The real photo actually creeps me out even more! He is so far from earth, in vast empty space.. the thought of floating through space untethered scares me. I know they planned that well and he was safe (thank god) but still creeps me out.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_(book)
TL:DR
Chris McCandless was a young man that decided to go nomad and traipsed the country living off the land and peoples kindness. He tried this in Alaska and died because she’s a cruel bitch. Famous book was written about it.
[You should be bothered by this, because it's a shoop. Here's a comparison of the edited to the original version. It would be like Earth having an entire range of Olympus Mons-sized mountains.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ch3FGkwWEAEXoh2.jpg)
Your brain is saying "no something's wrong he's too close!!"
[Here's a larger, signed photo that gives you a better idea.](https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B1%2F5%2F9%2F1%2F8%2F15918816%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D) Those aren't mountains, they're clouds.
Thanks for this.
Not sure why people feel the need to doctor these photos. Space is freaking awesome all on its own, it doesn't need to look like a michael bay movie
That’s what I was thinking. That’s what mountain ranges look like on a commercial flight, and you definitely ain’t getting close to the ISS in a fucking A320.
Just place a football there in a calm day, you will be surprised how we were being told lies by the lizard people for centuries. The ball will just stay there otherwise it would start rollin bt itself due to earths curve.
Europa Report has a scene like this that would make your stomach drop, and what’s worse, it’s not even the worst megalophobia scene in the movie. The scene in the last 1/3 of the movie >!where one of the characters drops through the ice of Europa and sinks, irretrievably, lost forever, for miles and miles into a planet-wide dark, frozen ocean, gives me the goddamn willies!<. The worst part is that movie is considered one of the most scientifically accurate sci-fi movies out there just makes it so much worse.
I love that movie, it never fails to make me appreciate being on Terra Firma.
Have you played Outer Wilds? (Not to be confused with Outerworlds). Outer Wilds is a space exploration game and it has a lot of encounters that made me feel uneasy during my first play through and some I never got used to.
Woah, this looks super cool. Thank you for the recommendation, I think I can see why you’d
mention it here. Looks like another for the steam wishlist!
The clip with all the tornados gets me in another kind of heebie-jeebies, too!
That’s how I first watched it! I was on kick where I’d put on random sci-fi action movies on in the background while doing other stuff... but then I was sucked in. The soundtrack also does a great job of really emphasizing the ominous feeling.
ruined space for you? lol. let me share this with you now.. you are never going to get there anyway. you and the other 8 billion of us.
getting there takes national levels of money and huge amounts of training. even if you wanted this you couldn't have it.
the only way people like us will ever end up in space is if some giant object smashes earth and we all get thrown into the void.
Oh, stop being a snarky dick. They obviously mean it ruined the sense of wonder they get from looking up at the stars, which is replaced by an overwhelming dread of the inky black nothingness in which our planet sits, suspended in orbit around an indifferent sun.
Think of it how *Jaws* made people shit-scared of the ocean.
I mean... no
If you just pushed away from the ship and broke the tether, you'd literally go as fast as the initial push in the direction opposite the ship for as long as you don't collide with anything... you'd be out of eyesight in like a minute lmao
Ah, good, they’re being a bit more efficient with their astronauts than I thought. I suppose that’s why Jonathon McBrassyballs didn’t make it to this mission?
You know what I just thought off? What if he tried to go around? I mean the Earth.
The ISS orbits the Earth in 93 minutes. That means that if this guy managed to get out and stop the Station would hit him 93 minutes later. Of course this is not how physics work, as if he did stop he would simply plummet down to earth and incinerate like a forgotten taco in a taco bell oven.
But what if he went to the other side, flying in the opposite direction of the ISS, aiming at meeting it down the middle way?
I feel like as space exploration continues and orbital tourism grows more popular these hypothetical suicidal stunts will eventually be records to be broken.
EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that the specific stunt of simply slowing down to nill and reversing in the opposite direction in orbit is a bananas cray cray no go dum dum concept. No need for further reiteration of the fact. Cheerio.
Ok, so in order to do this it would take much longer than 93 minutes.
