nasa genesis spacecraft comes home 9.8.2004

[ABEL]

http://www.genesismission.org/

On Sept. 8, NASA's Genesis mission is returning to Earth, bearing samples of the Sun. In a well-rehearsed midair maneuver, a helicopter will hook the spacecraft's return capsule and bring it gently and safely to the ground. The capsule's contents of solar wind may help scientists understand the origins of our solar system. The event, which takes place in the skies over Utah, will be broadcast live on NASA TV and the Internet.

they showed an animation video of how they are going to capture the space craft upon re-entry in midair at the planetarium last nite. the video is very cool and worth watching

nasa hired hollywood stuntmen to use the hellicopters to catch the spaccraft by a parachutte because the panels are so fragile, landing on the earth might damage them.

this will be very cool to watch if it works. i know nasa tv is showing coverage of it, i'm not sure about regular cable tv.

 

[nbcrusader]

They use to do this all the time. The earliest spy satellites would send a film canister back to earth. Planes would catch the parachuting canister.

 

[ABEL]

*reminger*

coverage starts 10am eastern time on the nasa channel. i hope cnn will show some coverage

 

[Mr. BAW]

"Film at 11"

if this comes off, we'll be saturated with it...

 

[ABEL]

it crashed
the parachute didn't open.

hopefully they can salvage something from it.

 

[Mr. BAW]

Oops! that thing came down so hard that it was driven half way into the ground; to complicate matters, rescue personnel said that the parachute explosive might go off during recovery efforts....Hey, what's a couple trillion $$ in lost discs...

 

[nbcrusader]

The container inside the capsule had collected solar ions that had been blown by solar winds on wafers of silicon, diamond, sapphire, gold and other materials

A space probe Ivana Trump would love......

 

[ABEL]

apparently not all is lost!
i was just watching cnn. they said only the outer foils were damaged the most. they've been able to salvage at least 2 of the wafers.

luckily the space craft landed in some pretty soft sand which is what saved it. amazing.

 

[IWasBored]

wait...wait just a second. people watch the nasa channel!?

 

[ABEL]

i would watch the nasa channel if i got it on my tv

my internet connection is too slow with dial up to watch it on my computer

but yes, ppl do watch the nasa channel

 

[IWasBored]

everytime i switch past the nasa chanel, they're talking about the pythagreon therom or teaching trig functions...or there's a space shuttle just sitting there. the most exciting part is when a bird flies by. otherwise you'd think it was just a still image...