When We Left Earth

BigDes

Hell, you know how we all have tales of our grandparents being all manly and tough, like the time my grandad walked for fifteen miles with a broken ankle and fought a battle at the end of it etc, imagine what tales we're going to tell our grandkids.

One time I totally orchestrated a fifty man raid in some generic MMO and got the killing hit!

Yeah grandad you lame fucker, that's great.

Rankenphile

you know what else blew me away about the show?

seeing all the engineers sitting around the table at nasa

and right there in the middle of the table?

big old ashtrays.

CrackedLens

Rankenphile wrote: »

you know what else blew me away about the show?

seeing all the engineers sitting around the table at nasa

and right there in the middle of the table?

big old ashtrays.

men were so manly back then that cancer didnt affect them

BigDes

CrackedLens wrote: »

Rankenphile wrote: »

you know what else blew me away about the show?

seeing all the engineers sitting around the table at nasa

and right there in the middle of the table?

big old ashtrays.

men were so manly back then that cancer didnt affect them

Hell, smoking was good for you back then.

Raneados

well it's not our fault you suck, Des

babyeatingjesus

Back then smoking was good for you. That's what my grandfather used to say.

Seriously

I've basically been an incredibly lame person ever since I quit smoking.

BigDes

Raneados wrote: »

well it's not our fault you suck, Des

Yes it is.

Rankenphile

CrackedLens wrote: »

Rankenphile wrote: »

you know what else blew me away about the show?

seeing all the engineers sitting around the table at nasa

and right there in the middle of the table?

big old ashtrays.

men were so manly back then that cancer didnt affect them

more along the lines of "We'er goddamn rocket scientists, we're building the world's most dangerous motherfucking vehicle to go to the world's most dangerous motherfucking place. I ain't gunna stress about some shit that might kill me in like fifty years, we got goddamn work to do."

People are such pussies these days. "Oh, you can't smoke in bars, boo hoo hoo, someone think of the poor cocktail waitress!"

CrackedLens

Seriously wrote: »

I've basically been an incredibly lame person ever since I quit smoking.

i dont think whether or not you smoke has to do with you being lame

Raneados

Seriously wrote: »

I've basically been an incredibly lame person ever since I quit smoking.

dude

me fucking too

I need to get addicted to the gym

Raneados

CrackedLens wrote: »

Seriously wrote: »

I've basically been an incredibly lame person ever since I quit smoking.

i dont think whether or not you smoke has to do with you being lame

it is definitely a factor, man

ask ANYONE

Rankenphile

I should be a doctor.

I only have two responses to any ailment ever.

"Walk it off, pussy."

or

"Oh dude gross!"

BigDes

Rankenphile wrote: »

I should be a doctor.

I only have two responses to any ailment ever.

"Walk it off, pussy."

or

"Oh dude gross!"

Would you ever combine them?

babyeatingjesus

Smoking isn't cool.

Smokers are cool.

Rankenphile

Smoking doesn't make me cool, but it sure as shit helps.

Volucrisus Aedrius

My favorite line from The Right Stuff is as they're all standing around, watching the Russians gloat over Gagarin's flight on a TV, and one of the astronauts says "man, what if their Germans are better than our Germans?" And the guy who I am assuming is Werner von Braun responds in a thick German accent, "Our Germans are better than their Germans."

That or Gus Grissom's "The issue here ain't pussy - its monkey!"

Mysst

Rankenphile wrote: »

"Basically, we want to strap you to a nuclear warhead, but instead of a nuclear payload, we're going to give you a tiny little space just big enough for you to move your head around a bit. Also, the door to get out doesn't open, it blows the fuck up. We're going to launch you straight up for about 100 miles, and you will be going thousands of miles per hour. When you get there, there will be no air at all. If there's a slight leak, the air will shoot out and your blood will boil in your veins. The temperature is 250 degrees F in the sun and -250 degrees F in the shade. We're pretty sure you won't die just from shock, we sent a monkey up once and he's physically okay. Also, we're really not very good at doing this yet."

"Yeah, that sounds reasonable, let's go."

And you think a guy is going to be thinking about history when they're going to light several tons of fuel under his ass, plus all that? "Don't fuck this up" is probably the only thing he could think about saying. Hell, he probably said it to them every goddamn day.

edit: also I mean 'you' in the general sense, not in 'you, rank'.

CrackedLens

Rankenphile wrote: »

CrackedLens wrote: »

Rankenphile wrote: »

you know what else blew me away about the show?

seeing all the engineers sitting around the table at nasa

and right there in the middle of the table?

big old ashtrays.

men were so manly back then that cancer didnt affect them

more along the lines of "We'er goddamn rocket scientists, we're building the world's most dangerous motherfucking vehicle to go to the world's most dangerous motherfucking place. I ain't gunna stress about some shit that might kill me in like fifty years, we got goddamn work to do."

