Author Topic: Astronautix.com taken off-line  (Read 21902 times)

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Astronautix.com taken off-line
« on: 07/12/2011 11:51 am »
Just saw that one of spaceflight fan's major historical reference website has been taken down off-line due to persistent denial of service attacks.
http://www.astronautix.com/

It's probably one of the more useful reference pages for plans of spacecrafts and LVs, as well as some unique angles of spaceflight history, even if they are not very accurate. Still, it's sad to see such a long-lived site went off-line... :(
Astronomy & spaceflight geek penguin. In a relationship w/ Space Shuttle Discovery. Current Priority: Chasing the Chinese Spaceflight Wonder Egg & A Certain Chinese Mars Rover

Offline space_dreamer

  • Member
  • Posts: 44
  • London
  • Liked: 10
  • Likes Given: 12
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #1 on: 07/12/2011 11:56 am »
What are denial of service attacks?

Astronautix.com is a great site I hope it comes back soon.

Offline beb

  • Full Member
  • **
  • Posts: 271
  • Liked: 12
  • Likes Given: 8
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #2 on: 07/12/2011 11:58 am »
even if they are not very accurate.

I hate seeing lines like this because there's no metric to measure how inaccurate they are. Astronautix was a great site because it got most of the details right.

Offline mtakala24

Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #3 on: 07/12/2011 12:06 pm »

Offline oscar71

  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 182
  • Liked: 1
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #4 on: 07/12/2011 04:13 pm »

Offline Danderman

  • Extreme Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10288
  • Liked: 699
  • Likes Given: 723
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #5 on: 07/12/2011 04:15 pm »
The better question is why astronautix.com would be a target for such attacks?

 :o :o :o :o :o

Offline Chris-A

  • Member
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 563
  • Liked: 28
  • Likes Given: 35
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #6 on: 07/12/2011 04:37 pm »
Mark Wade and the web masters can always change the DNS information and get back online quickly, or soon as possible.

Offline Robotbeat

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 39271
  • Minnesota
  • Liked: 25240
  • Likes Given: 12115
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #7 on: 07/12/2011 05:02 pm »
even if they are not very accurate.

I hate seeing lines like this because there's no metric to measure how inaccurate they are. Astronautix was a great site because it got most of the details right.
I agree. I mean, there are surely lots of inaccuracies, but it's VERY extensive, so you're bound to get that. There's really no other site that comes close. Much of the related content on wikipedia is just ripped from Astronautix. For us "regular folk," this is a wonderful resource. Sure I'd prefer a better, more accurate site, but it's the best we've got.

(And there are some controversial opinions expressed in some of the non-technical pages, though)
Chris  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

To the maximum extent practicable, the Federal Government shall plan missions to accommodate the space transportation services capabilities of United States commercial providers. US law http://goo.gl/YZYNt0

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #8 on: 07/12/2011 05:12 pm »
even if they are not very accurate.

I hate seeing lines like this because there's no metric to measure how inaccurate they are. Astronautix was a great site because it got most of the details right.
I agree. I mean, there are surely lots of inaccuracies, but it's VERY extensive, so you're bound to get that. There's really no other site that comes close. Much of the related content on wikipedia is just ripped from Astronautix. For us "regular folk," this is a wonderful resource. Sure I'd prefer a better, more accurate site, but it's the best we've got.

(And there are some controversial opinions expressed in some of the non-technical pages, though)

I actually agrees with you; I am just making a disclaimer about its accuracy before Jim flies trans-Pacific to preach about the inaccuracies of the site in front of my door... ;)
Astronomy & spaceflight geek penguin. In a relationship w/ Space Shuttle Discovery. Current Priority: Chasing the Chinese Spaceflight Wonder Egg & A Certain Chinese Mars Rover

Offline jimgagnon

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 610
  • Liked: 0
  • Likes Given: 2
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #9 on: 07/12/2011 05:15 pm »
The better question is why astronautix.com would be a target for such attacks?

Yeah, I don't understand it either. DDOS are juvenile to begin with, but to target astronautix.com?!?

If Mark has a good ISP, he'll be back soon. If not, perhaps he should consider throwing all his content onto Wikipedia.

Offline Jim

  • Night Gator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 37441
  • Cape Canaveral Spaceport
  • Liked: 21451
  • Likes Given: 428
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #10 on: 07/12/2011 05:55 pm »

(And there are some controversial opinions expressed in some of the non-technical pages, though)

That is the biggest issue.

Offline kraisee

  • Expert
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10560
  • Liked: 807
  • Likes Given: 40
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #11 on: 07/12/2011 06:12 pm »
DDOS attacks can normally be traced to a source.   I hope Mark has the FBI involved already.

Astronautix.com is a great site and I for one, will miss it.

I don't know if Mark reads NSF, but if he does, I'll second the appeal to put the content on Wiki if he decides not to re-open the site himself.

