Virgin Flight

[Autothrust Blue]

You have to get quite a large distance from any celestial objects to experience a complete "lack of gravity", and I venture to say that humans have not yet traveled that far from earth (depending upon what threshold you use I suppose). A space vehicle the same distance from the earth as the moon, without any relative velocity, will eventually fall back to earth.

The boundary of the equigravisphere was met with a certain amount of groaning by the flight dynamics team (no, the velocity didn't jump and no, there was no jolt) on at least one Apollo mission.

 

[SteveC]

The boundary of the equigravisphere was met with a certain amount of groaning by the flight dynamics team (no, the velocity didn't jump and no, there was no jolt) on at least one Apollo mission.

"Between the Moon and Earth, there came a point where the gravity of the approaching body became stronger than that of the receding body. When this point of gravitational equality was reached, it was customary for mission control, and especially those concerned with flight dynamics, to switch their frame of reference from one world to another. However, because the Moon itself was in motion around Earth, the numbers representing the spacecraft's speed and position appeared to jump. Journalists found it difficult to make sense of this change in the velocity figures being fed to them by the NASA public affairs people, and some got the impression that a 'barrier' was being crossed that would surely be felt by the crew.

Mike Collins later related how Phil Shaffer, one of the flight dynamics controllers in the MOCR struggled to explain the truth to reporters: ''Never has the gulf between the non-technical journalist and the non-journalistic technician been more apparent. The harder Phil tried to dispel the notion, the more he convinced some of the reporters that the spacecraft actually would jiggle or jump as it passed into the lunar sphere. The rest of us smirked and tittered as poor Phil puffed and laboured, and thereafter we tried to discuss the lunar sphere of influence with Phil as often as we could, especially when outsiders were present.''

As a homeward-bound Apollo 11 crossed the imaginary line between the gravitational spheres of influence of the two worlds, Capcom Bruce McCandless called the spacecraft to inform the crew: ''Apollo 11, this is Houston. Stand by for a 'mark' leaving the lunar sphere of influence.'' He then indicated the moment's passing, ''Mark. You're leaving the lunar sphere of influence. Over.''

Collins saw a chance for some mischief. ''Roger. Is Phil Shaffer down there?'' The FIDO console was being manned by Dave Reed rather than Shaffer. ''Negative,'' said McCandless, ''but we've got a highly qualified team on in his stead.''

''Roger. I wanted to hear him explain it again to the press conference,'' teased Collins. ''Tell him the spacecraft gave a little jump as it went through the [equigravisphere].''

''Okay. I'll pass it on to him. Thanks a lot,'' said McCandless, ''and Dave Reed is sort of burying his head in his arms right now.''

Crews continued to play with this confusion throughout the programme. As Endeavour headed home, Capcom Joe Allen let Apollo 15's crew know they had entered Earth's sphere of influence. ''Be advised at my mark, you are leaving the sphere of lunar influence; and it's downhill from here on in... Mark!'' ''Roger, Thank you, Joe,'' replied Scott. ''That's nice to know.'' ''Did you notice anything there, Dave? Discontinuity in velocity or anything like that?'' teased Allen.

''Well, Joe,'' returned Scott. ''That's one of the mysteries that we'll probably have to keep to ourselves.''

''I was afraid of that,'' replied Allen."

 

[Autothrust Blue]

"Between the Moon and Earth, there came a point where the gravity of the approaching body became stronger than that of the receding body. When this point of gravitational equality was reached, it was customary for mission control, and especially those concerned with flight dynamics, to switch their frame of reference from one world to another. However, because the Moon itself was in motion around Earth, the numbers representing the spacecraft's speed and position appeared to jump. Journalists found it difficult to make sense of this change in the velocity figures being fed to them by the NASA public affairs people, and some got the impression that a 'barrier' was being crossed that would surely be felt by the crew.