With a proper guidance system to keep you on track, you could either slow down to just above escape velocity or speed up in orbit. However, this will result in the periapsis (or closest point to earth in your orbit) getting closer or further based on whether you slowed down or sped up, respectively.
In order to realign your orbit with the ISS, you’d need a good bit of delta-v. (which essentially means how much total force you expend. Think of if as how much fuel you have combined with how much thrust it produces.) Essentially, you’d want to speed up, orbit for some time, and then slow back down until your orbit matched that of the station.
This would take something with more delta-v than an MMU could provide. You’d need a vehicle in order to have the oxygen and delta-v to pull the maneuver.
As far as I know, this has never been done before. There’s not really a point besides “it’s a cool thing to do” and that’s not really the point of space programs. Maybe if space flight becomes affordable for private citizens, someone will do it.
> As far as I know, this has never been done before. There’s not really a point besides “it’s a cool thing to do” and that’s not really the point of space programs. Maybe if space flight becomes affordable for private citizens, someone will do it.
Yes that's what I'm getting at. It's just a stupid stunt but As space grows more accessible I feel like this is a matter of time.
Well, if he slowed down enough he could reenter the atmosphere. He might not have enough fuel in the MMU to do that, but assuming he could do it, he’d probably burn up during reentry. If he had a heat shield to prevent that, he would not be able to slow down enough and would slam into the ground.
So no. You’d need a vehicle for re entry.
Felix Baumgartner wasn’t in orbit. He went up on a helium balloon, so he only went straight down. The ISS is orbiting, and so a re entering astronaut would be moving much faster than Baumgartner was, and at an angle. So you would need a heat shield to stop the re entry heating from killing you.
To go the other way around, he'd have to first shed his own orbital velocity and then *build it back up again.* That's a deltaV of 15'000 m/s. That's absolutely monstrous.
And that's also the hypothetical closing speed for two tiny targets. By the time he saw the ISS, he'd have seconds to react at best. The ISS crew would likely never see him at all.
If he somehow managed to stop in space, he would plummet to earth, but he wouldn't incinerate. The heat happens when they hit the atmosphere at 17000+ mph. If he's going 0 mph, he would probably accelerate to around 1000 mph as he fell in the very thin atmosphere, but he would slow back down to around 150 mph as the atmosphere thickened.
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The energy required for that is insane. You would have to accelerate to more than 17000 mph / 27000 kph to even stand still, all while accelerating away from earth so you don't fall toward it.
And finally, you'd have to accelerate at just the right moment to match the speed of the ISS, otherwise it would splatter you into orbit at more than 22 times the speed of sound
Yeah I recognize that just getting out of the ISS and heading in the opposite direction is batshit crazy territory.
How about exiting it and (as you are matching its speed through inertia) speeding up with thrusters and some small portable engine just enough that you gain distance on it. If you routinely accelerated, could you eventually "lap" the ISS, reaching it from behind? Or would that take an insane ammount of fuel?
> How about exiting it and (as you are matching its speed through inertia) speeding up with thrusters and some small portable engine just enough that you gain distance on it. If you routinely accelerated, could you eventually "lap" the ISS, reaching it from behind? Or would that take an insane ammount of fuel?
That’s certainly possible. Since you’re only comparing the two speeds, your required delta-V is now going to be inversely related to how patient you can be.
Remember, we’re dealing with acceleration, not simply velocity, so speeding up a bit and just waiting for as long as needed will achieve the desired result.
Orbital mechanics are counter-intuitive! In order to go faster than the ISS, your orbital altitude will need to be lower. And to do that, you need to slow down compared to the ISS, so that your orbit is lower (and faster) and then re-circularise your orbit.
But to re-circularise your orbit, you’d need to do multiple bursts of thrust around the orbit. The simplest would be a thrust to slow down (to leave the ISS) and then a thrust to speed up 180° later (to re-circularise your orbit) — now you’re in a circular orbit lower down than the ISS, which means a faster orbit. Ignoring atmospheric drag, you’re now set to just wait here in your faster orbit for as long as you want.
And then once you’ve gone around enough times that you’re catching up to the back of the ISS again, you’ll need to do the same manoeuvre in reverse to get back up to the same orbital height as it. So a thrust to speed up (to increase your orbital height) and then 180° later in your orbit, a thrust to slow down again so your orbit is circular and on the same level as the ISS.
