. Going slightly faster than the bullet and it will take an impractical amount of time to "catch up" with the bullet. NASA has done its homework and somehow worked out the answer to this problem. I have an idea of the gist of it but the mechanics of it all still baffle me.

Another thing I noticed is this whole thing only lasted about 15-20 minutes. This is for 2 objects travelling at more or less the same speed  (obviously a slight difference otherwise the 2 would never intersect). Makes me wonder even more at planetary flybies where the craft is thousands of miles per hour relative to its target, opposed to a few miles per hour relative to the ISS.

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Nutz to that.....I simply cant fathom even the basic mathematics of it all, let alone the tech involved......

It's not rocket science you know. Oh, hang on, ....er actually thats just what it IS ! :smiley:

It's beyond my brain too :undecided::smiley:

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Great that we are getting good coverage on mainstream TV.

Now then a live thread via SGL and ISS would be icing the cake.

(but they are not chasing the thing line astern, they are intersecting an orbit. So match the speeds calculate the intersection point and bingo') as it were.

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Its been an exciting day. Having watched the live launch and then watched Tim enter the ISS. All in around 8 hours, hell I have had trips to the continent that have taken longer!

It was also nice to drive home tonight and for once listen to Radio 4's coverage of the launch and the docking. No headlines describing some horrific terrorist act or a perpetual war related story. Just the joy of seeing and hearing the results of what humans can achieve together.

Maybe I am being a bit melodramatic but I could not care less, it is not often I drive home and feel good about the world... :laugh:

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Absolutely splendid!

However, what has driven me nuts, is all the tradition and superstitious nonsense that has gone with it.

There's nothing worse than a bad tradition.

If we're relying on someone piddling on a tyre to get us to space then heaven help us! 

As with all great institutions, tradition is to be revered. to walk through that door and have someone say "we don't sign that anymore, thats just a silly tradition"" for me would be a kick in the teeth

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