Mike Collins later related how Phil Shaffer, one of the flight dynamics controllers in the MOCR struggled to explain the truth to reporters: ''Never has the gulf between the non-technical journalist and the non-journalistic technician been more apparent. The harder Phil tried to dispel the notion, the more he convinced some of the reporters that the spacecraft actually would jiggle or jump as it passed into the lunar sphere. The rest of us smirked and tittered as poor Phil puffed and laboured, and thereafter we tried to discuss the lunar sphere of influence with Phil as often as we could, especially when outsiders were present.''

As a homeward-bound Apollo 11 crossed the imaginary line between the gravitational spheres of influence of the two worlds, Capcom Bruce McCandless called the spacecraft to inform the crew: ''Apollo 11, this is Houston. Stand by for a 'mark' leaving the lunar sphere of influence.'' He then indicated the moment's passing, ''Mark. You're leaving the lunar sphere of influence. Over.''

Collins saw a chance for some mischief. ''Roger. Is Phil Shaffer down there?'' The FIDO console was being manned by Dave Reed rather than Shaffer. ''Negative,'' said McCandless, ''but we've got a highly qualified team on in his stead.''

''Roger. I wanted to hear him explain it again to the press conference,'' teased Collins. ''Tell him the spacecraft gave a little jump as it went through the [equigravisphere].''

''Okay. I'll pass it on to him. Thanks a lot,'' said McCandless, ''and Dave Reed is sort of burying his head in his arms right now.''

Crews continued to play with this confusion throughout the programme. As Endeavour headed home, Capcom Joe Allen let Apollo 15's crew know they had entered Earth's sphere of influence. ''Be advised at my mark, you are leaving the sphere of lunar influence; and it's downhill from here on in... Mark!'' ''Roger, Thank you, Joe,'' replied Scott. ''That's nice to know.'' ''Did you notice anything there, Dave? Discontinuity in velocity or anything like that?'' teased Allen.

''Well, Joe,'' returned Scott. ''That's one of the mysteries that we'll probably have to keep to ourselves.''

''I was afraid of that,'' replied Allen."

Isn’t that a great book?

 

[fholbert]

Any zero G situation while in the vicinity of a planet, including while in orbit, is due to the effect of free falling. Pushing the nose over is the same physical effect as 'falling around the planet', which is what happens in orbit - your forward momentum is offset by the pull of gravity, curving your trajectory towards the earth instead of leaving orbit at a tangent. As you fall, you continue to travel forward and you end up continuously falling around the planet. That is how the moon orbits the earth (and the planets orbit the sun). (As a side note, the moon has enough mass to generate its own measurable gravity, irrespective of the planet around which it orbits.)

You have to get quite a large distance from any celestial objects to experience a complete "lack of gravity", and I venture to say that humans have not yet traveled that far from earth (depending upon what threshold you use I suppose). A space vehicle the same distance from the earth as the moon, without any relative velocity, will eventually fall back to earth.

 

[gliderboy]

It's worth noting that both Elon Musk and Richard Branson accomplished in America what they could never have accomplished in their home countries.

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

The wannabe socialists hating on the billionaires who have achieved their childhood dream is perhaps my favorite part of all of this. I’m lookin’ at you, White Doug.

 

[CFI A&P]

I wish there was more discussion about the Rutans during the event.

Personally I'm just jealous of Burt's mutton chops. Far superior to Les Abend's mustache.

 

[derg]

Well, space is a billionaires game now.

NASA is hamstrung by politics and the need to please the traditional vendors (*cough* SLS *cough*). Love it or hate it, it’s where the action is and they’re putting the work in.

We’re supposed to get excited about the SLS which are more or less a Frankenstein build with shuttle parts ‘n pieces and the Boeing Starliner but I haven’t heard anyone gasp in amazement at either.

It’d be great to be in another situation like the 1960’s where there was a (heavily unpopular, have you) space race but that’s wishful thinking.

 

[JordanD]

The wannabe socialists hating on the billionaires who have achieved their childhood dream is perhaps my favorite part of all of this. I’m lookin’ at you, White Doug.

Can I be indifferent for not socialist reasons, like not really caring that a rich guy spent a bunch of money for someone to build him something to do what the Mercury program did 60 years ago?
I got super excited about all the Space X stuff, but “accessible” $250,000 vomit comet rides doesn’t really inspire as much awe in me as space stuff that probably has more practical applications.

