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Until I figure out how to un-close it, at least.

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So yeah.

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Total Members Voted: 0

Voting closed: May 01, 2014, 02:06:40 pm

[Helgoland]

I can think of one - "Axing polackses." With an incorrect plural, and a slur that might only exist in German...

I've been referring to the word 'poleaxe'.

Yeah, me too (sorta). Polack is a (kind of old-timey) slur for Polish people in Germany; but since the descendants of the Polish migrants from the 19th century are completely assimilated (and have the same skin color...), nobody uses it anymore.

[scrdest]

I can think of one - "Axing polackses." With an incorrect plural, and a slur that might only exist in German...

I've been referring to the word 'poleaxe'.

Yeah, me too (sorta). Polack is a (kind of old-timey) slur for Polish people in Germany; but since the descendants of the Polish migrants from the 19th century are completely assimilated (and have the same skin color...), nobody uses it anymore.

Yeah, I know, it actually IS sometimes used as a slur in English, AFAIK. I've been referring to what Soli said in his post.

[Guardian G.I.]

"After analyzing the sanctions against our space industry, I suggest to the USA to bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline" — Dmitry Rogozin, Russian deputy Prime Minister and a blacklisted violator of Ukrainian territorial integrity.

[GrizzlyAdamz]

NASA will be happy about this. Meanwhile, didn't the Russian space agency have to procure a lot of their funding via taxi services?

[XXSockXX]

While many people in this thread (me included) have the impression that the sanctions so far do not seem to do that much, the IMF says Russia is sliding into recession, mainly due to investor flight.

Yeah, I know, it actually IS sometimes used as a slur in English, AFAIK.

It is. They also have Polish jokes, because laziness in TV writers is pretty international.

[Guardian G.I.]

There are very, very shaky rumours circulated by some Russian LJ bloggers affiliated with the pro-Russian forces claiming that Ukraine will launch a full scale assault involving the use of artillery and air strikes against the pro-Russian forces in East Ukraine on the 2nd of May, in spite of the threat of Russian counterstrike. They cite unnamed sources in the Ukrainian army.
Obviously, the authenticity of that information is rather questionable, but at least it gives us a date to look forward to - 02.05.2014, the day after tomorrow.

[MarcAFK]

Looking at NASA's launch schedule for this year.
3 Crew launches to ISS from Baikonur
Flight 40- 1 American, 1 European, 3 Russians
Flight 41- 2 American, 1 European. 3 Russians
flight 42- 2 Americans, 1 European. 3 Russians.
3 space X resupply missions.
2 Russian Progress resupply missions.
2 Orbital sciences resupply missions.
orbital carbon observatory from vandenberg on a delta II
soil moisture passive satellite from vandenberg on a delta II.
Comparison of Cargo vehicles:
Progress: 2,350 kg cargo.
Dragon: 3,300 kg cargo.
Cygnus: 2,700kg cargo.
So supply wise commercial vehicles are quite enough, to keep the station going, but SpaceX won't be ready to launch a crewed dragon capsule untill sometime next year. Perhaps China has some spare Soyez Shenzhau's ready untill then?
Also related:
The Atlas V used by the US military uses russian built rd-180 rocket engines,
The Antares used by orbital sciences has its first stage built in Eastern Ukraine.
Nasa is supposed to launch the first test of the Orion vehicle this year, But the first crewed mission will be sometime after 2020.
This mission will use the Delta IV which is american built.

[Sheb]

Well, you could stop sending astronauts for a few years, or rush the SpaceX capsule like it's the 1960's again.

[smjjames]

@Guardian G.I.: Using artillery and airstrikes sounds like overkill and counterproductive, they want to take back the buildings, not destroy them, much less crater the places that they are occupying. Plus the use of artillery and airstrikes will just make the population even more against the Kiev government.

They really should hurry up with the Orion, of course though, Congress refuses to give NASA the funding that could speed up the research and progress. Anyways, yeah, the US and Russian space programs are pretty intertwined.

[MarcAFK]

Still, NASA has spaceX, but EU has nothing, they will be constructing significant parts of the constellation program though.
Japan also has robotic resupply vehicles. I guess they could just leave the current crew up for a year or 2 and keep sending supplies and experiments. In an emergency a stock dragon capsule could get people home without needing additional life support (citation needed). Also in an emergency they could use the dragon as-is to get crew up, it's just not safety rated to NASA requirements. But from the start it was designed as a human crew vehicle. Space X really want to wait until they can get a controlled landing at a place of their choosing, but in a pinch apollo style splashdown is fine, albeit expensive.

[10ebbor10]

The EU has the Ariane series. Also known as the sattelite launchers that captured more than half the sattelite market during the last 2 decades (less so for this one, concurrention is increasing). After all, the European Space program is primarly a space program, not a prestige project; we don't need a manned launcher. The ISS is the only manned space project Europe is participating in, and if no one is willing to share a personnel launcher with us, I highly doubt the cooperation will be there to support the station.

We might have some trouble with the Soyuz, but cooperation between Europe and Russia is to important for the Russians to pull the plug permanently.

Anyway, rockets take a bloody long time to construct. They can't build an additional capsule in a ew months.

And the default Dragon can not be used to transport people. The ones used for ISS supply runs do not have a lifesupport system installed. They have to take in air from the ISS. Also, they lack seats.

Edit: In an emergency, the station will simply be abandonned. It can stay there for quite some time without human interference.

[Sheb]

Hey, we have the ATV and the Ariane 5! No independent manned flight capability though.

[smjjames]

Lets just hope that space debris doesn't punch a hole in it while we temporarily abandon it. Though they could control the stations thrusters remotely if necessary.

[Helgoland]

Hey, we have the ATV and the Ariane 5! No independent manned flight capability though.

Why would we need that, anyway? It's not like there's any non-propaganda benefit to manning a space station.

[10ebbor10]

Lets just hope that space debris doesn't punch a hole in it while we temporarily abandon it. Though they could control the stations thrusters remotely if necessary.

The thrusters are always controlled remotely/automated. I mean, there's no reason to have your (expensive) astronauts drive around the station rather than doing anything.

But anyway, Russia is not going to cancel these launches. The US* pays 60 million USD per passenger, and that's support they really can't do without.

*ESA works with barter agreements, IIRC..

Hey, we have the ATV and the Ariane 5! No independent manned flight capability though.

Why would we need that, anyway? It's not like there's any non-propaganda benefit to manning a space station.

Indeed, there have been talks suggesting the decommissioning of the ISS shortly after it's completion in 2020.

Anyway, the largest research benefit of putting people in space is seeing how people react to being put in space. Everything else can be automated.