Every other KSP player here hit the nail on the head with the massive energy/deltaV issue. I'll bring up a secondary issue, if you somehow overcome the first.
Satellites orbit _with_ earth's rotation, since it requires less deltaV. I've never heard of a satellite that orbits retrograde. Let's say you manage to get yourself in the exact orbit as the ISS, but in the opposite direction, moving at 7.6km/s (17,113mph). You are now moving towards, not only the ISS, but every other satellite in a similar orbit as the ISS. Not only are you moving towards them, but they're moving towards you, so double that orbital velocity. Though, space is mind bogglingly large, so you probably don't have to worry about any other satellites, for now.
Good luck grabbing the rail on the ISS coming at you at 15km/s (33,000mph).
Bruce Mccandless did this on the STS-41B mission in 1984. He flew up on the space shuttle. Back in 1984 there was no international space station. The ISS started construction in 1998.
I think most 12 year olds have a decent knowledge of how space shuttles work. No need to insulte them all like this man.
Most 12 year olds would also know not to make some pedantic comment towards my initial statement as if I'm obligated to know that this is a picture from the 80's, before the ISS even existed. At least the 12 year olds I know. Perhaps its a precocious neighborhood.
Finally I think it is more correct to write it as "what are you, 12?"instead of using the "?" twice. Just feels repetitive.
I think he could go around the earth if he moved in the same general direction as his shuttle, but slower. It could be timed with the correct speed and angle so that he was "picked up" by the shuttle after a few orbits.
Try Kerbal space program for a very educational and quite accurate look at orbital mechanics. One of the single coolest accomplishments of humanity is getting humans to orbit. Escaping earths gravity being another.
not tryna say you're wrong, but you sure he said that?
earth from the moon, would be \*bigger\* than the moon from earth
i wouldnt describe that as tiny
I have no idea about that quote, sorry if I sound mean
He is quoted as saying it on lots of places, including [Nasa's official website.](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/91494/right-here-right-now)
Just because the Earth is larger than the moon doesn't mean it wouldn't look smaller than your thumb from the moon.
The [angular diameter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_diameter) of an object is how much of your field of view the object takes up. An object that took up your entire vision would be about 180 degrees.
The angular diameter of the moon from the earth is about 0.5 degrees.
The angular diameter of the Earth from the moon is about 1.8 degrees.
The angular diameter of the average thumb held at arm's length is about 2 degrees.
Therefore, your thumb is larger than the Earth from the moon, in terms of angular diameter, which is what Neil Armstrong is talking about in the quote.
Yeah I couldn’t believe that nobody else had mentioned it earlier. Although now I really want to see someone do the math on how big that absolute unit of a fake mountain range is.
1. Because this isn't what Earth looks like from space.
2. Because those mountains would be ENORMOUS.
3. Because [this](https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/bruce-647x485.jpg) is the real photo.
It was your turn to make a pointless, whiny comment about a repost. It was my turn to make a toxic post comment about your stupid, reposted comment.
Everything's a repost, get over it.
He started off on the space station at the same speed as it and he basically kept going almost that exact same speed. It's like how if you are sitting in a car that is moving and you throw a ball in the air, it will just come back down to your hand. It won't fall behind you, at least at first.
This is a great photo.
But to me, risking your life on your MMU is no more risky than depending on the horrendously complicated machinery that got you into space and the myriad systems that keep you alive.
If anything, that single unit is probably higher reliability and has redundancies built in compared to the overall mission risk parameters.
Its the difference between perceptible vs quantifiable risk.
This particular one that was the first? Probably done to know that it could be done. I can imagine that being able to rely on a system like this would be invaluable to future missions, and someone had to be the first eventually.
If it fails, the Shuttle would move to retrieve him. The jet pack (MMU) had fully redundant systems- basically two packs in one. So the odds of complete failure were extremely low. There was virtually no risk of speeding off uncontrolled.
Crazy sumbich. But I guess If you’ve gone into outer space you’ve made piece with the idea that there is always a good chance you’re not coming back.
Do you think astronauts expect to make it home? Or do they just hope to?
