The final Space Shuttle launch is coming. There's actually more left than I thought but the end is coming. You can catch one on Feb 12, May 15, July 30, Oct 15, Dec 10, or in 2010 on Feb 11, Apr 8, and May 31.
After that there will be a 5 year gap before the replacement rocket are expected to be ready to go. In the mean time NASA will be using private space agencies to lift cargo into space. Orbital Sciences got $1.9 billion while Space X got $1.6 billion. The numbers are a bit odd since Space X will be doing 12 launches and hauling more per launch than Orbital which will only be doing 8.
Shown above is Space X's Falcon 9 rocket. It can haul 12 tons into low Earth orbit or 5 tons into geosynchronous orbit. A couple of days ago they tested to make sure that it could successfully be stood up on end.
For a sense of scale look at this.
This is a quarter of the nose piece. When together it measures 5.2 meters across and 14 meters long.
2 comments:
Is that a rocket in your pocket or are you just happy to ....see yummy? LOL
I slay me!
word verification; hepsi...is that the higher addictive version of pepsi?
bottom picture, is that guy storking it?
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