People are such pussies these days. "Oh, you can't smoke in bars, boo hoo hoo, someone think of the poor cocktail waitress!"

i love seeing pictures or hearing stories from around the tv station from the guys who worked here in the 50s

people would smoke in the control room. switching a show with an unfiltered marlboro hanging out of their lips. all that smoke around electrical equipment? so fucking what

hell the anchors smoke during the show! just reading a story, stop, take a drag, keep on reading.

then after the news, everybody would go back to the newsroom and crack open a bottle of whiskey

Mishra

Rankenphile wrote: »

Mishra wrote: »

I liked the show but man do I wish they went into a little more technical detail. Explain why all those rockets exploded. Show what went wrong with the missions and the like. The pictures are pretty but what happened to teaching some science with things like this?

they explained the rocket explosions pretty fucking clearly.

"It's basically a controlled explosion, and it seeks out any sort of weakness in order to fail."

there you go. It blew up because it's a goddamn motherfucking missile.

Nah I'm talking about stuff like Pogoing or fuel sloshing or Max Q detonations. You know Rocket science. Hell my rioomate runs the RL-10 rocket engine out here and they delayed a launch do to a small chance of pogoing. Explaining that the thing blew up because it's filled with explosives is one thing, explaining how it blew up because a drop of water got on the solid propellant and caused a zone of increased pressure shows just how precise these guys needed to be.

Rankenphile

Mysst wrote: »

Rankenphile wrote: »

"Basically, we want to strap you to a nuclear warhead, but instead of a nuclear payload, we're going to give you a tiny little space just big enough for you to move your head around a bit. Also, the door to get out doesn't open, it blows the fuck up. We're going to launch you straight up for about 100 miles, and you will be going thousands of miles per hour. When you get there, there will be no air at all. If there's a slight leak, the air will shoot out and your blood will boil in your veins. The temperature is 250 degrees F in the sun and -250 degrees F in the shade. We're pretty sure you won't die just from shock, we sent a monkey up once and he's physically okay. Also, we're really not very good at doing this yet."

"Yeah, that sounds reasonable, let's go."

And you think a guy is going to be thinking about history when they're going to light several tons of fuel under his ass, plus all that? "Don't fuck this up" is probably the only thing he could think about saying. Hell, he probably said it to them every goddamn day.

That was seriously the best fucking line. Everyone so goddamn scared to give the order to go, because they didn't want to be the one responsible for killing the biggest badass on the planet.

Finally, he gets sick of it and just says, "Alright, enough. Let's light this candle."

and his only advice to them, as they're about to set the thousands of pounds of explosives he's sitting directly on top of on fucking fire?

"Don't fuck this up."

Volucrisus Aedrius

CrackedLens wrote: »

Rankenphile wrote: »

CrackedLens wrote: »

Rankenphile wrote: »

you know what else blew me away about the show?

seeing all the engineers sitting around the table at nasa

and right there in the middle of the table?

big old ashtrays.

men were so manly back then that cancer didnt affect them

more along the lines of "We'er goddamn rocket scientists, we're building the world's most dangerous motherfucking vehicle to go to the world's most dangerous motherfucking place. I ain't gunna stress about some shit that might kill me in like fifty years, we got goddamn work to do."

People are such pussies these days. "Oh, you can't smoke in bars, boo hoo hoo, someone think of the poor cocktail waitress!"

i love seeing pictures or hearing stories from around the tv station from the guys who worked here in the 50s

people would smoke in the control room. switching a show with an unfiltered marlboro hanging out of their lips. all that smoke around electrical equipment? so fucking what

hell the anchors smoke during the show! just reading a story, stop, take a drag, keep on reading.

then after the news, everybody would go back to the newsroom and crack open a bottle of whiskey

The world was more awesome back in those days.

But, uh, I don't think Marlboros ever came unfiltered. They were one of the first filter brands.

Rankenphile

Mishra wrote: »

Rankenphile wrote: »

Mishra wrote: »

I liked the show but man do I wish they went into a little more technical detail. Explain why all those rockets exploded. Show what went wrong with the missions and the like. The pictures are pretty but what happened to teaching some science with things like this?

they explained the rocket explosions pretty fucking clearly.

"It's basically a controlled explosion, and it seeks out any sort of weakness in order to fail."

there you go. It blew up because it's a goddamn motherfucking missile.

Nah I'm talking about stuff like Pogoing or fuel sloshing or Max Q detonations. You know Rocket science. Hell my rioomate runs the RL-10 rocket engine out here and they delayed a launch do to a small chance of pogoing. Explaining that the thing blew up because it's filled with explosives is one thing, explaining how it blew up because a drop of water got on the solid propellant and caused a zone of increased pressure shows just how precise these guys needed to be.

You know why they didn't talk about that?

Because that ain't what this show was about.

This show was about being entertaining while talking about badasses.

Not about being boring but interesting while talking about oh shit they changed the channel.