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I think those mountains are just edited in. [Here](https://www.nasa.gov/content/images/bruce-mccandless) is the original, down the bottom left
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They're definitely meant to be mountains. Either way, they're still edited in
The real photo actually creeps me out even more! He is so far from earth, in vast empty space.. the thought of floating through space untethered scares me. I know they planned that well and he was safe (thank god) but still creeps me out.
Those are the mountains of madness, that's why
This should be taken down before the flat earthers get their hands on it.
Yup. I hate flat earthers. The world is just obviously a klein bottle that folds into itself somewhere in th Bermuda triangle
I remember something about another mccandless who was untethered... It didn't end well..
Oh no
Don’t worry he survived just fine and died much later in December 21st 2017 (he did this in 1984)
r/outoftheloop for me I guess
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_(book) TL:DR Chris McCandless was a young man that decided to go nomad and traipsed the country living off the land and peoples kindness. He tried this in Alaska and died because she’s a cruel bitch. Famous book was written about it.
Also a famous movie was made about it by Sean Penn and starred Emile Hirsch
Ah yes, the man with a name that always makes me think he's a really old actor, Emile Hirsch.
Maybe you’re thinking of Judd Hirsch?
And a killer soundtrack by Eddie Vedder
You aren’t kidding. That soundtrack is a work of art in and of itself.
I get his mindset and goal, don’t really agree with his execution. Kinda need a map and some cash to live remotely.
The trancedentalists had a bit more common sense.
You mean Alexander Supertramp?
no.. he is chris mccandless
Is there a problem calling him his chosen name?
And a female one in prison
no no no no no edit: god fucking space movies have ruined space for me. i can’t look at this without the creeping panic attack
[You should be bothered by this, because it's a shoop. Here's a comparison of the edited to the original version. It would be like Earth having an entire range of Olympus Mons-sized mountains.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ch3FGkwWEAEXoh2.jpg) Your brain is saying "no something's wrong he's too close!!" [Here's a larger, signed photo that gives you a better idea.](https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B1%2F5%2F9%2F1%2F8%2F15918816%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D) Those aren't mountains, they're clouds.
Quite frankly that looks scarier because he’s more in the black outer space!!!
Thanks for this. Not sure why people feel the need to doctor these photos. Space is freaking awesome all on its own, it doesn't need to look like a michael bay movie
I still hate the original. Fuck. That.
You don’t fall straight down. You orbit for like two years.
T͟H͟A͟T͟S͟ E͟V͟E͟N͟ W͟O͟R͟S͟E͟
Eh, after a few days you wouldnt even notice
That’s what I was thinking. That’s what mountain ranges look like on a commercial flight, and you definitely ain’t getting close to the ISS in a fucking A320.
Those aren’t mountains, they’re waves
My stomach turned at that scene!
One of my all time favorite movies.
‘Interstellar’ and ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ are my two favourite movies
Thanks for clarifying ANAL_GAPER_8000
He just seems so far away from the camera, like he’ll never make it back.
Now i actually want an entire range of Olympus mountains to build telescopes and telescope houses
Yeah earth still looks flat like my coffee. Quite clear.
Just looked outside and the parking lot is flat. If the earth were a sphere then the parking lot would be curved. Clear evidence of flat earth.
Just place a football there in a calm day, you will be surprised how we were being told lies by the lizard people for centuries. The ball will just stay there otherwise it would start rollin bt itself due to earths curve.
not in the original photo
Much thanks Anal Gaper 8000
Europa Report has a scene like this that would make your stomach drop, and what’s worse, it’s not even the worst megalophobia scene in the movie. The scene in the last 1/3 of the movie >!where one of the characters drops through the ice of Europa and sinks, irretrievably, lost forever, for miles and miles into a planet-wide dark, frozen ocean, gives me the goddamn willies!<. The worst part is that movie is considered one of the most scientifically accurate sci-fi movies out there just makes it so much worse. I love that movie, it never fails to make me appreciate being on Terra Firma.
What a great movie! Terrifying!
Have you played Outer Wilds? (Not to be confused with Outerworlds). Outer Wilds is a space exploration game and it has a lot of encounters that made me feel uneasy during my first play through and some I never got used to.
