International Space Station saga: musical oranges or didgeridoo that gorilla

This, for sure, is not my favorite topic. Partly because I formed my opinion on our "space programs" long time ago, and partly because any common sense is not really applicable here. Blind faith is what counts. Some things you do not really think about up to a certain point. Today I ran into an older (2016) article on costs associated with sending items to space. So I naturally just could not help it...

We all know (I hope) that the International Space Station is orbiting the Earth at a distance of 254 miles, and at a speed of roughly 17,150 miles per hour. The very first manned mission on ISS took place on October 31, 2000.

iss-through-telescope.jpg

I ran into this Business Insider article called "What NASA pays to ship supplies to astronauts in space". Below is a quick bullet synopsis of the costs.
  • In 2008, NASA signed contracts with SpaceX and its rival aerospace company Orbital Sciences, to the tune of $1.6 billion for 12 launches and $1.9 billion for eight rocket launches, respectively.
  • While these new missions cost hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars less than a space shuttle launch, the price of sending cargo into space didn't go down."My cost per pound went up with these rockets," Margasahayam told Tech Insider. "On the shuttle, it would be much less."
  • It used to cost about $10,000 per pound to ship on a shuttle
  • Orbital Science's Cygnus spacecraft costs about $43,180 per pound to send things up
  • SpaceX - the cheapest of NASA's new carriers gives you about $27,000 per pound.
  • SpaceX told Tech Insider that its Dragon cargo spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 rocket can carry up to 7,300 lbs. - and that you could bring just as much cargo back to Earth, too (something Cygnus can't do). So if a Dragon is full of supplies at launch and on landing, the cost dips to $9,100 per pound.
Honestly, I have no clue how bringing something back reduces the cost from $27,000 to $9,100. Both aircraft SpaceX, and Cygnus come back. SpaceX comes back loaded? What can SpaceX bring back to be fully loaded at landing? 7,300 lbs of what could come back to Earth?

As far as I know, astronauts do not have any factories making things on the ISS. The only thing actually produced on ISS is lots of human doo-doo, but according to this article, "The waste will be discharged at intervals from the space station and will burn up in the Earth's atmosphere and look like shooting stars". Remember that next time you see a shooting star, it could be a lemon flavored one.

Anyways, what we have is an average cost of approximately $25,000 per pound. Now let's see all the nonsense present on the International Space Station, and try to figure out the cost associated with its delivery. I spent about 10 minutes collecting the below images, which suggests that there are a few more out there.

The Space Circus
iss_gorilla_suit.jpg

Didgeridoo_ISS.jpg guitar-keyboard-on-ISS.jpg ISS_Catherine_Coleman_plays_a_flute.jpg teddy_bear_iss.jpg space_oranges_iss.jpg toy_iss.jpg toys_in_space_iss.jpg xmas_tree_iss.jpg saxophone_iss.jpg ISS-cady-coleman-flutes.jpg japan-space-drone.jpg iss_halloween_clothing.jpg ISS_instruments.jpg ISS-cady-coleman-flutes_1.jpg fruit_iss_bag.jpg eater_eggs_iss.jpg Christmas-onboard-the-ISS.jpg Buzz Lightyear_iss.jpg bagpipes_ISS.jpeg lego_iss_on_iss.jpg kiirobo_toy_iss.jpg

Rough weight estimates of some of the pictured items
1. Gorilla Suit (video) - 4.3 lbs
2. Two guitars - 10 lbs
3. Int-Ball drone - 2.2 lbs
4. Electronic piano - 20 lbs
5. Two flutes - 2 lbs
6. Didgeridoo (video) - 6 lbs
7. Saxophone - 6 lbs
8. Kirobo robot - 2 lbs
9. Random toys and clothing - 2 lbs
10. Fruit: 9 grapefruit, 4 oranges, 3 lemons ~ 6.5 lbs


Per pound: $25,000
Total weight : 61 lbs
Total cost: $1,525,000
of taxpayer money.
This is just after a 10 minute research. Wonder what could be found in there with a more meticulous approach.


I have this feeling that our gullibility is being tested day in and day out. Whether we have a ridiculously unprofessional space industry, or delivery of this items costs nothing to the stage set of the International Space Station.

nasa_chroma_key_11.jpg

The above images have been debunked, as usually.
Five key scientific findings from 17 years of the International Space Station
  • The fragility of the human body - worthless on Earth
  • Interplanetary contamination - worthless on Earth
  • Growing crystals for medicine - cancer is still deadly. Ask Joe Biden.
  • Cosmic rays and dark matter - when was the last time you used the dark matter?
  • Efficient combustion - worthless on Earth
You think they have enough cameras?
nasa_nikon_iss_cameras.jpg

nasa_nikon_iss_cameras_1.jpg nasa_nikon_iss_cameras_2.jpg



ISS cost to date: $160 billion
 
On October 15, the ISS crew reported that the possible leak location was located; according to cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, the crack appeared like a jagged scratch about 2-3 cm in length. Later, cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov disclosed that the crack is actually about 4.5 cm long.

