Originally posted by MrPenny
.may more closely reflect the planning sequence?

Yup could be... as John said... they need more time to plan that mission... like a whole year... must be something big

Mailman??? Late???? ARRGGGGG Not the USPS... where do you get they strange ideas from?

Originally posted by IgnoreTheFacts
Back on topic, can you think of any reason they would have opened up the cargo doors when they did...other than a super secret space station docking?
Anybody?

Standard reply would be to bring out the arm and look for broken tiles for the next 40 hours or so...

Someone mentioned 'housekeeping' Maybe they wanted to blow out all the dust and stale Earth air?

Isn't there any one out there with a big telescope that could try and find the Shuttle & the ISS and monitor them?

What would be even better is if there was a way to attach a webcam to a large telescope and stream it live so that we could all see what is going on.

Originally posted by housegroove23
What would be even better is if there was a way to attach a webcam to a large telescope and stream it live so that we could all see what is going on.

How about we all chip in and launch a spy cam? Russia has a special on for Progress launches We don't have to tell em its a spy cam... just make up an experiment I don't think a telescope would help us much in the daytime though

1:20 pm PDT Oct. 23

Discovery just called mission control and said,

"We have message 1 & 2 on board."

Mission Control answered, "Thats great news, thanks."

Anybody know what the message was?

Originally posted by johnlear
1:20 pm PDT Oct. 23

Discovery just called mission control and said,

"We have message 1 & 2 on board."

Mission Control answered, "Thats great news, thanks."

Anybody know what the message was?

I think we are all waiting for you to give it. It's obvious you know what it is.

What I don't get is that you are listening to the nasa communications. What parts of their communication do you believe and what parts do you choose to put your own spin on? Why wouldn't they just broadcast on some secret channel instead?

Originally posted by housegroove23
Very good idea, in fact that brings up a very good question. Isn't there groups out there that launch rockets as a hobbie.

Yeah, they go like a few thousand feet up, and that is it. The biggest ones can go a bit higher, but they require you to get clearance from the FAA before you launch them. None of them go anywhere near the upper atmosphere, let alone actual orbit.

Originally posted by sr71b

I think we are all waiting for you to give it. It's obvious you know what it is.

What I don't get is that you are listening to the nasa communications. What parts of their communication do you believe and what parts do you choose to put your own spin on? Why wouldn't they just broadcast on some secret channel instead?

Sorry, I don't know what it is. I don't even know if I heard the word "message" correctly. It certainly sounded odd though because everybody sounded relieved or 'happy". For a "message"?

As far as communications I am just listening. NASA is conducting an 'illusion'. The illusion is that there is no docking going on with a secret space station. There is no particular parts of the commnications that I believe or disbelieve.

I do believe that part of the crew is involved in the transfer of cargo or whatever is going on with the secret space station and part of the crew is performing the blah blah blah with Mission Control for the benefit of the unwashed.

It is a very complicated illusion; it is choreographed like a gigantic ballet with lights going on and off; the curtain dropping and raising at the correct time; sounds; on-stage misdirection; off stage direction; but it has worked very well over the years.

It is unlikely that I can find out enough to expose it but you never know. For instance something might happen like the shuttle might not be able to undock on time from the secret space station for some reason. That might make the shuttle visible docked to a space station and NASA would have to come up with an excuse of how that happened. That is just a 'for instance'.

Defcon, when you post an image that large in enlarges every page below it and then everybody has to scroll all the way to the right to see many of the posts.

I would rather have the image about 8 inches wide so I could look at without scrooling left and right and then maybe a site where I could go to get a larger image.

Just a suggestion.

Thanks for the image.

Why all the hullabaloo regarding the shuttle's schedule? Since Return-to-Flight after the Columbia accident, the shuttle has always done the robotic arm survey of the entire shuttle on the second day in space, then either docked later that day or the next.

After they get to orbit they MUST verify that all systems are working properly and configure the shuttle for LOE (they do things such as open the bay doors for heat dissipation, set up the communication antennas, verify the robotic arm is ready for tomorrow, and make sure everything is working properly after the violent launch.) They need to check the arm today, because if there is anything wrong, they will need to correct it tonight so they don't hold up the entire mission.

The next thing they need to do is the robotic arm survey of the wings and tiles -- but this takes several hours, and they can't do it on the first day...they do need to sleep, too. On this particular mission, they have some time at the end of the first day, but not enough to start the survey, so the astronauts have some personal time before it's time to sleep.

On the second day they will do the survey of the outside of the craft and check out the docking equipment, among other things. The tile and wing survey takes most of the day. The reason (again) for checking the docking ring early is to fix any problems BEFORE they need to dock.

It's not really that hard to understand what they are spending time doing...I can't imagine they would have any time left over to go visit a "secret space station". They definitely don't have the time today, considering all that they do (as listed above), and they certainly don't have the time tomorrow due to the tile and wing survey. I suppose they can pull an all-nighter and visit the secret station overnight

EDIT TO ADD:
By the way...why don't they just do secret launches to re-supply and re-man the secret space station (if it exists)? Why use this very public shuttle mission at all?

[edit on 10/23/2007 by Soylent Green Is People]

Originally posted by johnlear
Defcon, when you post an image that large in enlarges every page below it and then everybody has to scroll all the way to the right to see many of the posts.

I would rather have the image about 8 inches wide so I could look at without scrooling left and right and then maybe a site where I could go to get a larger image.

Just a suggestion.

Thanks for the image.

... So thats why i have to keep scrolling to the right to read the whole post!

..John solves another mystery!

[edit on 23-10-2007 by laserman-x]

If at all possible my screen isn't an IMAX, this thread exceeds the normal breath and width of my software.

I'm praying that the Discovery crew can repair my satellite HDTV during there 44 hour delay. I hate the thought of purchasing myself another 52 inch tv.


[edit on 23-10-2007 by Skydancer]

Allow me to be a skeptic for a minute. John, you do believe that holograms were used on 9/11, right? If so, then why can't NASA simply use this technology in order to trick any watching people (especially in the US)? Why can't they use a hologram of the shuttle to dock on the ISS and then use the real shuttle to dock at the secret space station. Sure it might be hard to see a hologram that is in space, but still .

The ISS and STS passes for my location. Based on heavens-above data.

10-23 ISS 19:56 STS 20:08 - Happened tonight
10-24 ISS 20:19:25 STS 20:19:26

So if I can see this and others else where on the earth can, then it seems the two craft are staying near each other. If not, what is appearing in the STS position so that it can move to another location?