@TildalWave The smiley-face-sad-face EVA transfer diagram on the STS-400 page is cracking me up.

@RussellBorogove yes, incredible isn't it?

BTW nice answer, I only saw it a few minutes ago... I'm sometimes too much into writing my own to even notice much anything else LOL

Haha... it's all good, you have the very convincing pictures, I've got the historical context.

I'm still not sure should I upvote the answer ... which I usually do if I also answer it, by logic that if it's good enough to answer, it's good enough to upvote ... but I really dislike most questions asking about reality of fiction

probably mostly because there's no need to even expose some really awful movie like that to ask the same question

(and in part because it doesn't ask about nearly anything else that isn't aligned with reality in that movie LOL)

Heh. This one isn't too egregious though, since the simultaneous launch is one of the less ridiculous things in the movie

exactly, and that irks me :)

that movie is still the butt of many planetary protection jokes

meh I'm upvoting it, maybe it hits the supercollider

@TildalWave Is that for Columbia ...aaaaannnddd... Atlantis?

(in any case, the theoretical rescue?)

ArduSat, further proof that everything you learn are going to be useful within a few days ;)

@SF. Concerning the energy in the moon: That was a rhetorical question to illustrate that there is nothing special about the motion energy of a meteorite.

@PearsonArtPhoto Waiting one orbit means you're assuming a completely different orbital node, about 15° apart. You'd then have to wait about 1 day for orbital phases to (roughly) align, or do phasing in orbit, which is less than optimal.

Tho granted, those were obviously Space Shuttles unlike anything we've ever seen, if they were able to reach C3 and then have some hyperbolic excess velocity to spare with full payloads

Actually, launch from Earth and rendezvous with inbound object is about the most difficult thing to do in terms of required delta-v before it flies by

Hmmm, that's true, unless it was an equatorial launch...

I think one could do it relatively easily for a nearly straight west launch, but I'd have to think about it...

Hmmm, I wonder how Gemini/ Agena did it then...

hehehe I just wanted to say you could ask a new question

When I come up with interesting new questions... Why not ask.

exactly :)

From the WP page: Their first course adjustment was made at 1h34m, when the astronauts lowered their apogee slightly. 2nd adjustment was made near apogee of the second orbit, and raised both the apogee and perigee by adding 15 m/s to their speed. 3rd adjustment was made over the Pacific Ocean, a southward orbital plane change, 18 m/s sideways thruster burn. Over Mexico, one last correction, 0.79 speedup.

That wouldn't account for a 15 degree nodal change.

Launched into different inclinations?

The exact orbits launched into would likely reveal what happened.

Different inclinations is highly unlikely. Different orbits, maybe, but nodal drift is really slow, so...

Gemini inclination 28.91º, Agena 28.86º, hardly noticable.

They must have corrected for the nodal drift in the mission launch trajectory.

The 1:40 interval is a little longer than one orbit, right? Does that help?

I'm not thinking 3D very well today, unfortunately

The orbit was pretty low, so...

Yes, the orbit is about 90 minutes at that altitude. I'm used to working with higher satellites, I thought 100 minutes was the right orbital time...

They're inclined at Canaveral latitude so both launching horizontally, so if you plotted the tracks of two successive orbits they'd only be a sliver apart at the northernmost part of the orbit.

Hmm, no, the extra time doesn't help.

I got nothin'

That might be the time to repeat overhead flights, which would be slightly longer than an orbit, I think.

space.stackexchange.com/help/badges/102/launch

@PearsonArtPhoto My uninterupted reign of terror has ended? Who darest unseat me?

Oh you. Meh.

I still have 2. :)

On my way to Gold...

So @TildalWave reign of chilli induced terror is over? I for one welcome our scaly overlords and request Tildal to come back please!

I assume I missed the foo-fer-ah and assume shenanigans ensued. I am disappointed.

whoa whoa - i'm gone for a few days and this happens?