 

[JordanD]

It’d be great to be in another situation like the 1960’s where there was a (heavily unpopular, have you) space race but that’s wishful thinking.

“If we can get a rocket to the moon, we can sure as hell build one that’s gonna reach Moscow. You guys listening?”

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

Can I be indifferent for not socialist reasons, like not really caring that a rich guy spent a bunch of money for someone to build him something to do what the Mercury program did 60 years ago?
I got super excited about all the Space X stuff, but “accessible” $250,000 vomit comet rides doesn’t really inspire as much awe in me as space stuff that probably has more practical applications.

I hear ya. I still think there’s something amazing about what Branson is doing, and keep in mind that what costs $250k today is likely to cost $10k tomorrow as the technology develops and scales.

But I was more addressing the knee-jerk haters who immediately deride anything done by a billionaire. Because Bernie or something.

 

[Boris Badenov]

Plus a huge amount of all of this (SpaceX, obviously, but also VirginG) is about cost and scalability. Sure, the military has been lofting things waaaaaay up there for many decades, but what was the $$/LB?

 

[Murdoughnut]

I thought this would be about the ERAU flight team

 

[ChasenSFO]

For what it's worth, I think it's pretty cool that anyone with 1/4 mil to piss away can take a quick ride to the edge of the atmosphere. I'm not one to hate on people because they have a cooler life or more money than me. There will always be social justice problems, kids starving, genocides, ect. Doesn't mean rich people can't find ways to make people fortunate people with the means to enjoy such a venture happy. It's just cool aircraft stuff, I don't get the hate, either. The money wasn't siphoned from UNICEF.

All we hear about is the doom and gloom, which is very real, so it's nice when cool things get a lot of press.

 

[fholbert]

Personally I'm just jealous of Burt's mutton chops. Far superior to Les Abend's mustache.

And Burt's house. That's the mailbox in the foreground.

 

[Adler]

Plus a huge amount of all of this (SpaceX, obviously, but also VirginG) is about cost and scalability. Sure, the military has been lofting things waaaaaay up there for many decades, but what was the $$/LB?

Years ago at Oshkosh after Space Ship One's first flight I watched Rutan, Mike Melvil, Branson, and a few others talk about the program. Rutan as always, seemed to be very critical of the government waste. It seemed to him, the goal wasnt to fly rich people to space, but to kick others butts into gear, lowering the cost, and keeping humans exploring.

It was a while ago, but I remember Rutan was very proud saying the entire cost of the Space Ship One development and first flight, was less than one minute flying time of the space shuttle.

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

Jeff Bezos donates $200 million to the Smithsonian Institution ahead of Blue Origin launch

This is the largest gift since the Smithsonian's founding.

www.space.com

The largest donation to the Smithsonian since its founding. But yeah, screw billionaires who love space, right, @Autothrust Blue ?

Let’s also thank Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who are largely responsible for spurring on the wave of billionaire philanthropy.

 

[zmiller4]

I thought this would be about the ERAU flight team

Isn’t Virgin Flight the new ERAU call sign?

It’s a joke so good it’s worth a second go-around.

It may be the Harvard of the skies but it’s the U of Phoenix of the bedroom.

 

[DropTank]

Jeff Bezos donates $200 million to the Smithsonian Institution ahead of Blue Origin launch

This is the largest gift since the Smithsonian's founding.

www.space.com

The largest donation to the Smithsonian since its founding. But yeah, screw billionaires who love space, right, @Autothrust Blue ?

Let’s also thank Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who are largely responsible for spurring on the wave of billionaire philanthropy.

Those billionaires are redistributing the wealth, thus, communists.

(/s for the slow and stupid)

 

[melax]

Hopefully, Galaxionaut will survive this endeavor...

"The guinea pig has been in training in southern Congo, and has been placed in a centrifuge to imitate space conditions."

Guinea pig Galaxionaut to be launched to space by Congolese scientist