In November, Russian cosmonauts photographed the suspected leak location on the outside of the ISS, but found no hull damage at where the crack is supposed to be.
One hull crack located in ISS, another one suspected

:ROFLMAO:
 
One interesting thing they never mention is, how do they manage the inevitable static buildup? When planes land, they are immediately plugged in by several different kinds of inputs, one of which, is a grounding wire. Without this necessary dissipation of static charge buildup, the electronics and electrical systems would overload and render all things mechanical absolutely useless.

Also, considering that if they are supposedly in a vacuum, protected by a thin metal skin of bulkheads, where is their metal shop should the space station lose structural integrity? Or have they just naturally concluded that any integrity breach would immediately result in killing all on board, so no need to bother having an on-site fabrication shop? Sorry, just don't buy it.
 
This, for sure, is not my favorite topic. Partly because I formed my opinion on our "space programs" long time ago, and partly because any common sense is not really applicable here. Blind faith is what counts. Some things you do not really think about up to a certain point. Today I ran into an older (2016) article on costs associated with sending items to space. So I naturally just could not help it...

We all know (I hope) that the International Space Station is orbiting the Earth at a distance of 254 miles, and at a speed of roughly 17,150 miles per hour. The very first manned mission on ISS took place on October 31, 2000.


I ran into this Business Insider article called "What NASA pays to ship supplies to astronauts in space". Below is a quick bullet synopsis of the costs.
  • In 2008, NASA signed contracts with SpaceX and its rival aerospace company Orbital Sciences, to the tune of $1.6 billion for 12 launches and $1.9 billion for eight rocket launches, respectively.
  • While these new missions cost hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars less than a space shuttle launch, the price of sending cargo into space didn't go down."My cost per pound went up with these rockets," Margasahayam told Tech Insider. "On the shuttle, it would be much less."
  • It used to cost about $10,000 per pound to ship on a shuttle
  • Orbital Science's Cygnus spacecraft costs about $43,180 per pound to send things up
  • SpaceX - the cheapest of NASA's new carriers gives you about $27,000 per pound.
  • SpaceX told Tech Insider that its Dragon cargo spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 rocket can carry up to 7,300 lbs. - and that you could bring just as much cargo back to Earth, too (something Cygnus can't do). So if a Dragon is full of supplies at launch and on landing, the cost dips to $9,100 per pound.
Honestly, I have no clue how bringing something back reduces the cost from $27,000 to $9,100. Both aircraft SpaceX, and Cygnus come back. SpaceX comes back loaded? What can SpaceX bring back to be fully loaded at landing? 7,300 lbs of what could come back to Earth?

As far as I know, astronauts do not have any factories making things on the ISS. The only thing actually produced on ISS is lots of human doo-doo, but according to this article, "The waste will be discharged at intervals from the space station and will burn up in the Earth's atmosphere and look like shooting stars". Remember that next time you see a shooting star, it could be a lemon flavored one.

Anyways, what we have is an average cost of approximately $25,000 per pound. Now let's see all the nonsense present on the International Space Station, and try to figure out the cost associated with its delivery. I spent about 10 minutes collecting the below images, which suggests that there are a few more out there.

1. Gorilla Suit (video) - 4.3 lbs
2. Two guitars - 10 lbs
3. Int-Ball drone - 2.2 lbs
4. Electronic piano - 20 lbs
5. Two flutes - 2 lbs
6. Didgeridoo (video) - 6 lbs
7. Saxophone - 6 lbs
8. Kirobo robot - 2 lbs
9. Random toys and clothing - 2 lbs
10. Fruit: 9 grapefruit, 4 oranges, 3 lemons ~ 6.5 lbs


Per pound: $25,000
Total weight : 61 lbs
Total cost: $1,525,000
of taxpayer money.
This is just after a 10 minute research. Wonder what could be found in there with a more meticulous approach.


I have this feeling that our gullibility is being tested day in and day out. Whether we have a ridiculously unprofessional space industry, or delivery of this items costs nothing to the stage set of the International Space Station.

View attachment 4626
The above images have been debunked, as usually.
Five key scientific findings from 17 years of the International Space Station
  • The fragility of the human body - worthless on Earth
  • Interplanetary contamination - worthless on Earth
  • Growing crystals for medicine - cancer is still deadly. Ask Joe Biden.
  • Cosmic rays and dark matter - when was the last time you used the dark matter?
  • Efficient combustion - worthless on Earth
You think they have enough cameras?
View attachment 4627
View attachment 4628View attachment 4629



ISS cost to date: $160 billion

I particularly liked the Superbowl edition not a few years ago, when two astronaughts (pun intended) both appeared in the shirts of the two teams that were in the final that day. The last resupply of the "ISS" was three months before the knockout stages began. So...either a) six months in outer space confers clairvoyance, b) NASA sent up a box of every possible team shirt at a cost of nigh on a million dollars or c) it's all bollocks (old English scientific research term).
 

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