Rush Limbaugh talks the Space Shuttle, Manned Space Flight, and NASA.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/20..._space_shuttle

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/04/27/
thoughts_on_the_space_shuttle

(Article with Photos at link)

Thoughts on the Space Shuttle
April 27, 2012

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I saw it again today, space shuttle, Enterprise this time, flown
from Washington to New York, numerous fly-bys over New York City.
It's eventually gonna end up on the Intrepid, the Air and Space
Museum, the Intrepid, the aircraft carrier. Do you know the Intrepid,
for those of you old enough -- by the way, it's a great place to
visit, if you have not been, on the west side of Manhattan. They've
got an SR-71 Blackbird on the deck now. It's antique aircraft, World
War II-era aircraft, Vietnam-era aircraft. They're gonna have to move
some out because that's where they're gonna put the shuttle, the
Enterprise.

The Enterprise was the first shuttle that they tested whether or not
the thing could glide back to earth with no power. The shuttle came
back from space with no power. Edwards Air Force Base I think is
where they tested it. They took it out there and put it on top of a
747 and they dropped it, to see what happened. They knew what was
gonna happen. Engineering and aerodynamics, they knew what was gonna
happen. They just had to make sure it worked. And of course it did.
I'm watching, and I have to tell you, I'm an aviation buff like my
father was. I've got a soft spot in my heart for NASA, the old NASA
particularly, but the space shuttle. I'm looking at American
technology on display, not just the shuttle, but the 747 as well, and
realizing that this administration has ended the manned space
program.

It's nostalgic. And, again, I couldn't help but tell myself, there's
not a battery in the world that coulda made this happen today.
There's not a battery powerful enough to even taxi that 747 out to the
runway with the shuttle on top of it, much less take off and fly
anywhere. And yet there are people who continue to want to force upon
us the electrified mobile sector, as it's called. The electrified
mobile sector, which means electric cars, golf carts, and that kind of
thing.

So, anyway, it's the end of an era in the United States. The shuttle
is about the size of a DC-9, if you're familiar with that. And
getting it on top of that 747 and flying it around, oh, yeah, a
massive crane to lift it up and put it down. Stop and think of the
747. Nobody ever thinks of putting -- this is 200,000 ponds, 200,000
pounds on top of a 747. You can easily put that much in it, but on
top of it? Think of how strong the thing has to be to support that.
People don't think about these things. And I don't think people are
cognizant, I don't think they are aware of the power required to make
this simple fly-by happen in this era where we're talking about
batteries and electrified mobile sectors and all this.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Do you remember Gus Grissom? I think he was in a Mercury
capsule, one of the first. Gus Grissom was plucked out of the ocean
by the Intrepid. That was the aircraft carrier, the one that is on
display in New York now, the museum. It was the Intrepid that plucked
Gus Grissom out of the Indian Ocean way back during the Mercury
program. If I got this right Grissom was a little off course -- no,
no, that was another astronaut. Grissom landed, but panicked. You're
supposed to stay in the thing, the capsule, and the aircraft carrier
comes along and plucks you out, and you are hoisted, you get out of
the Mercury capsule on deck.

He blew the hatch wanting to get out of there and it flooded. There
was so much water in it, the helicopter couldn't lift the capsule out
and they lost it. It went down to the bottom of the ocean. Maybe
James Cameron can go get it when he gets back from the Titanic or
wherever he is down there with the blue mermaids. But, yeah, it was
the Intrepid that got Gus Grissom out of the ocean. So much American
history is on display here today just with that one shuttle flight.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: A correction. I said that Gus Grissom blew the hatch. The
official story is the hatch blew itself. On July 21st, 1961, Gus
Grissom was pilot of the second Project Mercury flight. It was a
suborbital flight of 15 minutes, same as Alan Shepard's. John Glenn
was the first to actually orbit the earth. Alan Shepard went up there
first for the first suborbital, 15 minutes, same thing with Gus
Grissom. His was the second. The name of his capsule was the Liberty
Bell 7. And after splashdown the emergency explosive bolts
unexpectedly fired, blew the hatch, causing water to flood the
spacecraft. Grissom got out fast through the open hatch and into the
ocean. He was nearly drowned as water began filling his space suit.
A nearby helicopter tried to lift and recover the spacecraft, but it
was too heavy and they ultimately cut it loose, and then it sank.