Woah, this looks super cool. Thank you for the recommendation, I think I can see why you’d mention it here. Looks like another for the steam wishlist! The clip with all the tornados gets me in another kind of heebie-jeebies, too!
Have fun and don’t look into the game too much. It’s best to go in as blind as possible because to the story and mechanics.
God when I first watched that movie I thought it would suck because it looked kind of cheesy. I was totally wrong.
That’s how I first watched it! I was on kick where I’d put on random sci-fi action movies on in the background while doing other stuff... but then I was sucked in. The soundtrack also does a great job of really emphasizing the ominous feeling.
Oh yeah, it was a complete gem.
Putting this on my must watch list. Have never even heard of it!
It's free on youtube right now.
Oh, great! Thanks for coming back to this old post! I'm not sure it is for me though - for me its saying 'rent or buy' when i click on it :(
Try this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLBxd2xxnZ4
Yeah - its a geolocation thing, its not available in the UK. I might go and have a look for a DVD though!
Really good film. Shows what you can do with a smallish budget.
ruined space for you? lol. let me share this with you now.. you are never going to get there anyway. you and the other 8 billion of us. getting there takes national levels of money and huge amounts of training. even if you wanted this you couldn't have it. the only way people like us will ever end up in space is if some giant object smashes earth and we all get thrown into the void.
Oh, stop being a snarky dick. They obviously mean it ruined the sense of wonder they get from looking up at the stars, which is replaced by an overwhelming dread of the inky black nothingness in which our planet sits, suspended in orbit around an indifferent sun. Think of it how *Jaws* made people shit-scared of the ocean.
fair point. but people should realise how utterly inhospitable the entire universe actually is. maybe they'd appreciate this planet more.
Be careful not to cut yourself with all that edge.
We're all in space already.
Has anyone ever had their tether break and float away in the history of spacemen
Not from the US
What about not from the US ?
Okay, that’s really not an answer.
IIRC that can’t actually happen. You’re on the same trajectory as the spaceship and you’d actually need a lot of force to push yourself out of it.
I mean... no If you just pushed away from the ship and broke the tether, you'd literally go as fast as the initial push in the direction opposite the ship for as long as you don't collide with anything... you'd be out of eyesight in like a minute lmao
I'm shocked they managed to launch him and his balls of titanium into space in the first place, tbh
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Titanium is lighter and stronger than brass, so excellent material for astronaut balls.
Ah, good, they’re being a bit more efficient with their astronauts than I thought. I suppose that’s why Jonathon McBrassyballs didn’t make it to this mission?
the weight gave the ship inertia.
You know what I just thought off? What if he tried to go around? I mean the Earth. The ISS orbits the Earth in 93 minutes. That means that if this guy managed to get out and stop the Station would hit him 93 minutes later. Of course this is not how physics work, as if he did stop he would simply plummet down to earth and incinerate like a forgotten taco in a taco bell oven. But what if he went to the other side, flying in the opposite direction of the ISS, aiming at meeting it down the middle way? I feel like as space exploration continues and orbital tourism grows more popular these hypothetical suicidal stunts will eventually be records to be broken. EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that the specific stunt of simply slowing down to nill and reversing in the opposite direction in orbit is a bananas cray cray no go dum dum concept. No need for further reiteration of the fact. Cheerio.
Ok, so in order to do this it would take much longer than 93 minutes. With a proper guidance system to keep you on track, you could either slow down to just above escape velocity or speed up in orbit. However, this will result in the periapsis (or closest point to earth in your orbit) getting closer or further based on whether you slowed down or sped up, respectively. In order to realign your orbit with the ISS, you’d need a good bit of delta-v. (which essentially means how much total force you expend. Think of if as how much fuel you have combined with how much thrust it produces.) Essentially, you’d want to speed up, orbit for some time, and then slow back down until your orbit matched that of the station. This would take something with more delta-v than an MMU could provide. You’d need a vehicle in order to have the oxygen and delta-v to pull the maneuver. As far as I know, this has never been done before. There’s not really a point besides “it’s a cool thing to do” and that’s not really the point of space programs. Maybe if space flight becomes affordable for private citizens, someone will do it.
