"dubbed Integrity"

It must be getting difficult in today's US to find aspirational names that don't sound hollow to the rest of the world.

It seems appropriate in the current US political climate to say "Integrity is no longer to be found on American soil".

One can only hope it'll return both as a capsule and as something to aspire to.

Is that why they changed the launcher colour from white to orange?

i'm sure there's a reason for the orange. I remember being *so* disappointed that the external fuel tank on the shuttles that actually flew were all orange: all the artwork and stuff before the event had it white, as they were depicted in Moonraker too of course, even though the baddie's logo graphic colour was orange and would have matched.

bugger, i've aged myself, haven't i...

edit: oh, it was white on the first two actual launches too; then they realised they were just wasting paint that wasn't doing anything useful and would rather get the payload capacity back.

Is that why they changed the launcher colour from white to orange?

Someone asked that question on the NASA Spaceflight stream I was watching. Apparently it's just the way the thermal insulation changes colour when it's exposed to UV. Was a spectacular launch, but also perhaps a bit pointless. So the Senate Launch System has achieved one objective, ie putting people around the Moon, but putting boots on the ground is going to require a different beast.. Which doesn't exist and will require a lot of testing.

I still think Musk to the Moon is a crazy idea, and seems overly complicated with the need for an unspecified number of tanker flights. Last century, we managed it with a BFR.

I think Musk to the Moon is an excellent idea. Provided he stays there.

Ben Jennings on Donald Trump and the moon mission – cartoon

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/mar/30/ben-jennings-donald-trump-moon-mission-cartoon

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/mar/30/ben-jennings-donald-trump-moon-mission-cartoon

And takes the Orange Fuckwit with him.

On the contrary, dispatching Musk to the Moon is a bloody brilliant idea but only on an "all sales final; no returns" basis. Far side preferred.

Pegging the blighter at Barnards star † even better.

† Yes I know there is a very much closer star but a bit obvious even for Space Karen.

I thought the shuttle insulation was orange to start with. They painted it white for a few missions and then stopped to save weight.

Multiple launches to allow a trip to the moon seems, on the face of it, a backward and needlessly complicated step, but since most of the mass of a trip to the moon from LEO is fuel, (80%+ I think?) there seems to be a case for cryo fuel transfer and storage in orbit being cheaper and sooner than the ludicrous size of the rocket and launch facilities needed to put a moon base down from one launch.

Unmanned, cheap, reusable rockets to build up a reserve of propellant in orbit, then one manned launch to fill up in LEO and thence the moon.

The purpose of the HLS as its setup with super sized boosters and orbital tanking isnt purely to repeat Apollo. Thats never been the intent of Artemis.

This is about building a permanent human outpost on the Moon, and possibly then use it as a staging post for missions to Mars.

that requires you to have a system that is able to haul alot more tonnage of stuff from the Earrh to the moon than a tiny capsule and lunar lander that looks like its literally made of bacofoil.

Youve got to take equipment, machines, supplies, lots of people too.

But if all you sofa surfing space scientists have got a better idea, let NASA know as im sure theyd love to know.

It's clearly an homage to Luke Skywalker's [1]orange jumpsuit.

[1] https://cdn.rebrickable.com/media/thumbs/sets/fig-003869/63621.jpg/1000x800p.jpg

Name choosen in superstitious way? Especially after the Calamity Capsule?

BTW: the toilet design is that from "Bing Bang Theory"?

> the toilet design

Something that doesn't suck?

in space, the [solar] wind does not blow; it sucks... ['cause space is a VACUUM] [ok where's my coat]

It must be getting difficult in today's US to find aspirational names that don't sound hollow to the rest of the world.

I thought "Epic Fury" was pretty good...

If anyone needs a name for the next NASA mission, there are enough writers out there in Hollywood that could come up with something. Funnier still if it were a name approved by "Doctor Evil" of the Austin Powers movies...

[whatever they pick should combine testicular fortitude with high expectations and zero apologies]

I was fully expecting delays or even a scrub for the first attempt, so it was great to see the thing lift off on schedule. Heath Robinson contraption the SLS may be, but it was still impressive! Hats off to the crew and boffins that made it work!

Shirley as it's in the USA, Rube Goldberg would be more apposite than the emphatically British Heath Robinson.

