And it was quite a bit earlier than I thought.

Started by trdsf, May 24, 2018, 03:42:54 PM

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trdsf

While looking up other things yesterday, I stumbled across this photo, which I had not seen before:



This is the first photo taken from space.

Obviously, some image had to be, and I had always kind of thought in the back of my mind that it was probably in 1957 or 1958 or 1959, maybe a blurry thing from one of the early Sputniks that was notable only for having been the first photo taken from space, and I just never got around to looking it up.

As it turns out, thisâ€"a much better image than I thought the first space photo would beâ€"was taken on October 24, 1946, eleven years before Sputnik I, from a repurposed V-2 launched (on a suborbital trajectory, obviously) from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

And that is my cool new fact for the day.  :D
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Gawdzilla Sama

We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Unbeliever

That looks like Flash Gordon's ride to the moon.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: Unbeliever on May 24, 2018, 04:46:36 PM
That looks like Flash Gordon's ride to the moon.
Yeah, the similarities were deliberate. "We already have 'spaceships' like that!"
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

SGOS

Who would have thought space travel would use the same rocket design developed during the Ming Dynasty?

Shiranu

Quote from: SGOS on May 24, 2018, 06:09:12 PM
Who would have thought space travel would use the same rocket design developed during the Ming Dynasty?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

trdsf

Quote from: Shiranu on May 24, 2018, 07:03:03 PM
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I do love a rocket with fins that inspired Cadillac.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: SGOS on May 24, 2018, 06:09:12 PM
Who would have thought space travel would use the same rocket design developed during the Ming Dynasty?
Eh?
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers


Hydra009

Quote from: Shiranu on May 24, 2018, 07:03:03 PM
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
While I somewhat agree, humanity sorely needs a more effective alternative to the liquid-propellant rocket.  It takes so much fuel just to escape earth's gravitywell, let alone haul anything to space.  And then you need more fuel to haul the cargo, then more fuel to haul the fuel...  There's got to be a better way.

SGOS

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on May 24, 2018, 08:12:29 PM
Eh?
Oops!  The Song Dynasty.  I just said Ming because it was the only dynasty I could remember.

Cavebear

Quote from: trdsf on May 24, 2018, 03:42:54 PM
While looking up other things yesterday, I stumbled across this photo, which I had not seen before:



This is the first photo taken from space.

Obviously, some image had to be, and I had always kind of thought in the back of my mind that it was probably in 1957 or 1958 or 1959, maybe a blurry thing from one of the early Sputniks that was notable only for having been the first photo taken from space, and I just never got around to looking it up.

As it turns out, thisâ€"a much better image than I thought the first space photo would beâ€"was taken on October 24, 1946, eleven years before Sputnik I, from a repurposed V-2 launched (on a suborbital trajectory, obviously) from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

And that is my cool new fact for the day.  :D

I did not realize such a good picture was taken so early.  Thank you!
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

#12
Quote from: Hydra009 on May 24, 2018, 09:16:42 PM
While I somewhat agree, humanity sorely needs a more effective alternative to the liquid-propellant rocket.  It takes so much fuel just to escape earth's gravitywell, let alone haul anything to space.  And then you need more fuel to haul the cargo, then more fuel to haul the fuel...  There's got to be a better way.

Antigravity fantasy.  Get your gravitons and gravitinos (supersymmetry) here!  Someone asked Feynman about antigravity ... he replied, you already have it, it is called a chair ;-)  Advanced physics doesn't mean a free lunch.  AI/robotics doesn't mean you won't have to work anymore.

Actually, what you are asking for is the physical version of a free lunch.  Stuff came together back in the formation of the solar system.  And not because of political comradeship.  The energy that is required to take something out of the local gravity well, was originally taken out of the kinetic energy of the in-falling matter 4.5 billion years ago.  That is why the Earth's core is still hot.  That and radioactivity and rock is a poor conductor of heat. 

You have to pay for that energy, though you could gather it from solar/wind power, which you didn't pay for (but you have to pay for the solar energy collectors and the windmills), and convert that to rocket fuel.  In the original Jules Verne version, they used a giant cannon in Florida.  Again, chemical energy turned into kinetic energy.  Too bad there isn't an unlimited supply of free gunpowder.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Unbeliever

I think it would be good if we could raise the launch platforms to a high altitude, maybe with very large dirigibles, or something. That wouldn't be easy, or cheap, though.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Cavebear

Quote from: Baruch on May 25, 2018, 08:20:43 AM
Antigravity fantasy.  Get your gravitons and gravitinos (supersymmetry) here!  Someone asked Feynman about antigravity ... he replied, you already have it, it is called a chair ;-)  Advanced physics doesn't mean a free lunch.  AI/robotics doesn't mean you won't have to work anymore.

Actually, what you are asking for is the physical version of a free lunch.  Stuff came together back in the formation of the solar system.  And not because of political comradeship.  The energy that is required to take something out of the local gravity well, was originally taken out of the kinetic energy of the in-falling matter 4.5 billion years ago.  That is why the Earth's core is still hot.  That and radioactivity and rock is a poor conductor of heat. 

You have to pay for that energy, though you could gather it from solar/wind power, which you didn't pay for (but you have to pay for the solar energy collectors and the windmills), and convert that to rocket fuel.  In the original Jules Verne version, they used a giant cannon in Florida.  Again, chemical energy turned into kinetic energy.  Too bad there isn't an unlimited supply of free gunpowder.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!