While it’s the damage to Endeavour’s tiles that dominates the news this morning (hard to know whether it’s as serious as it sounds, given the media’s insistance on sensationalizing any event that brings with it a degree of risk), reader “L’il Walter” passed along a series of photos taken on launch day.
(I’ve been remiss in mentioning that Dave Williams, who is charged with making the repairs, is Saskatoon born.)
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How’d he smuggle the haywire and binder twine onboard?
heh!
and a hubcap from a F-150 for the patch?
Haywire, binder twine, and a hubcap?
The humour of that points to a critical reality. There exists a debate between proponents of robotic space exploration and manned space flight.
There are an awful lot of unmanned robotic explorers and probes destroyed, or sitting lamed and useless, for want of a wipe of dust or twist of a screw. Manned space exploration is orders-of-magnitude more expensive, but far more successful because of the handy human who can use innovative rural-Saskatchewan-style thinking to solve problems. The value of innovative troubleshooting seems to often be lost on those with no such talents, or who maintain a blind dependance on technology.
When your machine breaks down in LEO, or approaching Mars orbit, or on the Moon, calling CAA is a non-starter!
You would never know from his old Hockey Night in Canada interviews that he could become a rocket scientist after his retirement from the NHL.
they picked Tiger because they didnt need a protruding bubble on his space helmet.