Now, Grissom asserted that he had done nothing to cause the hatch to
blow. NASA looked into it. They eventually concluded that he was
correct. Initiating the explosive egress system required hitting a
metal trigger with the side of a closed fist by the astronaut. It was
rigged so that it could not accidentally happen. And when the
astronaut had to hit that switch, the trigger with the side of a
closed fist with a lot of force, it unavoidably left a large bruise on
the astronaut's hand. Grissom did not have any bruising. "Still,
controversy remained, and fellow Mercury astronaut Wally Schirra, at
the end of his October 3, 1962 flight, remained inside his spacecraft
until it was safely aboard the recovery ship, and made a point of
deliberately blowing the hatch to get out, bruising his hand," in
support of Grissom. So I was wrong when I said Grissom blew the
hatch. The hatch just blew. It wasn't supposed to happen. But it
just did.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: It's a day of learning for me. I love that. I know so much, I
don't learn every day. Gus Grissom's space capsule was recovered, and
it is restored on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere. I had no idea
that they had recovered it, but it has been recovered. James Cameron
did not do it. And it's on display.

Here's John in Syracuse, New York, as we start at the phones today in
the first hour. Great to have you with us, sir. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. First of all, it's an honor to talk to you. I'm a
huge fan, and everything you say makes my day better.

RUSH: Thank you very much. I appreciate that, sir.

CALLER: Sure. Listen, I was telling the producer, I'm an A&P
mechanic, and I work on 747s for a living, and one of the aircraft
that I work on was the one that took home space shuttle Discovery.
That was the final flight it took to its resting place.

RUSH: What is an A&P mechanic?

CALLER: Airframe and Powerplant. It's a license you have to have to
work on commercial aircraft.

RUSH: Cool. Airframe and Powerplant. And so you did maintenance on
the 747 that piggybacked the Discovery?

CALLER: Right, yes, sir. I was in the military ten years, and I
worked on KC-10s, which is a DC-10 offset.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: And I got to be an A&P mechanic, and I've been doing that for
eight years now, and when we flew that space shuttle home, we brought
mechanics on the aircraft in case we had to divert in case of
emergency. We do it quite often, you know, for test flights or --

RUSH: What's it like flying on a 747 with that shuttle on the top?

CALLER: It is the roughest, most absurd ride I've ever been on
before.

RUSH: You know, I'm so glad you called because I wanted to ask
somebody that, wondering what it's like. I assume that the wings on
the shuttle give it some additional lift, and I didn't know if that
worked in conflict with the 747 or worked against it, but I can
imagine that would be bumpy.

CALLER: Oh, absolutely. It's not made to do that. You know,
aerodynamically it's made just to fly stand-alone, but when you put
something like that on the top of it, you know, pretend you're putting
it on top of your vehicle and drive like that, you can only imagine
how rough that ride would be.

RUSH: Yeah, it's like putting an obstacle up there. Although it is
aerodynamic, just the wings on the shuttle are aerodynamic, and not
all that much. Well, that's fascinating. I always wondered what that
was like and I'm not surprised. I appreciate the call, John.

END TRANSCRIPT

The only comment I am going to make on this topic is the irony of how the right is failing to grasp the significance of New Space.
We are finally ridding ourselves of a socialist space monopoly, and there are more spacecraft on the drawing boards right now than
in the history of our republic. My hat is off to Bolden and Garver, they are "doing it right". The "Republicans" need to get on the
correct side of history.

Might I suggest Rush get Rand Simberg on his show ASAP. He could learn a thing or three....

Dave