Endeavour

The space-shuttle Endeavour will be launching within the next 15 minutes.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/live_tv.html

Where is it going?

The International Space Station (ISS). Amongst other things, it is delivering a module that will be required for future European Space Agency (ESA) missions to dock with the station.

... ...thankfully, the launch went okay. I cannot get the images of Columbia exploding out of my head.

Doesn't this kind of thing happen a lot? Or am I confusing sci-fi with reality.

Manned shuttle launches are rare but there is generally a few unmanned spacecrafts launched each year. THe most recent unmanned probe was the 'Phoenix' spacecraft which is currently on route to Mars.

The Russians, Chinese, Europeans, and Japanese launch things too but these aren't reported in the media.

Ah, so it is the unmanned ones I am thinking of. Oh well, very good then.

There's one currently on it's way to Pluto too. Can you believe it? - We will finally have actualy images of Pluto! All we have at the moment is a dot.

Officially speaking, I am pretty sure Pluto got bumped off the planet list, plus a few other changes. They totally rewrote the solar system, and nobody seems to know or care.

That's true, and I actually care about things like that. However, I was on the side that wanted to demote Pluto. You see, if Pluto was to be a planet, then we would have to extend our solar system to tens more planets. This is because there are many other icy-rocks out there that are either larger than or are of similar size to Pluto.

No, Pluto is now a Dwarf Planet, which angers me still. It is clearly just a comet (or asteroid, depending on who you are talking to). To be a planet, you must:

1) Be large enough to have cleared your orbital path
2) Have enough mass to have formed a spherical shape
3) NOT have enough mass for nuclear fusion to have formed at your core

So, Pluto fails this list based on the first point. Why? - because Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit and, if it were to encounter Neptune, it would stand no chance of surviving. Labelling it a 'Dwarf Planet' is just ridiculous and it's only to satisfy all of those that didn't want to demote it. There are three other Drawf Planets as far as I know, including Eros, which orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Kevin.

Chucky wrote:That's true, and I actually care about things like that.

Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come off that way, though see how you could have gotten the idea.

However, I was on the side that wanted to demote Pluto. You see, if Pluto was to be a planet, then we would have to extend our solar system to tens more planets. This is because there are many other icy-rocks out there that are either larger than or are of similar size to Pluto.

No, Pluto is now a Dwarf Planet, which angers me still. It is clearly just a comet (or asteroid, depending on who you are talking to). To be a planet, you must:

1) Be large enough to have cleared your orbital path
2) Have enough mass to have formed a spherical shape
3) NOT have enough mass for nuclear fusion to have formed at your core

So, Pluto fails this list based on the first point. Why? - because Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit and, if it were to encounter Neptune, it would stand no chance of surviving. Labelling it a 'Dwarf Planet' is just ridiculous and it's only to satisfy all of those that didn't want to demote it. There are three other Drawf Planets as far as I know, including Eros, which orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Kevin.

Yeah, there are several 'dwarf planets' that are bigger than Pluto anyhow, and thatis just the ones we have found. We'll find dozens more out in that outer-zone.