For a proper Rube Goldberg design, it needs more squirrels

I think the cameraman was also expecting it to be delayed or scrubbed at the last minute, given they just kept the camera filming the ground while the rocket took off above them!

I was surprised at how quickly it got going after ignition - between the combination of almost always seeing Saturn V launches in slow motion, and the shuttle launches needing to give the stack time to wobble back into the correct alignment after ignition before the hold-downs were released, the lack of any discernable delay between ignition and vertical motion combined with how quickly it then seemed to accelerate once moving, made me think I'd have been similarly caught out if I were in charge of the camera...

Go watch the replay again the main engines ignite at t-minus 6 seconds, which is identical to Shuttle, funnily enough because theyre using the exact same engines, these ones even flew on Shuttle missions, now sadly left as soon to be forgotten space junk at the bottom of the ocean.

The rocket doesn't leave the launchpad till SRB ignition and the holding bolts go, same as Shuttle, once those light it goes up like well just like a rocket. It won't pitch like Shuttle because the thrust of the engines is on the central core of the rocket not offset.

All of Saturn 5s power came from the F-1 engines which is why its ascent phase looked different and "slower". Artemis SRBs are nearly comparable to Saturn V thrust at lift off within a few hundred thousand pounds of thrust and it has 4 RS25s which add another million pounds of thrust. Starship doubles the lift off thrust of Artemis.

This is what happens when you launch something on April 1 - a series of harmless pranks magically happen.

Still in my mind I was comparing this to SpaceX coverage and I think the more prominent SpaceX "rescue" launch to the ISS a year ago had better coverage [Elon was showcasing Starlink so video was better] as well as the spectacular Falcon booster landing near the launch pad and the split-screen.

I saw the video of the engine ignition and it looked like the engines were fired up with a sparkler :).

As for the Fecal Containment Device, I though they avoided Windows?

The spark generators are there to ensure there isn't a buildup of hydrogen post engine chill.

Slightly different approach to the detonation suppression system that another company uses.

Get rid of its current obsession with fascism and re-focus on science and innovation.

But without Nazis how Americans build rocket?

Get rid of its current obsession with fascism

You seriously had to inject THAT into the mix? "That word does not mean what you think it means" - Inigo Montoya, "Princess Bride"

That's nothing. Here in Blighty we're getting* two extra trains to Scarborough in 2028. Is there no end to our ambition?!

* Well, hoping to, according to Look North.

Space travel in general is a dick swinging contest.

Whilst I agree with you that we in Blighty have much room for improvement I fail to see how America will be seen in any better a light just because they sent some people into space (again).

It may not greatly improve the international image of America - not really sure what would at this point other than mass trials and imprisonments of their entire political class - but space flight is important. It's what's next. First the moon, then Mars, then the belt, then the outer planets, then interstellar... there will be a "next" even after that - assuming we survive - although I have no idea what it might be. There always has to be a next. It's what makes us human.

Not greatly, no, but events like this do at least act as a reminder that the US isn't an *entirely* failed state beyond any hope of redemption. I had similar feelings watching the first Crew Dragon launch back in 2020 not long after the less pleasant events in the US a few days prior, so as I was sat in front of the TV last night watching this launch, there was a small feeling of deja-vu alongside the feelings of immense satisfaction at seeing such a feat of science and engineering all come together so well.

So regardless of what my feelings may be regarding the less desirable aspects of the US right now, my engineering side is only too happy to raise a glass or several to all involved in this launch.

I'll drink to that.

Wait, it's taking them two years to travel to there? Who has the franchise, Southern Rail?

:)

When I started reading this post I thought we're going to get men on the moon before we get two extra services to York, then your comment came up.

Going way off topic, but to think there were plans for a half-hourly service to York pre-COVID.

Back on topic, I "watched" an Ariane launch in Fylingdales control room once. Once it hit a certain altitude, it was added to their database of objects in orbit, which was a system my Dad was involved with when he worked there. Was quite a fun day out!

[1]Apollo Fecal Containment Device

"[has] a special finger tube located half way down, allowing the user to insert a finger and dislodge material from the body and manipulate it further into the bag without actually touching it. "

That's me done with space travel; at least for this life. A few more reincarnations down the track, space travel might attain a little more elegance. It wouldn't require much to rise above random poo poking albeit in a plastic bag.

