Author Topic: Space Olympics  (Read 6063 times)

Offline deaville

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Space Olympics
« on: 07/23/2012 06:52 am »
Just a little bit of fun. With the 2012 London Olympic Games about to start, what events could be included for Games held in orbit?

In the past Skylab crews have indulged in tumbling, ball bouncing, darts and paper aeroplanes. One such new event might be the 2 metre, self-propelled sprint (!!!) from a stationary start in mid-cabin.
Light travels faster than sound, which is why some people appear bright until they speak.

Offline hkultala

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #1 on: 07/23/2012 07:27 am »
for the crazy extreme sports guys:

Long jump without spacesuit.

Park two spacecrfts in same orbit, some tens of meters away from each others, airlocks facing each others. Open airlocks, jump from one craft to another, without using a space suit.

Online Silmfeanor

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #2 on: 07/23/2012 08:41 am »
for the crazy extreme sports guys:

Long jump without spacesuit.

Park two spacecrfts in same orbit, some tens of meters away from each others, airlocks facing each others. Open airlocks, jump from one craft to another, without using a space suit.

That could go in advanced concepts  ;) I think this thread is meant for stuff that could happen today...

I know some astro's have ran marathons on board...

Online Chris Bergin

Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #3 on: 07/23/2012 10:03 am »
Weight lifting? :D

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Offline synchrotron

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #4 on: 07/23/2012 01:40 pm »
I enjoy watching both elements comprising this topic.  But can you imagine the poor nation that gets saddled with the twin white elephants of manned spaceflight and hosting the orbital Olympics?


Offline go4mars

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #5 on: 07/23/2012 02:47 pm »
Elasmotherium; hurlyburly Doggerlandic Jentilak steeds insouciantly gallop in viridescent taiga, eluding deluginal Burckle's abyssal excavation.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #6 on: 07/23/2012 10:34 pm »
I enjoy watching both elements comprising this topic.  But can you imagine the poor nation that gets saddled with the twin white elephants of manned spaceflight and hosting the orbital Olympics?



Please tell me that's a joke.
« Last Edit: 07/23/2012 10:35 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Offline QuantumG

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #7 on: 07/23/2012 11:04 pm »
I enjoy watching both elements comprising this topic.  But can you imagine the poor nation that gets saddled with the twin white elephants of manned spaceflight and hosting the orbital Olympics?
Please tell me that's a joke.

No Olympics has been profitable since the '86 LA games. Human spaceflight has never been profitable. I'm not sure "white elephant" is exactly the right term, but it isn't the first time it has been applied to the Olympics.
Human spaceflight is basically just LARPing now.

Offline savuporo

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #8 on: 07/23/2012 11:29 pm »
Skeet surfin'
Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

Offline A_M_Swallow

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #9 on: 07/24/2012 02:29 am »
Some possible Olympic events:

  200 metre air swimming race.  The contestants may need flippers or wings.

  Docking the spacecraft against the clock.  Hitting the solar panels and modules providing costs time penalties.

  Fastest time into a spacesuit.

Offline catdlr

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #10 on: 07/24/2012 03:00 am »
Then there is the Clay Anderson Ammonia Servicer shot put:

Tony De La Rosa, ...I'm no Feline Dealer!! I move mountains.  but I'm better known for "I think it's highly sexual." Japanese to English Translation.

Offline DavisSTS

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #11 on: 07/24/2012 06:54 am »
The UK would have preferred the World Cup Finals.

Offline Proponent

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #12 on: 07/24/2012 08:50 am »
Just a little bit of fun. With the 2012 London Olympic Games about to start, what events could be included for Games held in orbit?

Space cycling, i.e., human-powered spacecraft racing.

Offline Davinator

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #13 on: 07/25/2012 11:19 am »
I enjoy watching both elements comprising this topic.  But can you imagine the poor nation that gets saddled with the twin white elephants of manned spaceflight and hosting the orbital Olympics?
Please tell me that's a joke.

No Olympics has been profitable since the '86 LA games. Human spaceflight has never been profitable. I'm not sure "white elephant" is exactly the right term, but it isn't the first time it has been applied to the Olympics.


I'm sure most people are aware the olympics aren't profitable. I highly doubt countries apply based on the prospect of making some cash. Besides, we wanted the 2018 World Cup Finals far more than this event, but it's a chance to redev a crap part of East London...
 