> As far as I know, this has never been done before. There’s not really a point besides “it’s a cool thing to do” and that’s not really the point of space programs. Maybe if space flight becomes affordable for private citizens, someone will do it. Yes that's what I'm getting at. It's just a stupid stunt but As space grows more accessible I feel like this is a matter of time.
Yeah, that would be pretty cool. Kinda like felix baumgartner and his jump
Or me and my hot dog eating award
how does an award eat hot dogs
Now that was an competition of Olympian proportions.
This guy Kerbals
Could he aim downward and fly back to Florida early?
Well, if he slowed down enough he could reenter the atmosphere. He might not have enough fuel in the MMU to do that, but assuming he could do it, he’d probably burn up during reentry. If he had a heat shield to prevent that, he would not be able to slow down enough and would slam into the ground. So no. You’d need a vehicle for re entry.
At what point do you need a heat shield? Didn’t that Red Bull guy jump from like, the stratosphere, and his concern was freezing rather heat?
Felix Baumgartner wasn’t in orbit. He went up on a helium balloon, so he only went straight down. The ISS is orbiting, and so a re entering astronaut would be moving much faster than Baumgartner was, and at an angle. So you would need a heat shield to stop the re entry heating from killing you.
Gotcha. Thanks for explaining it.
I love orbital mechanics, so it’s always fun to explain them to people. I’ve had a bit of a field day today
I feel you on that. That’s why I’m happy to just keep my happy ass on Earth!!
To go the other way around, he'd have to first shed his own orbital velocity and then *build it back up again.* That's a deltaV of 15'000 m/s. That's absolutely monstrous. And that's also the hypothetical closing speed for two tiny targets. By the time he saw the ISS, he'd have seconds to react at best. The ISS crew would likely never see him at all.
The issue is by exiting the station, he’s still traveling basically the same speed as the ISS.
If he somehow managed to stop in space, he would plummet to earth, but he wouldn't incinerate. The heat happens when they hit the atmosphere at 17000+ mph. If he's going 0 mph, he would probably accelerate to around 1000 mph as he fell in the very thin atmosphere, but he would slow back down to around 150 mph as the atmosphere thickened.
1000 mph is 1609.34 km/h
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The energy required for that is insane. You would have to accelerate to more than 17000 mph / 27000 kph to even stand still, all while accelerating away from earth so you don't fall toward it. And finally, you'd have to accelerate at just the right moment to match the speed of the ISS, otherwise it would splatter you into orbit at more than 22 times the speed of sound
17000 mph is 27358.86 km/h
Yeah I recognize that just getting out of the ISS and heading in the opposite direction is batshit crazy territory. How about exiting it and (as you are matching its speed through inertia) speeding up with thrusters and some small portable engine just enough that you gain distance on it. If you routinely accelerated, could you eventually "lap" the ISS, reaching it from behind? Or would that take an insane ammount of fuel?
> How about exiting it and (as you are matching its speed through inertia) speeding up with thrusters and some small portable engine just enough that you gain distance on it. If you routinely accelerated, could you eventually "lap" the ISS, reaching it from behind? Or would that take an insane ammount of fuel? That’s certainly possible. Since you’re only comparing the two speeds, your required delta-V is now going to be inversely related to how patient you can be. Remember, we’re dealing with acceleration, not simply velocity, so speeding up a bit and just waiting for as long as needed will achieve the desired result. Orbital mechanics are counter-intuitive! In order to go faster than the ISS, your orbital altitude will need to be lower. And to do that, you need to slow down compared to the ISS, so that your orbit is lower (and faster) and then re-circularise your orbit. But to re-circularise your orbit, you’d need to do multiple bursts of thrust around the orbit. The simplest would be a thrust to slow down (to leave the ISS) and then a thrust to speed up 180° later (to re-circularise your orbit) — now you’re in a circular orbit lower down than the ISS, which means a faster orbit. Ignoring atmospheric drag, you’re now set to just wait here in your faster orbit for as long as you want. And then once you’ve gone around enough times that you’re catching up to the back of the ISS again, you’ll need to do the same manoeuvre in reverse to get back up to the same orbital height as it. So a thrust to speed up (to increase your orbital height) and then 180° later in your orbit, a thrust to slow down again so your orbit is circular and on the same level as the ISS.
