APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

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APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Nov 09, 2015 5:16 am

Image Assembly of The International Space Station

Explanation: It is the largest and most sophisticated object ever built off the Earth. It has taken numerous spaceflights and over a decade to construct. The International Space Station (ISS) is currently the premiere habitat for humans in Earth orbit, and an amalgamation of sophisticated orbiting laboratories that have examined everything from the formation of new materials and medicines created in microgravity -- to the limitations of the human body -- to the composition of the universe. This month, the ISS is celebrating 15 years of continuous human habitation. The ISS has been visited by astronauts from 15 countries, so far, and has international partners led by NASA (USA), Roscosmos (Russia), CSA (Canada), JAXA (Japan), and ESA (Europe). The featured animation shows the piece-by-piece construction of the ISS from 1998 to 2011. Spanning the length of a football field, the ISS can be seen as an unusually bright spot drifting slowly overhead by anyone who knows when and where to look.

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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by Boomer12k » Mon Nov 09, 2015 10:35 am

Science is SO AMAZING....

I was just playing around with EOS..."Earth Orbit Station" on the Commodore 64 Emulator last night...it is basically as depicted. Send up modules and place them. FUN.

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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by CURRAHEE CHRIS » Mon Nov 09, 2015 1:39 pm

Why do I suddenly want to play with lego's? :)

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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by AWordNerd » Mon Nov 09, 2015 2:44 pm

Since I assume that most visitors to these pages are keen on learning, I'll note:
premiere: opening night, debut
premier: leader, first and foremost, top of the heap

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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Nov 09, 2015 2:57 pm

AWordNerd wrote:Since I assume that most visitors to these pages are keen on learning, I'll note:
premiere: opening night, debut
premier: leader, first and foremost, top of the heap
Well, if you're going to be pedantic, you've defined "premiere" as a noun and "premier" as an adjective. Turns out "premiere" also has an adjective definition, which happens to be synonymous with "premier" (first in rank...), and has been used that way since at least 1768. So there's nothing actually wrong with the caption.
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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by neufer » Mon Nov 09, 2015 2:59 pm

AWordNerd wrote:
Since I assume that most visitors to these pages are keen on learning, I'll note:
  • premiere: opening night, debut

    premier: leader, first and foremost, top of the heap
  • The ISS is definitely postMir.
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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by neufer » Mon Nov 09, 2015 3:20 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:
Turns out "premiere" also has an adjective definition, which happens to be synonymous with "premier" (first in rank...), and has been used that way since at least 1768.
"Premiere" has an adjective definition in France, which happens to be feminine for "premier".

Do you have a reference for "premiere" having an adjective definition in an English dictionary?
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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Nov 09, 2015 3:44 pm

neufer wrote:
Chris Peterson wrote:
Turns out "premiere" also has an adjective definition, which happens to be synonymous with "premier" (first in rank...), and has been used that way since at least 1768.
"Premiere" has an adjective definition in France, which happens to be feminine for "premier".

Do you have a reference for "premiere" having an adjective definition in an English dictionary?
I checked my Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary. Premiere: PREMIER, alteration of premier, 1768. Seems to also be reflected in their online dictionary.

If you prefer British English, my compact OED has an entry for "premier", with accepted alternate forms "primier" and "premiere".
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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by bub4280 » Mon Nov 09, 2015 4:51 pm

I wonder if there may be structural vibration issues, considering the length v/s diameter of the core.
I've seen some curious demos of odd-shaped objects behaving strangely in micro-gravity.
There's a lot of stuff hanging on to that noodle in the middle. Where's the CG today?

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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by guenther » Mon Nov 09, 2015 5:06 pm

Not sure how much scientific value the ISS yielded so far and whether the experiments conducted there couldn't have done more cheaply using alternative techniques like single-purpose satellites, but undoubtedly the ISS is a marvel of engineering prowess, fed the space industry and demonstrated that multi-national cooperation is possible (even if not easy).

A hurrah to the ISS and thanks to all who made it possible!

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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by MarkBour » Mon Nov 09, 2015 5:17 pm

I loved this animation! It was so revealing of all of the steps over the years of which I was pretty ignorant.

So Skylab was NASA's premiere space station, but the ISS is the premiere internationally-constructed station. (Although I loved neufer's "PostMir" observation!)

In all of this time, as far as I know, there has never been a major incident on the ISS, such as a hull breach or leak, the stuff of possible fears (and a favorite subject for sci-fi filmmakers). Still, I don't think it is paranoid to worry about such things. Given time and numbers, eventually a major accident will happen. I wonder what kinds of safety redundancies are in the design, and whether or not the astronauts ever do any safety drills? I'm sure they do, even the professionals that fly planes and drive submarines spend a great deal of time on such matters. It would certainly be interesting to learn about that aspect, and who especially works on such matters.
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Re: APOD: Assembly of The ISS (2015 Nov 09)

Post by Ron-Astro Pharmacist » Mon Nov 09, 2015 9:13 pm

MarkBour wrote:I loved this animation! It was so revealing of all of the steps over the years of which I was pretty ignorant.

So Skylab was NASA's premiere space station, but the ISS is the premiere internationally-constructed station. (Although I loved neufer's "PostMir" observation!)

In all of this time, as far as I know, there has never been a major incident on the ISS, such as a hull breach or leak, the stuff of possible fears (and a favorite subject for sci-fi filmmakers). Still, I don't think it is paranoid to worry about such things. Given time and numbers, eventually a major accident will happen. I wonder what kinds of safety redundancies are in the design, and whether or not the astronauts ever do any safety drills? I'm sure they do, even the professionals that fly planes and drive submarines spend a great deal of time on such matters. It would certainly be interesting to learn about that aspect, and who especially works on such matters.
There has been one incident. Sort of. :wink:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Luckily it ended well. https://www.rt.com/news/space-jumping-spider-dies-311/

RIP in the Smithsonian. http://www.space.com/18744-space-spider ... useum.html
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