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Astronomy Picture of the Day - To Fly Free in Space
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod ^ | 14 May, 2023 | Image Credit: NASA, STS-41B

Posted on 05/14/2023 2:18:56 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: What would it be like to fly free in space? At about 100 meters from the cargo bay of the space shuttle Challenger, Bruce McCandless II was living the dream -- floating farther out than anyone had ever been before. Guided by a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), astronaut McCandless, pictured, was floating free in space. During Space Shuttle mission 41-B in 1984, McCandless and fellow NASA astronaut Robert Stewart were the first to experience such an "untethered space walk". The MMU worked by shooting jets of nitrogen and was used to help deploy and retrieve satellites. With a mass over 140 kilograms, an MMU is heavy on Earth, but, like everything, is weightless when drifting in orbit. The MMU was later replaced with the SAFER backpack propulsion unit.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: nasa
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 05/14/2023 2:18:56 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 05/14/2023 2:19:16 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; Agatsu77; America_Right; ...
Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔


3 posted on 05/14/2023 2:20:20 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Ahhhh...hello..HELLO?...anybody...


4 posted on 05/14/2023 2:22:05 PM PDT by Bounced2X (Boomer - I survived childhood with no bike helmet.)
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To: MtnClimber

Flying free in Outer Space?
That’s something I hope that I never find out about first hand. I am an Earthwalker and lovin’ it!


5 posted on 05/14/2023 2:32:09 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: lee martell

There is a first time for everything.

Some day, the first Earthling will be lost in space. He or she will either die immediately and the body careen out of orbit, or broadcast while floating away until oxygen runs out.

Every feeling person on Earth will grieve.

Until then, bravo for this person.


6 posted on 05/14/2023 2:47:27 PM PDT by DoodleBob ( Gravity’s waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: DoodleBob

That kind of One Way Experimentation is usually what animals are for. I mean wild animals, mammals, such as apes, monkeys
and pigs.

I wouldn’t even send a Pig to Mars. That kind of trip will always be extremely dangerous and disorientating for any animal with a respiratory, muscular and nervous system. We can only be sedated for so long to calm us during the traveling, then at some point, we just don’t wake up.


7 posted on 05/14/2023 3:00:43 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: MtnClimber

This would be soooo cool…..


8 posted on 05/14/2023 3:01:28 PM PDT by telescope115 (My feet are on the ground, and my head is in the stars. A Man, and proud of it!)
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To: DoodleBob

I get what you mean about the value of an adventurous spirit.
We don’t want it to be the most exciting event in our home will be known as ‘Voyage To The Bottom Of The Stairs!!”


9 posted on 05/14/2023 3:04:15 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: lee martell

We can only be sedated for so long to calm us during the traveling, then at some point, we just don’t wake up.

That’s life...however we do wake up it’s just that
we don’t remember being awake before.


10 posted on 05/14/2023 3:05:56 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: tet68

“We do wake up, it’s just that we don’t remember being awake before.”

Interesting.
That sounds like a script from one of my favorite Parnormal TV dramas of the early ‘60’s. T’was called
“One Step Beyond”. I like this show more than Twilight Zone, because it often dealt with telepathy phenomena.


11 posted on 05/14/2023 3:14:46 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: DoodleBob
Some day, the first Earthling will be lost in space.

The Soviet Union lost 1 cosmonaut in 1962 and 3 in 1971 in spacecraft accidents. All were lost involving accidents upon re-entry. And those are the ones we know of. There are rumors of others.

12 posted on 05/14/2023 3:15:24 PM PDT by plsvn
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To: MtnClimber

Crazy bastards.

You might think that some natural protection instincts would take over.


13 posted on 05/14/2023 3:16:16 PM PDT by doorgunner69 (Let's go Brandon)
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To: doorgunner69

Reminds me of those high wire guys without a safety net.


14 posted on 05/14/2023 3:22:39 PM PDT by doorgunner69 (Let's go Brandon)
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To: MtnClimber

Lucky bastard... I’d love to be that far from 99.999% of people.


15 posted on 05/14/2023 5:38:36 PM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: MtnClimber
Sooo.. What happens if Homer's "jetpack" takes a crap?

Fall? Float out in space? Become a satellite?
I don't s'pose a "healthy fart" would getya headed in the right direction from in the suit an'it ain't like ya can open the window for fresh air (insult to injury)..

Strange picture.. d;^)

16 posted on 05/14/2023 7:20:55 PM PDT by CopperTop (Outside the wire it's just us chickens. Dig?)
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To: MtnClimber

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong!..........


17 posted on 05/15/2023 5:40:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: CopperTop

He be a satellite.

I suspect there was some sort of very fine tether not visible.

NASA is nothing if not a true believer in redundant safety measures.


18 posted on 05/15/2023 11:14:14 AM PDT by doorgunner69 (Let's go Brandon)
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To: MtnClimber

Then a asteroid smacked him....


19 posted on 05/15/2023 2:27:40 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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