Star Trek: At last- Really in Orbit

Old_Joe

Vulcan, a brand-new rocket, lifted off early Monday morning from Cape Canaveral, Fla., sending multiple payloads on journeys into space. Vulcan can be configured in a variety of ways. Its core booster stage, the main body of the rocket, is powered by two BE-4 engines manufactured by Blue Origin The engines, which emit deep blue flames from the burning of methane fuel, will also be used on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.

Up to six solid rocket fuel boosters can be strapped to the core’s side to increase the amount of mass it can lift into orbit. Its nose cone comes in two dimensions — a standard size of 51 feet in length, and a longer one, 70 feet, for larger payloads.

Vulcan lifted a payload for Celestis, a company that memorializes people by sending some of their ashes or DNA into space. Two toolbox-size containers attached to the Vulcan’s upper stage house 268 small cylindrical capsules.

Among the people whose remains are on this final journey are Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek; his wife, Majel Barrett, who played Nurse Chapel on the original television show; and three other actors on the show: DeForest Kelley, who played the medical officer Leonard “Bones” McCoy; Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, the communications officer; and James Doohan, who played Montgomery Scott, the chief engineer.

A final brief engine firing sent the second stage and the Celestis memorial into orbit around the sun.

The above are edited excerpts from a current report in The New York Times.

Mark

I suppose it's romantic in a sense sending ones ashes into space but do we really need to be sending more junk into space? Just my silly way of thinking.

hank

Mark said:

“ … do we really need to be sending more junk into space?”

Actually, there’s quite a bit of room out there Mark.

Mark

Actually @hank I suspect we've said the same things about plastic and dumping sewage in rivers. The New Space Race Is Causing New Pollution Problems

hank

Nice article @Mark -

Plenty of room in the universe. But the most used near-earth orbital paths do suffer from debris accumulation - endangering astronauts as well as expensive equipment in the area. And the exhaust from launches poses environmental concerns.

Has man ever gone anywhere that he didn’t sully?

Sven

There is enough space debris that the larger ones are actively tracked, so not to avoid unintended damages to the International space Station and other satellites.

By the way, the of the mirror on the James Webb Space Telescope got hit by a micrometeoroid in 2022.
https://space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-suffers-micrometeoroid-impacts

hank

It is hard to believe I’ve been around longer than man has been in space. Still remember, as a 8-10 year old kid, the night they broke into the early evening TV programing to announce: Russia has just launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. (And there were immedient urgent national security implications.)

I knew something of the concept from being in school. But my wonderful mother - who’d grown up in the Depression Era on a farm w/o electricity, indoor plumbing or much else - had no concept of ”outer space” or the size of the universe. Her unforgettable first reaction - “Oh my God. I hope this thing doesn’t fall on our house!”

Memory - October 4, 1957

Crash

Loved to watch Star Trek. Not an ugly woman among the lot of them. Now they're in space, for real. Makes me smile.