Ross.
« Last Edit: 07/12/2011 06:15 pm by kraisee »
"The meek shall inherit the Earth -- the rest of us will go to the stars"
-Robert A. Heinlein

Offline jimgagnon

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 610
  • Liked: 0
  • Likes Given: 2
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #12 on: 07/12/2011 06:22 pm »
(And there are some controversial opinions expressed in some of the non-technical pages, though)
That is the biggest issue.

Perfect for Wikipedia then. Once there, Jim, you can fix the stuff that really bugs you.

Offline Tcommon

  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 145
  • Liked: 0
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #13 on: 07/12/2011 06:51 pm »
What are denial of service attacks?

You can write a small piece of software that goes to a webpage, as if it were a web browser asking for that webpage, and repeat this over and over, millions of times, bogging down the targeted server.

A lot of programming languages have internet functionality built in. With Python, for example, you can write a program to go get information from the internet with just a few lines of code, a DoS program can be just as simple.

Many DoS attacks are run by juvenile malcontents living in their mom's basement. It's not hard. And for people too lazy to write few lines of code, there are websites out there where you can download free DoS and BOT software to make a pest of yourself.

If you run the DoS software on your own computer and internet connection, it's trivial for the police to catch you. So DoS attacks are often installed on other computers or run through proxy computers. This is more complicated, but still within the capability of your average bored juvenile delinquent on summer holiday.

See Script Kiddy
« Last Edit: 07/12/2011 06:57 pm by Tcommon »

Offline SpaceInformer

  • Member
  • Posts: 52
  • Vienna - AUSTRIA
  • Liked: 0
  • Likes Given: 2
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #14 on: 07/12/2011 07:10 pm »
I hope Mark has the FBI involved already.

He is an Austrian and I donīt think that our police will investigate this. 

Further itīs expensive to fill a case in the U.S. if his site is hosted at the U.S.

For us Austrian spaceflight freaks he is a ghost. No one knows him neither had seen him on any space event here.

Greets,

Marius

Offline Phillip Clark

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2616
  • Hastings, England
  • Liked: 557
  • Likes Given: 1078
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #15 on: 07/12/2011 10:05 pm »
even if they are not very accurate.

I hate seeing lines like this because there's no metric to measure how inaccurate they are. Astronautix was a great site because it got most of the details right.
I agree. I mean, there are surely lots of inaccuracies, but it's VERY extensive, so you're bound to get that. There's really no other site that comes close. Much of the related content on wikipedia is just ripped from Astronautix. For us "regular folk," this is a wonderful resource. Sure I'd prefer a better, more accurate site, but it's the best we've got.

(And there are some controversial opinions expressed in some of the non-technical pages, though)


Sadly, too many people have used this site as being totally accurate and its errors have been repeated extensively on the internet.   As a specific example, thanks to Astronautix, a few months ago I found plenty of examples of Luna 10 being shown as the Cosmos 954 RORSAT!!!

I never use Astronautix as a reference point unless I can find independent and authoritative confirmation of the information elsewhere.
I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane - WJ.

Offline mike robel

  • Extreme Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2304
  • Merritt Island, FL
  • Liked: 369
  • Likes Given: 260
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #16 on: 07/13/2011 02:20 am »
Actually, as I recal, he is American but lives in Austria.

Offline Colds7ream

  • Tomorrow's Flight Surgeon
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 185
  • Scientia Dabit Alas
  • RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus
    • SalopianJames - en Wikipedia
  • Liked: 3
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #17 on: 07/13/2011 03:06 pm »
Much of the related content on wikipedia is just ripped from Astronautix.

Hardly 'ripped' - if you take a look at my Mir article, for instance, you'll note that the Astronautix info is properly integrated into the article and correctly cited; if you have found an article with unreferenced info from Astronautix, do please let me know and I'll fix it.

Offline Prober

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10348
  • Save the spin....I'm keeping you honest!
  • Nevada
  • Liked: 721
  • Likes Given: 729
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #18 on: 07/14/2011 03:47 pm »
The easy way around this is to let one of the big boys take care of the mess.

I am talking about running out of Yahoo, or Google etc.  They handle this for you.

Why the big firms?  Simple they can't afford to go down so their software & HW is designed to handle it.

Cost wise a doman run there might be worth a looksee.

2017 - Everything Old is New Again.
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant..." --Isoroku Yamamoto

Offline Skyrocket

  • Extreme Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2631
  • Frankfurt am Main, Germany
  • Liked: 940
  • Likes Given: 172
Re: Astronautix.com taken off-line
« Reply #19 on: 07/27/2011 10:35 am »
At least parts of the website can be found in the webarchive www.archive.org:

http://web.archive.org/web/20101018084037/http://www.astronautix.com/

BTW, does anyone have an eMail adress of Mark Wade?

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
1