New Adjective
What adjective does one use for a really bad movie with a really big star, but which now is really extinct?
'stinkasaurus'
Context:
"The Postman" (1997) I've never heard a theater full of people howl like they did after watching the trailer for this Kevin Costner stinkasaurus. Coming soon: "The Meter Reader. "
- Sean Nelson,
Worst. Titles. Ever.
End of STS-120
Everything went well for STS-120 and they've landed safely at Kennedy. The first landing window was taken and they landed pretty much right on time at 1301 EST.
The crew was ecstatic of their mission and the post landing chat on the landing strip was good.
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I heard this on the news today and I'd like to know if you guys hear the oxymoron, too:
President GW Bush to President P Musharaff: "You can't be the President and the head of the military at the same time."
Hmmm...
Mission update.
STS-120 marched steadily along and all docked operations were completed with undocking occurring Monday morning. The crew are now preparing for landing by re-installing seats, testing thrusters, making orbital adjustments, and other general prep tasks for landing. The weather is forecast to be good at Kennedy, so they are calling for landing to take place there on Wednesday afternoon around 1300 EST.
4 of 5 scheduled spacewalks were completed. Scott Parazynski was able to jury-rig the torn P6 array section allowing it to be fully extended. It turns out that it is a problem to have the array partially extended - if not fully out, it is not properly tensioned to withstand the forces put on the station during docking of the Orbiter. But, that problem is solved and they are able to generate sufficient power to sustain the station while the other significant snafu - the SARJ (joint) on the other set of arrays - is dealt with.
Mission managers have elected to save the repairs until later while they work out exactly how to solve the problem with the S3/4 SARJ. All the moving parts - bearings, rings, gears, etc., are replaceable, so if that's what it comes to, a later mission will rebuild the main bearings, if you like. The other trick is to clean up the shavings already accumulated in the bearing housing. The obvious thing to do is vacuum up the bits, but Mike Suffredini, ISS Program Manager, has this to say on the clean up: "Let's talk about vacuum cleaners in a vacuum later". In the meantime, the P3/4/6 array setup can sustain the station, allowing a minimisation of the sun-tracking movement of the other array.
So, all eyes to landing on Wednesday! The Mission Management Team gave the all clear to the thermal protection system on mission day 3 or so, so there aren't any problems expected there.
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Stargazers... look up! There's another comet visible in the night sky: 17P/Holmes in the constellation Perseus. It orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter and usually isn't visible to the naked eye, but on 23 October, it suffered an eruption of gas and has since gained a large fuzzy cloud surrounding its icy core. It hasn't developed into the usual tail, but retains a fuzzy circular shape.
It is visible with the naked eye, but grab some binoculars or a telescope to resolve it a bit better in the sky. It's not visible in the southern hemisphere, so enjoy it for me and take a picture if you have a tripod.