Has to be said, it would be a sad, sad world if more than a minority of people based the viability of something on if it makes a profit, and then class the venture, including something as nobel and inspiring as HSF, as a "white elephant" because they are too busy looking at spread sheets.
 
Such people must be really busy running around the internet if that's the case, and I sure hope they are, because picking HSF or NASA as their target of choice, and not the 1001 other things that don't have an obvious return of profit, deserves a serious amount of headshaking.

Offline QuantumG

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #14 on: 07/26/2012 01:23 am »
Has to be said, it would be a sad, sad world if more than a minority of people based the viability of something on if it makes a profit, and then class the venture, including something as nobel and inspiring as HSF, as a "white elephant" because they are too busy looking at spread sheets.

That's a disturbing point of view. Profits are the market's way of telling you that you're doing something useful for other people. Losses are its way of telling you that you're squandering resources. Every dollar spent on the Olympics is a dollar you could be spending on better serving your fellow man.. or more precisely, the failure to find a way to make the Olympics turn a profit is caused by people being uninterested in how their actions effect others. They want a games, so they're going to have a games damn it, and if the only way to get it is to soak the taxpayer, so be it.

Making human spaceflight profitable would be a fabulous thing to do. Why? Well, just think about what is profitable in space right now: communications satellites - linking together vast distances, and protein crystal growth - directing the creation of new drugs to cure disease. We're so close on that last one, it's vastly underestimated just how valuable zero-g protein crystal growth is to the pharma industry. So much so that it seems obvious, to me at least, that the problem isn't coming up with ways to make money in space, it's recognizing that this is what humans should be doing in space: product discovery.

It also answers the humans vs robots debate. Even if robots can do everything humans can do in space mechanically, they are a premature capital investment for new products. It makes no sense to build a robotic factory for a new product with no proven market. If there's products to be discovered in space, humans need to be there to discover them. They need only one thing: freedom to do so.

Human spaceflight is basically just LARPing now.

Offline deaville

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #15 on: 07/27/2012 11:57 am »
Getting back to the original question - I wonder if weightless squash would be possible?

And to answer the question raised about profitability - one has to take into account also the boost to both local and national economies. As has been said, the London games have resulted in the re-development of East London and will leave a legacy for the future. My old Granny used to say, "One has to speculate to accumulate!"
Light travels faster than sound, which is why some people appear bright until they speak.

Offline majormajor42

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #16 on: 07/27/2012 05:41 pm »
Has there already been any record keeping, perhaps unofficial, of various feats in space? The only one I know of is the contest where they see how long they can last, freefloat, without touching anything. I think this was done in the JEM although maybe a Skylab astronaut actually holds that record.



...water is life and it is out there, where we intend to go. I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man or machine on a body such as the Moon and harvest a cup of water for a human to drink or process into fuel for their craft.

Offline deaville

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #17 on: 07/27/2012 06:33 pm »
Al Bean is supposedly the only astronaut to float the 90 feet from one end of Skylab to the other without touching anything.

Also on Skylab, Paul Weitz bounced a ball 141 times round the lockers.
Light travels faster than sound, which is why some people appear bright until they speak.

Offline majormajor42

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #18 on: 08/02/2012 09:39 pm »
Good info deaville.

Submits Williams just tweeted:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Astro_Suni/status/231005011562356737?photo=1


Quote
@Astro_Suni New #Olympic sport – synchronized space water degassing. Preparing our space suit water for our spacewalk in August. http://t.co/e8vTeHvP

Quote
@Astro_Suni Space suit prep: Big Bubbles cause troubles, so we try to get rid of them with centrifugal force.
« Last Edit: 08/02/2012 09:43 pm by majormajor42 »
...water is life and it is out there, where we intend to go. I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man or machine on a body such as the Moon and harvest a cup of water for a human to drink or process into fuel for their craft.

Offline majormajor42

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Re: Space Olympics
« Reply #19 on: 08/08/2012 10:17 am »
Sunita is at it again! This time she is just a spectator.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Astro_Suni/status/232990021689434114?photo=1

Quote
Space Sofas are made for watching women’s beach volley ball in the #Olympics! 





Let's see how long it takes you to get her joke. Is she the first to use that term? Took me a second to get it. Funny.
« Last Edit: 08/08/2012 10:20 am by majormajor42 »
...water is life and it is out there, where we intend to go. I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man or machine on a body such as the Moon and harvest a cup of water for a human to drink or process into fuel for their craft.

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