Raneados

Shortly before the launch, Shepard stated "Please, dear God, don't let me fuck up."[2] This has since become known among aviators as "Shepard's Prayer."

assholes LIED TO MEEEEE

CrackedLens

ive met John Glenn

even if he was 80 years old when i met him, i bet he could still could have beat my ass

Mishra

Rankenphile wrote: »

Mishra wrote: »

Rankenphile wrote: »

Mishra wrote: »

I liked the show but man do I wish they went into a little more technical detail. Explain why all those rockets exploded. Show what went wrong with the missions and the like. The pictures are pretty but what happened to teaching some science with things like this?

they explained the rocket explosions pretty fucking clearly.

"It's basically a controlled explosion, and it seeks out any sort of weakness in order to fail."

there you go. It blew up because it's a goddamn motherfucking missile.

Nah I'm talking about stuff like Pogoing or fuel sloshing or Max Q detonations. You know Rocket science. Hell my rioomate runs the RL-10 rocket engine out here and they delayed a launch do to a small chance of pogoing. Explaining that the thing blew up because it's filled with explosives is one thing, explaining how it blew up because a drop of water got on the solid propellant and caused a zone of increased pressure shows just how precise these guys needed to be.

You know why they didn't talk about that?

Because that ain't what this show was about.

This show was about being entertaining while talking about badasses.

Not about being boring but interesting while talking about oh shit they changed the channel.

No doubt, but these are all stories that have been told a million times, just shown in High Def. Why not bring something new to the table? The technology and inventivness that got us there is just as interesting as the pilots who flew the damn things. I loved the show, but I wish it wasn't from the earth to the moon in High def.

Rankenphile

cry about it, faggot, maybe that will help

Volucrisus Aedrius

I know I mention it a lot but fuck it.

Back on Earth & Beyond the entire Beta Hydri system was named for the astronauts, with sectors like Slayton and Shepard and planets like Grissom and Carpenter. All except the lone sector "Glory's Orbit" where memorials to mankind's space ventures were all around the Beta Hydri star.

When Space Shuttle Columbia exploded in 2003 the devs added a new memorial to the fallen pilots in the sector. Players from all over the galaxy visited the shrine to pay their respects. It was a pretty cool moment.

Krentz

I work at NASA and I missed this.

I guess I pretty much suck huh?

Wait I mean I'm waiting for the DVD release.

Dislexic

The Otaku Suppository wrote: »

This just in: Buenos Aires has been wiped off the face of the earth by a meteor strike.

:^:

DrZiplock

It takes a real fucking man to get his heart rate "well above 200."

Yea, at my best I can get my heart up to about 175...and that's with me running like my god damned life depended on it.

Over 200 just sitting there and then saying, yeaaa...we gotta go. "Light this candle."


The way the dude told the "Don't fuck this up" story was great.

"So as we're counting down he comes in over the radio just before the launch and says 'Don't mess this up'......except he didn't say mess."

Dislexic

Rankenphile wrote: »

seriously, I watched this show twice, because they played it twice in a row

the one point that comes across loud and clear is that these dudes were stone cold badass motherfuckers, without a doubt

seriously, think about what they did

sat themselves down on top of a little-understood technology that was basically a carefully controlled explosion. Thousands of pounds of ridiculously volatile materials, and they set the shit on fire and hope it doesn't blow them to pieces.

launch themselves into the most harsh, unforgiving environment imaginable

hang out there. Get out and walk around out there. Then plummet themselves back to earth, aiming the heat shield directly downward so that they're not fried to a crisp by the friction of air because they're going so goddamned fast

and they did this with technology from the sixties. No goddamn computers. Pretty much every device on the craft up there was controlled by moving parts and human error. A single faulty wire or being off by half a degree on re-entry? You're a dead motherfucker.

But the one thing that really struck me about the whole thing was how goddamn excited the entire nation was about this shit. Today, we're so goddamned jaded and divided that we'd never pull shit like this off without Fred Phelps protesting it because the space program promotes gays, and we'd wheel out the Rolling Stones to play Brown Sugar for the goddamn countdown as they launched the rocket from Tampax Space Center or some shit.

Oh god I love you Rank

babyeatingjesus

It's so good to hear these stories humanized. Like yeah, it was scary as fucking hell to sit in that thing knowing you were strapped to a bomb that was supposed to explode you to the moon, and the dudes in there fucking knew it.

DrZiplock

"The pilots got bored because they didn't want to just fly ontop of the missle...they wanted to drive it. So, we figured out a way to make that happen."




fuck yes!

CrackedLens

hahaha

that is awesome

Regicid3

I want to watch this, where is it

Regicid3

DrZiplock wrote: »

It takes a real fucking man to get his heart rate "well above 200."

Yea, at my best I can get my heart up to about 175...and that's with me running like my god damned life depended on it.

Over 200 just sitting there and then saying, yeaaa...we gotta go. "Light this candle."


The way the dude told the "Don't fuck this up" story was great.

"So as we're counting down he comes in over the radio just before the launch and says 'Don't mess this up'......except he didn't say mess."

Where do I hear this "don't fuck this up" story? I want to hear it.

babyeatingjesus

Check the internet.

Rankenphile

on the television show we're discussing, numbnuts

Regicid3

I feel left out.