back to article Atlantis crew pay awkward tribute to 'iconic' shuttle

The crew of Atlantis have paid a somewhat awkward tribute to their venerable vehicle, as the US prepares to bid a tearful farewell to the space shuttle programme. The STS-135 crew members were this morning spared a celebrity wake-up call, instead enjoying a cheery bonjour from workers at the Stennis Space Center in southern …

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  1. AndyS

    GPCs in standby

    Can anyone explain why a computer which has crashed is kept in active duty, while others are in standby? I would have thought after a crash it would be put straight into standby mode.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes, I can...

      As I understand it, the computers on the shuttle vote on decisions, you need an odd number of machines to make this work without deadlocks, so you keep one in standby. If you've had a computer fail and brought it back online, you want to run it to make sure that it's making correct decisions and that it's reliable. You don't want the potentially failed machine to be the standby machine, because you rely upon it in the event of the others failing. Basically: You need to know that your standby machine is works properly.

      1. Marvin the Martian
        Stop

        "Don't use the standby"

        But this gets you in a silly situation, no? The other computer failed, this is exactly the situation the standby machine was added for!

        It's like the stock manager who refuses to give an engineer a special part, because it's the last one he has of that type because "then if an emergency occurs I cannot give it out when needed!" "Yea, but this IS the emergency you're meant to have it for; just reorder and hopefully no other is needed until it arrives --- either now you have an unfilled emergency request WITH CERTAINTY, or POTENTIALLY you have such a case in the next few days." ... "Computer says no."

        1. Old Handle

          @Marvin the Martian

          No, what AC said makes sense. This is not an emergency, it WAS briefly an emergency when the one computer was actually down, but since they brought it back up, it makes to put it back to work. It's the quickest way to make sure it actually IS working. If they let it sit in standby not knowing for sure if it worked right or not, they could be setting themselves up for trouble later. Granted this all might be a little less relevant considering this is the shuttle's very last mission with basically nothing left to do but come home.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Also

            Having fixed the computer that broke, it's no longer broken and there is rather a lot of computing still to do on the way down...

  2. Gary F

    Goodbye Space Shuttles - time to reflect on how slow progress has become

    It's old technology but the reliability of the Shuttle's computers is amazing. Check out the NASA article linked near the end of this article. Normal laptops in space crash 5 times a day because of radiation, but the Shuttle's computers (GPCs) almost never crash.

    From NASA: "The GPCs don't crash for radiation concerns because the GPC hardware includes a memory scrubber that prevents the system from reading radiation-changed memory."

    I don't think we'll see anything like this or even the moon landings again for another 15+ years. Very sad.

    In fact we haven't really progressed at all in manned space flight since the first Shuttle launched 30 years ago. Same vehicles, same 220 mile distance. We haven't travelled as far as we used to in 40 years (the last moon mission).

  3. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
    Headmaster

    Of course, that should be...

    ..."Laissez rouler les bons temps".

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Stereo

    If you start both embedded movies off and then try to read the article it gets really confusing. RIP space shuttle and bon chance to your successor wherever it comes from.

  5. Jacob Lipman
    Trollface

    Small correction

    *Brick shithouse

    Carry on.

    1. Jonathan Richards 1
      IT Angle

      Divided by a common language

      Outhouse: Outbuilding or shed attached to accommodation, typically used for storage (British English)

      Outhouse: Outbuilding containing a privy (US English).

      I learned this from my aged Aunt, who lived most of her life in California. On moving her effects into a new house, I enquired if some gardening equipment should go into the outhouse.

      "Outhouse? What outhouse?", she asked. "No-one goes crapping out there, I suppose!"

  6. Andus McCoatover

    End of an era.

    As I wrote before, I was gobsmacked to see Enterprise (test shuttle) fly over Warwick, UK on the back of a Jumbo years ago.

    Sigh.

    Guess my kids'll see the next generation. I doubt if I will.

    1. Wize
      Coat

      Enterprise? Next Generation?

      They will be repeated somewhere on Sky...

  7. defiler

    1.4 MIPS

    Pretty impressively slow! Even in 1991, that was far, far below state-of-the-art. Hell, my Archimedes would pop 3 or 4 MIPS at the time (can't remember).

    I know, by the way - the right tool for the job. It doesn't have to be fast, it just has to be reliable. I just get some amusement in that people think the stuff on the space shuttle is all whizz-bang-amazing gear, and then you find out that it's not. I suppose it's just whizz-bang-amazing in a different direction.

    Better get on with work. I'm clearly rambling, and trying to distract myself from getting a job done. Besides, the switch I need to rewire is up 4 flights of stairs. Bah.

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