I guess apart from during manoeuvring thruster burns the capsule is in free fall and the crew endure or enjoy microgravity.

I suppose you could mount a pedestal in a centrifuge for a satisfactory dump.(Or two thrones mounted diametrically opposite to keep it balanced.)

I don't know the minimum g force required for effective separation not requiring digital intervention but less than ⅙g (Lunar gravity) I would hope. Something like 0.05g might make the GyroDunny ® commode † the practical choice for the smaller space going vessel.

† combined commode and shower options available. Gold plating additional. P.O.A.

[1] https://www.spacecentre.co.uk/collections/categories/apollo/apollo-era-fecal-containment-device/

OTOH, there is a hell of a gravity assist during takeoff.

Not ideal from a timing perspective, I agree, and it may need a reinforced container to cope but losing an, er, "payload" in that condition must be the unmedicated equivalent of preparing for [1]a colonoscopy .

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvrzUngEQRw

Meh - just have stoma patients as astronauts.

Over "In The Navy"*, the matelots on the USS Gerald R. Ford could do with these devices

[1]https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2026/01/22/the-navys-largest-ship-continues-to-be-plagued-by-plumbing-issues/

*Other tunes from The Village People are available

[1] https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2026/01/22/the-navys-largest-ship-continues-to-be-plagued-by-plumbing-issues/

The problems of bodily evacuation in free fall has been considered by a certain Mr S. Kubrick:

https://www.reddit.com/r/StanleyKubrick/comments/15uenep/instructions_for_the_zero_gravity_toilet_in_2001/

" The problems of bodily evacuation in free fall has been considered by a certain Mr S. Kubrick: [1]Reddit: instructions_for_the_zero_gravity_toilet_in_2001 "

Brilliant. I had forgotten this and I saw 2001 within weeks of its release ie April/May 1968 (a year before Apollo 11.)

Cannot help thinking these instructions are well above the reading level and beyond the attention span of the average 21st century American. Could get messy but then it already has.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/StanleyKubrick/comments/15uenep/instructions_for_the_zero_gravity_toilet_in_2001/

I think that's the only joke in the film! At least it gave you something to read while attending the porcelain.

Lots of jokes, for example it had a Pan Am space plane, hilarious.

Also a confused AI hallucinating inferences from partial data - what a joke! Really quite absurd, after all, what idiot would make an AI without rigid safeguards?

It's fun how science fiction has often worked out some of the more basic problems of space flight and of-world living.

On US Navy submarines, the toilets are directly connected to a sanitary tank system that must be pressurized to over 500 psi to blow its contents overboard at depth. As such they have actual procedures, and at times must be "secured" with a metal sign that says so. Basically you do not want to be the fool who opens the ball valve while the tank is pressurized or you could literally get a geyser of poo blasted at your face.

apparently the Apollo device needed to work without toilet paper. [series of 'poo' jokes withheld]

A more modern device would probably do well with an AI controlled bidet wash and a gentle discharge overboard into the vacuum of space.

A fun thing about space travel is that water is a by-product of electrical power generation via fuel cells, so putting it into good use during "Operation Flush" is not a problem.

I wasn't going to watch, but by accident hit the Youtube channel with 10 minutes to go. 30 minutes later (There were a few glirches) and they were off.

I have to say it did bring back a flood of nostalgia, of a similar time about 57 years ago, which despite me being no more than a toddler, I still remember well the excitement. Of course it was different times then. The US was heavily involved in a pointless war with no clear exit strategy, and was led by a deeply corrupt,narcissistic president...how times have changed.

On the other hand that event in 1969 did bring a period of intense optimism that the world could rise above its petty squables, and I know it inspired many in my generation including me. My only disappointment was that the we lost the momentum only just 3 short years later, and it has taken this long to start again.

So god speed Artemis and all who sail in her. Lets hope her promsises thsi time can truly rise above the earthly horizons/

Things are more like they used to be than they are now!

I was glued to our B&W TV way back then. It was probably one of the main reasons I studied astronomy at uni

Come on, men flying to the moon? Is that the best you could come up with as an April 1st joke. Next up, you'll tell us that they have observed that the earth actually appears to be spherical - utter nonsense. I've got some magic crystals in the back of the van if you want to know the winner of the 2:30 at Lingfield Park next week.