@kimholder I missed it too!

And I gotta shut down for Sabbath soon, so tell me the story of what you find out offline please.

crap

i do have an email for him but i've used it sparingly because i have it only because he had to send me the t-shirt designs.

well, from the post what it is is a desire to be free of the particular hassles of moderation.

@kimholder why do you need it? :P

BTW it's not difficult to guess

at least one of them

well, two

well you do any number of unpleasant things as a moderator. hard to narrow it down.

is time a big factor?

@TildalWave i just wasn't sure if it was something you'd actually want to discuss, either.

no, not here at least

apparently, and I just checked, a whole lot more has been nuked of what I said in the DMZ by CMs that was absolutely necessary

so pardon me if I don't find any trust for the overlords here at all and think they're full of ... you know what

shit? :D

(not SEx.SE mods!, both Pearson and c2v when he graces us with his presence are 100% reliable and trustworthy)

@kimholder you said it :P

well, perhaps it is appropriate for me to then say that a large portion of the time i have spent here in general has been an attempt to back you up specifically, because i smelled burn out.

though i could only do a limited amount, at least i was around, which can be helpful in itself

doesn't matter really, we'll all move on, and I'll be around probably just as before, just not some kanine on a leash on behalf of less than grateful overlords (despite what they say)

nobody really cared to do anything when it was still time, so....

yeah, that sounds like a good way to go, all right

I'm sure they won't have problems taking the money out of advertising once this site kicks off tho

oh, by the way - it's 'canine' :D

not in my language :P

or latin

I think

:P

Latin is a bit tricky with K's and C's or B's and V's

meh, it's duplication anyhow

one sound per letter. is that so hard?

not here

we've been at it for millennia

since the cuneiform LOL

so, does this have profound implications for the smooth functioning of SX?

are there likely candidates for appointment as a replacement?

@kimholder probably not, dunno, depends

@kimholder no idea

i have reflected several times that i am glad c2v reappeared rather than someone being appointed or something to replace them, given that i was going to volunteer and it might have been me.

it just so happened that i stopped coming here this week because i am a lousy multi-tasker and despite enjoying it i had to stop or i wasn't going to advance on moonwards.

@kimholder yeah how's that going by the way?

giving it my complete attention has resulted in me wanting to redo everything because it isn't good enough any more:P

@Hohmannfan has been pitching in here and there. but of course right now i have to finish basic things still before significant collaboration is really practical

hehehe I know how that feels

the redo comment

despite you doing your best to instill fear of the rim in me, i'm moving the base much closer to the rim

i'm betting it is pretty stable, it maximizes light time, and things can be sent over the rim and connect to other excavations from the side.

anyhow, i'm enjoying it and things are moving faster now.

that's how it should be done, I'm glad because you did seem a bit frustrated at times about it before

sorry I'm a bit in and out, I recently discovered Keck videos :))

keckobservatory.org/recent/type/video

many interesting articles there too

in fairness, i was more frustrated here than i am on moonwards. well, i've gotten away from the nss politics, which made it more pleasant.

Wow... what happened?

T is a free agent now :)

But T always did the good things for this place.

(he's watching astronomy videos, he may be a few minutes)

This is weird.

@geoffc We'll see how long it lasts.

@duzzy weirdness aside, i should go back to what i was doing. i have to stay away from here for the most part until march. just too much to do.

Well I hope this isn't all falling apart.

@duzzy no, it won't fall apart, c'mon I'm not irreplaceable

this site will do as well as the community learns to moderate its contents without supervision

@kimholder hehe yes I was LOL

@PearsonArtPhoto That Gemini / Agena rendezvous page is much more interesting than I thought it's gonna be

(this one history.nasa.gov/SP-4203/ch13-6.htm)

> The crew sighted a shining object 140 kilometers ahead, which must be the Agena. After closing to a range of 102 kilometers, all doubts were erased - the target gleamed in the sunlight.