Look at all the money we spend on defense. If we had spent that money on space exploration we could have had thriving colonies on the Moon AND Mars by now. The only reason we got the Hubble telescope is because the NRO didn't have anything new they wanted to look at that week. No wonder people sign up for facism, they get tired of all the petty squabbling over chickenshit. Ve are going to do it this Vay and that is the Vay Ve are going to do it! Sieg Heil! Okay, that didn't quite follow, but it's early. I probably should wait until I can be a little more coherent before I start writing shit down.
TV announcers like to tell us how heavy rockets are when they blast off, and they do have some impressive numbers, but most of that weight, like 99.9999% of it is fuel. The actual rocket, spaceship and payload weigh next to nothing. An Atlas rocket is less substantial than a beer can.
That'd be 99.5%
ReplyDeleteThe Space Shuttle weighed 165,000 pounds empty. Its external tank weighed 78,100 pounds empty and its two solid rocket boosters weighed 185,000 pounds empty each. Each solid rocket booster held 1.1 million pounds of fuel. The external tank held 143,000 gallons of liquid oxygen (1,359,000 pounds) and 383,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen (226,000 pounds). The fuel weighed almost 20 times more than the Shuttle. At launch, the Shuttle, external tank, solid rocket boosters and all the fuel combined had a total weight of 4.4 million pounds. The Shuttle could also carry a 65,000 payload.
I was close! Besides, what's half a percent between friends? Of course now I'll have to put all this in a spreadsheet to see how it all adds up.
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