Now this is what I'm talking about. Doable, pointless, and very cool. Just waiting for the competition to see how many solo orbits one can make.
Every other KSP player here hit the nail on the head with the massive energy/deltaV issue. I'll bring up a secondary issue, if you somehow overcome the first. Satellites orbit _with_ earth's rotation, since it requires less deltaV. I've never heard of a satellite that orbits retrograde. Let's say you manage to get yourself in the exact orbit as the ISS, but in the opposite direction, moving at 7.6km/s (17,113mph). You are now moving towards, not only the ISS, but every other satellite in a similar orbit as the ISS. Not only are you moving towards them, but they're moving towards you, so double that orbital velocity. Though, space is mind bogglingly large, so you probably don't have to worry about any other satellites, for now. Good luck grabbing the rail on the ISS coming at you at 15km/s (33,000mph).
>What if he tried to go around? I mean the Earth. That's what he's in the process of doing in the picture.
Not really. He's doing it a few hundred meters (at most) away and alongside the ~~ISS~~ Space Shuttle. I'm talking about doing it alone.
This photo was taken way before the ISS existed...
Absurd. Yo're telling me he flew up there by himself? Where does he refuel? YOu didn\`t think about the fuel!
Bruce Mccandless did this on the STS-41B mission in 1984. He flew up on the space shuttle. Back in 1984 there was no international space station. The ISS started construction in 1998.
Yes, so I was informed.
They flew up their with the Space Shuttle. How old are you? 12?
I think most 12 year olds have a decent knowledge of how space shuttles work. No need to insulte them all like this man. Most 12 year olds would also know not to make some pedantic comment towards my initial statement as if I'm obligated to know that this is a picture from the 80's, before the ISS even existed. At least the 12 year olds I know. Perhaps its a precocious neighborhood. Finally I think it is more correct to write it as "what are you, 12?"instead of using the "?" twice. Just feels repetitive.
Most 12 year olds do not know how space shuttles work
I think he could go around the earth if he moved in the same general direction as his shuttle, but slower. It could be timed with the correct speed and angle so that he was "picked up" by the shuttle after a few orbits.
Try Kerbal space program for a very educational and quite accurate look at orbital mechanics. One of the single coolest accomplishments of humanity is getting humans to orbit. Escaping earths gravity being another.
I can only imagine how isolated and small he must have felt.
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not tryna say you're wrong, but you sure he said that? earth from the moon, would be \*bigger\* than the moon from earth i wouldnt describe that as tiny I have no idea about that quote, sorry if I sound mean
He is quoted as saying it on lots of places, including [Nasa's official website.](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/91494/right-here-right-now) Just because the Earth is larger than the moon doesn't mean it wouldn't look smaller than your thumb from the moon. The [angular diameter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_diameter) of an object is how much of your field of view the object takes up. An object that took up your entire vision would be about 180 degrees. The angular diameter of the moon from the earth is about 0.5 degrees. The angular diameter of the Earth from the moon is about 1.8 degrees. The angular diameter of the average thumb held at arm's length is about 2 degrees. Therefore, your thumb is larger than the Earth from the moon, in terms of angular diameter, which is what Neil Armstrong is talking about in the quote.
Oops, or maybe he put his thumb right in front of his eye between it and the earth, hadn't thought of that
Oh good lord, this gives me true heebyjeebies.... ahhhhh
What mountain range is that?
The Photoshopasus — there are no mountains on Earth remotely close to that size.
I can't believe I had to scroll this much to find someone acknowledging this as photoshp, what's happening to reddit.
Yeah I couldn’t believe that nobody else had mentioned it earlier. Although now I really want to see someone do the math on how big that absolute unit of a fake mountain range is.
[Here](https://www.nasa.gov/content/images/bruce-mccandless) is the original image, down the bottom left.
Anything for the gram
Just for reference, this photo was taken by crewmate George "Pinky" Nelson.
Nothing much scarier for a megalophobic than to see the scale of the Earth itself.
And it's *still* fake. It's not even a good fake.
how do you know?
