Shuttle launch

Ablative coating is a heat shield that erodes during passage through the atmosphere.
 
Bits dropping off are usually insulating foam, which after fueling help keep the main tank liquid oxygen and hydrogen cold prior to take off.
 
What's interesting is how spacewalks have now become "routine", there's plenty of time, the astronauts come out slowly, then go to work carefully and methodically, occasionally stop to rest, crack jokes, look at the view, etc.

On 1st ever spacewalk (Russian), the Cosmonaut's space suit "ballooned" in the vacuum, and at first he couldn't get back in through the hatch, and had to "bleed off" much of his air to manage it!

On 2nd ever spacewalk (American), the astronaut got back in ok, but then couldn't shut the door, it took both astronauts pulling hard to "click the latch"!
 
I have just been watching an astronaught remove a tile spacer on the nose of the shuttle, it is just amazing to watch and to see mother earth beneath his feet well it is absolutely mind blowing no wonder Branson's fully booked for his new venture.:cool:
 
I suppose it will be "Virgin re-entry" (?!).
 
I'd call it the Virgin Probe, and launch it with a bottle of Bransons own Cola up the nozzle.
 
Shuttle lands safely...

Discovery and its crew of seven glided safely back to Earth on Tuesday, ending a riveting, at times agonizing, 14-day test of space shuttle safety that was shadowed by the ghosts of Columbia.

Discovery swooped through the darkness of the Mojave Desert and landed on the Edwards runway at 5:11 a.m. PDT, well before sunrise. It marked the conclusion of the first shuttle re-entry since Columbia's tragic return.
 
Thankfully it landed safely and all aboard are ok. I guess NASA must have breathed a sigh of relief.

gameboy said:
It marked the conclusion of the first shuttle re-entry since Columbia's tragic return.
Click to expand...

And possibly the conclusion of shuttle flights altogether.
 
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