Nice People 13: Nice Save

Masomnia

I'll definitely look up that programme about the space race.

Interview went ok I think. We got on well, and as I was interviewed by the people I'd be working directly with I think that's a good sign. Could have answered some questions better, but it's not worth getting too worried about.

Off out now to post something I sold on ebay, then I'm going to go for a walk and buy a plant for my room. Nice.

vivatifosi

Great news Mas. This is the London one, right?

Masomnia

vivatifosi wrote: »

Great news Mas. This is the London one, right?

This is the more local one. It would be really good experience, as in exactly what I need. But I desperately need a fresh start in a new place, and as the money is so poor I probably won't be able to move out.

They're letting me know early next week, and it'll be an immediate start, so if I get it I've got to take it and I'll never know about the others.

It'll just be for six months, which in a way is ok because it means I'll have got good experience and can move on but I'm sick of having to think 'it's only for six months' or 'it's only a year', the time just goes.

Masomnia

The Cosmonauts programme is indeed on iplayer Shall watch it this eve.

zagubov

vivatifosi wrote: »

That was an amazing programme. Well worth catching on iPlayer if still available. Because we were the other side of the wall during the Cold War, its amazing seeing the Soviet footage from then. It's almost like being let in to a long held secret.



There is still a high failure rate for space missions. The Russian rockets, which have changed little since the Korolev era, are seen as the most reliable now.

The Space shuttle was a highly unreliable vehicle when it retired. There were 5 craft that went into space and of these two resulted in fatal missions. If that was the case with commercial aviation, nobody would fly. The great irony is that the Space Shuttle would fly with a crew varying in size between 2 and 8 personnel. The first mission, STS-1, flew with just a pilot and commander (Crippen and Young), though the typical crew size was five to seven. Both the Challenger and Columbia disasters featured teams of seven, the largest practical and normal size. While any loss of life in space is tragic, the loss of seven on each is particularly sad. Only 355 Astronauts and Cosmonauts flew the shuttle (some on multiple missions). Of those, 14 never returned home.

If anyone hasn't been and has a chance, a visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is a really worthwhile trip. The Shuttle is really small when you see how big the Apollo Rockets were. There's a specialist tour that they run (not all of the time) that takes you to the older sites. Seeing the control room and launchpad where Alan Shepard's Redstone (Mercury) took off is amazing. Talk about the right stuff. The visit to the pad where Grissom, Chaffee and White lost their lives (Apollo 1) was also extremely sobering. Grissom was set to be the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong was actually his stand in.

I'd quite like to see Star City in Kazakhstan if they do tours, maybe when Hamish and I do the Mongol Rally we can take a detour that way.

I'm a bit of a space geek, even though I don't have the slightest understanding of the laws of physics. But I find the human side fascinating.

The iplayer show is brill- I've seen most of it now.

Been to the Florida centre. I find this interesting as I had to teach a topic covering the Space Race once. I learned tons from having to teach it.

An old workmate of mine now works in Kazakhstan. I must find out if he's visited the cosmodrome.

Anyhoo, reminds me of this, Makes the launch engineering look like poetry in motion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9h86LDnYJ0

Wheezy_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

So you all think they really went to the moon eh?

Yes I do.
But of course I don't fall for that popular myth that Neil Armstrong was the first one on the moon...

vivatifosi

PasturesNew wrote: »

So you all think they really went to the moon eh?

Personally, 100% yes. It's not even one of those things I'm 99% certain on. All out, definitely.

Nikkster

Wheezy wrote: »

Yes I do.
But of course I don't fall for that popular myth that Neil Armstrong was the first one on the moon...

That made me giggle! Thanks Wheezy

GDB2222

You know those long lists of jokes that aren't funny? Well, a few of the ones on this website actually are funny. Fancy that!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/11034196/funny-jokes.html?frame=2903337

'His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.'

LydiaJ

lostinrates wrote: »

Lydia, which room would help most if you could clear one by magic?

Iirc your kitchen is more than fine and sitting room fine? Is that still the case?

The kitchen is fine. The living room can be made fine although a lot of the time it isn't. There's a large suitcase that's been in there for weeks with random stuff inside that I haven't got round to addressing. The whole house feels "not done". There are random piles and boxes of stuff in most of the rooms. The downstairs carpets are disgraceful. All rooms that DD has control of are more or less impassable - her original room, the spare room that she moved out into, and the playroom. The rest is just rather cluttered and not very organised. I'd like to live in a house where there are at least some flat surfaces that aren't covered in things, and where the rooms have been put together on purpose rather than containing whatever people couldn't think of anywhere else to put, IYSWIM.

PasturesNew wrote: »

So you all think they really went to the moon eh?

Yes.