Oooops. Ka-BOOM!

[bobabode]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/m...oviet-engines/

[finnbow]

We use to go to the beach right near there (Chincoteague, VA). It must have been something to see.

[bobabode]

"Elon Musk, the chief executive of Orbital’s competitor SpaceX, has long warned against using such decades-old technology. Calling it one of the “pretty silly things going on in the market,” he told Wired last year some aerospace firms rely on parts “developed in the 1960s” rather than “better technology.” He called out Orbital Sciences in particular. It “has a contract to resupply the International Space Station, and their rocket honestly sounds like the punch line to a joke,” he said. “It uses Russian rocket engines that were made in the ’60s. I don’t mean their design is from the ’60s — I mean they start with engines that were literally made in the ’60s and, like, packed away in Siberia somewhere.” WaPo

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by bobabode

"Elon Musk, the chief executive of Orbital’s competitor SpaceX, has long warned against using such decades-old technology. Calling it one of the “pretty silly things going on in the market,” he told Wired last year some aerospace firms rely on parts “developed in the 1960s” rather than “better technology.” He called out Orbital Sciences in particular. It “has a contract to resupply the International Space Station, and their rocket honestly sounds like the punch line to a joke,” he said. “It uses Russian rocket engines that were made in the ’60s. I don’t mean their design is from the ’60s — I mean they start with engines that were literally made in the ’60s and, like, packed away in Siberia somewhere.” WaPo

Orbital Sciences stock is down 17% today. NASA is going to make them jump through a bunch of hoops on their accident investigation of this.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Orbital Sciences stock is down 17% today. NASA is going to make them jump through a bunch of hoops on their accident investigation of this.

Ouch, that's going to leave a mark.

Have you been down to see the Shuttle at the Smithsonian Pat? The Air and Space museum in LA has an extra main shuttle engine on display here.

I need to edit all the pics I took when we took the tour recently.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by bobabode

Ouch, that's going to leave a mark.

Have you been down to see the Shuttle at the Smithsonian Pat? The Air and Space museum in LA has an extra main shuttle engine on display here.

I need to edit all the pics I took when we took the tour recently.

Yep. The Smithsonian annex at Dulles, the Udvar-Hazy Center, is feckin' awesome. In addition to the shuttle, they have an SR-71 Blackbird, the Enola Gay, a Concorde, and hundreds of other interesting aircraft. It's an immense facility.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Yep. The Smithsonian annex at Dulles, the Udvar-Hazy Center, is feckin' awesome. In addition to the shuttle, they have an SR-71 Blackbird, the Enola Gay, a Concorde, and hundreds of other interesting aircraft. It's an immense facility.

Our little museum is on track to build a new $250 million dollar structure to house the Endeavor. Ours will have the full set up, SRBs and fuel tank included. The plans call for it to be upright with the cargo bay doors open showing the spacelab mounted inside.

The Udvar-Hazy is top of my bucket list.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by bobabode

Our little museum is on track to build a new $250 million dollar structure to house the Endeavor. Ours will have the full set up, SRBs and fuel tank included. The plans call for it to be upright with the cargo bay doors open showing the spacelab mounted inside.

The Udvar-Hazy is top of my bucket list.

The only thing I've seen to compare to the Udvar-Hazy is the Museum of the Air Force at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton.

[merrylander]

Orbital Sciences was just around the corner from the last place I worked, fancy facility.