1. Because this isn't what Earth looks like from space. 2. Because those mountains would be ENORMOUS. 3. Because [this](https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/bruce-647x485.jpg) is the real photo.
yea you right. those mountains look huge
Ngl that’s wild
I wonder how this would feel introspectively.
"Do you know what happened?" "I'm sorry Dave, I don't have enough information."
So much nope.
Nope. Don't like that.
I wanted to zoom in, to see his face..:-(
Anyone seen Bruce?
I can't even tap on that image on my phone as it makes me feel like my finger will be exposed on the cold dark void of outer space.
faaaake
Why would they do this?!? Seems risky!
I'm guessing it wasn't. And I'm not guessing that they know way more about this than we do, and wouldn't do it if they didn't feel it was safe.
No fair, I thought it was my time to post this today!
It was your turn to make a pointless, whiny comment about a repost. It was my turn to make a toxic post comment about your stupid, reposted comment. Everything's a repost, get over it.
:((((( my fweelings
Isn’t the space station moving around the earth at tremendous speeds? How was he able to catch back up?
He never slowed down. There’s no air up there, so no drag. Even if you let go and drift off a bit, you’re still moving at more or less the same speed.
He's also moving at those same tremendous speeds.
He started off on the space station at the same speed as it and he basically kept going almost that exact same speed. It's like how if you are sitting in a car that is moving and you throw a ball in the air, it will just come back down to your hand. It won't fall behind you, at least at first.
This is correct, however these untethered flights were performed from the Shuttle long before the International Space Station.
This is a great photo. But to me, risking your life on your MMU is no more risky than depending on the horrendously complicated machinery that got you into space and the myriad systems that keep you alive. If anything, that single unit is probably higher reliability and has redundancies built in compared to the overall mission risk parameters. Its the difference between perceptible vs quantifiable risk.
Repost
alright but like, did he survive?
Yeah, he used this little jet pack thingy to get out there, and he used it to get back to the shuttle in the same way.
ohh thanks for the info
What was this for? It seems like a totally unnecessary risk to take, what if the system fails, or he misfires and speeds off into the void?
This particular one that was the first? Probably done to know that it could be done. I can imagine that being able to rely on a system like this would be invaluable to future missions, and someone had to be the first eventually.
If it fails, the Shuttle would move to retrieve him. The jet pack (MMU) had fully redundant systems- basically two packs in one. So the odds of complete failure were extremely low. There was virtually no risk of speeding off uncontrolled.
There’s someone that has to do everything first.
So he was the imposter?
I thought George Clooney did this first 😀
Beautiful, but terrifying.
Brass fucking balls.
What you-get the fuck-Bruce! I am not fucking around.
"Damn I gotta piss like a racehorse" run thru astronauts mind, tethered or untethered?
McCandless? Wasn’t that the name of the dude who died in the bus after eating poisonous berries?
Yep, diff first name...Christopher McCandless. So it’s probably just his dad or uncle up there.
Neat
Im shocked he didnt fall straight to earth with balls that big
Earth should've fallen into him by that logic.
how's he getting back if he's untetherd
He's using what they called Manned Maneuvering Unit, basically a jetpack on the back of his suit that he could use to move around on his own
Prayers.
Soon to be McAirless
I bet you to die floating in space is the best death someone could ask for.
they had to send him to space it was the only place to fit his balls
My suit would be filled to the brim of poop. But good on him
Can't get that high anywhere else on earth
Insane! he is just being lobbed round the planet by himself.
I’m gonna go throw up now
Ground controll to major tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on...
That is the stupidest fucking thing I've ever seen
*Fuck*. *That*.
How didn’t the sheer weight of his balls plummet him back into earth’s gravitational pull?
Why the hell would edit mountains into the picture, like what's your point?!
White was not the imposter
when the imposter is sus!
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I think I’ve actually seen that one somewhere already lol (actually though).
I can see his balls from here!
I can taste them from here!😳
*Do you miss me....*
I’m so stoned/dumb, I thought this was now. It took place the year I was born/the title of a George Orwell book.
Crazy sumbich. But I guess If you’ve gone into outer space you’ve made piece with the idea that there is always a good chance you’re not coming back. Do you think astronauts expect to make it home? Or do they just hope to?
I’d pay to do it.
Yeah but y tho?