Atlantis

Atlantis blasted off into space yesterday with about 11000 k worth of supplies to fix the Hubble Telescope for the final time., and I was lucky enough to watch it. This time, we got within 5 miles of the launch pad, and since the wind was blowing our way, we could hear the sound coming from the rocket. It was the most amazing sound I've ever heard.





What makes this mission particularly dangerous is that the orbit of the Hubble lies in an area where there are plenty of space debris, and plenty of micrometeorites. At the speeds experienced by the debris in orbit, debris the size of a grain of sand, can cause significant damage to the astronauts space suit. Bigger ones can pose significant danger to the space craft. Interesting eh?