Time Lapse Video Of Atlantis Getting Mounted On Its 747 Mothership
We have seen the shuttle on an spectacular shot on top of its 747 mothership and a video of their almost impossible take off, but we have never seen a time lapse video on how everything gets ready.
Someone from NASA has sent us this unique video of shuttle Atlantis: A time lapse of the shuttle getting ready to be mounted on its 747 mothership at the NASA Dryden Flight Research centre, just before returning to Florida. I just can’t believe how complex and laborious something that is conceptually so simple could be. It’s just sad that many people take for granted the hard and complex work that the boys and girls at NASA do to keep the much-needed space exploration going on with a meager budget.
- Next Post: Cheap, Thin Laptops Suffering From Cheapness, Thinness »
- « Previous Post: Sonos Remote Goes Touchscreen; New System Bundle On Its Way
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Without decent slow-mo I reckon that 747 has 3 attempts at lining up. Hang on - you screwed it up - back it up again buddy! :)
kentsmithnz
@hu_hu_cool: Yeah, it happens all the time to me. This one was a rare one that worked.
jawzzy
Crazy... I bet a private company could load it in half the time and cost.
powerfloe
@mr.dada:
It's a spiderweb.
[en.wikipedia.org]
MauriceCallidice
@trlstanc: But it's a timeless tradition! Without this ritual the space gods would curse the shuttle, dooming its next mission.
@avconsumer2: That's exactly what they did, it just takes 5 days to do it hahaha.
meager budget? $17.3 billion (FY 2008)... OK BIG SPENDER, whatever it is, it aint meager...
We'll never get hyper-drive by goofing around with these bottle-rockets...
Presumably it takes the same amount of time to unmate?
voltronguy
"with a meager budget." is an over statement. They wasted too much money on the space shuttle program which haven't produce much in last 20 year or so.
os_2
now i know why they prefer to land at kennedy when possible
astroglide
So do they ship the tail cone back, or use a new one each time?
PeteeWJ
Cool video, BUT there is just one thing missing that would make it even cooler.
+ Watch video
douchebagantics
My favorite part is at 1:03. The jet nozzles actually get angled upward to accept the tailcone. This is amazing! Awesome footage. I still can't believe it just 'sits' on top of a 747, not matter how it's reinforced. It's an aluminum tube, for God's sake!
Magic Beans? Sure, I'll Buy Some!!
@Bandit:
this video sucked until right about then
@hu_hu_cool:
I do - but I think I had the same problems with Safari 3
I can usually get it working, but I have to fiddle with it and push the button something like 10 times...
Fix pls!
@hu_hu_cool: Actually, this one worked fine for me. But I get that problem a lot as well. Occasionally a page refresh does the trick, but if after a refresh it still doesn't work, I just skip it... too much trouble.
@600Followers_GitEmSteveDave: That shit is funny!
@CamilleBabakin: Yeah, we could have used the money for another bailout. Much better place to spend it.
@CamilleBabakin: Your post = fail. Clearly you didn't read Jesus' awesome article on why we need NASA.
@medopal: ?
If it was 12.8x then it would be 25.6 minutes in 2 minutes. After you do the math, use your brain.
@World's Greatest Mactard!: My guess is probes. Baby space probes.
@World's Greatest Mactard!: An X-15
I like the moment at -0:20 when they shift the weight to the 747.
@Tolgak: I prefer to think of the Shuttle as "Master" and the 747 as "Blaster".
Froggmann
@mr.dada: 524 Passengers and 8 very very very obese stewardesses!
@Mikael: ya, me too.
It would be cool to see the structural bracing inside the plane. Does the shuttle's weight = the weight of 524 passengers?
mr.dada
@600Followers_GitEmSteveDave: I love the sense of humor these guys have... Priceless.
closhedbb
@CamilleBabakin: Yeah, I'm with you! Fuck science!
?
closhedbb
@crsh1976: Might work for very sturdy cargo, but putting a person through the kinds of forces involved in hitting near escape velocity from the ground would result in a quite a mess I'm sure...
closhedbb
I think it would be a lot cheaper to do this if they didn't apparently pay 50 people to run around in circles under the shuttle the whole time.
trlstanc
You have it all wrong. The SHUTTLE is the mothership. The 747 is simply its highness' slave.
Tolgak
@UnicornMaster: None. They use a cool mounting system. you just have to make sure you put the Shuttle on right side up. Luckily the jet has instructions:
@Geisrud: Hey, hey. Let's be nice. I'm sure Camille has a WAYYY better solution to this problem, right Camille? Camille seems like someone who cares. Not like some idiots who run two dishwashers, rather than soiling their hands doing them by hand, and waste time, money, and water.
@CamilleBabakin: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Didn't your Momma ever teach you manners?
@UnicornMaster: 1 and some gum.
Dabamash
@CamilleBabakin: No, the Bush Administration was a waste of money. This is a thing of beauty.
SteverMan
How many bolts do you think are holding the shuttle to the 747?
What a waste of time and money.
CamilleBabakin
Holy crap. No wonder it costs a bazillion to transport. Always thought they just slapped the cone thing on, locked the control surfaces, craned it up, lifted the gear, locked it down and away we go! Glad I'm not in charge. :P
@hu_hu_cool: Yep. Youtube, Vimeo etc works just fine but Gizmodos own video player hardly ever works. I get the first frame then it stops.
Mikael
@laylaholic: Sadly, the reproduction rate is about 25% given the number of Concordes in the wild vs. number of times the Space Shuttle has mounted a 747.
@eddiewojo: I loved seeing that 747 squat! Fabulous!
Your calculation is so wrong that it hurts my brain.
7200 minutes / 2 = 3600
The video is played at 3600x, one second = one hour.
Axel Delafon
i dont know why i made the following calculation but here it is:
5 days * 24 hours * 60 minutes = 7200 minutes
movie is 2 minutes, means the video is 12.8x fast
2^12.813 = 7200
medopal
@600Followers_GitEmSteveDave: Stop peeking in my windows!
If it takes 6 days just to mount the shuttle on the carrier, I doubt I'm ever going to spend some vacation time on Mars in my lifetime.
Whatever happened to those concept tests to use a giant slingshot to send things into space?
crsh1976
@World's Greatest Mactard!: I was going to say Flash Gordon for a boy, and Ornela Muti for a girl.
@hu_hu_cool:
not here
Matt LeMonds
@World's Greatest Mactard!: Concordes...
laylaholic
Hmmm, Cool. So what kinda babies do you get when a Space Shuttle Humps a 747?
@600Followers_GitEmSteveDave: "And on the seventh day, they rested, and had a cigarette"
AreWeThereYeti
Does anyone else have problems watching gizmodo videos on safari 4?
@600Followers_GitEmSteveDave: Yes, What an accurate simile.
@Queyssel:
Seconded
moonrad
Wow, so it's like 5 days of foreplay, and on the 6th day, they got it on.
Wow, you can actually see the 747 "sink" when it takes the weight of the shuttle!
eddiewojo
thats quite cool.
Queyssel