ISS live! website retirement

[Targeteer]

Ironic that NASA is shutting down one interactive site but just started another one for the DSN network

http://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html

[dsmillman]

I asked if funding was the reason for the shutdown and should we contact our members of Congress.  I received the following reply:
"
Hi David,

It is for funding and to be honest a call to a congressional rep might help.  The ISSLive! team is fighting within NASA to keep the site alive.

-Matt for the ISSLive Team
"

Especially important:
If your Senator or Representative belongs to the Senate or House Science committee or the Senate or House sub-committee that deals with NASA appropriations, I suggest that you contact them.

[Space Pete]

Just sent this off, will post response here.

To: [email protected], [email protected]

Subject: ISSLive! Website Retirement

Dear Jennifer,

I am writing to express my disappointment at the plans to retire the ISSLive! website, which I think is a great resource, and has been of great use to me on many occasions.

My name is Pete Harding, and I am the International Space Station Editor for space news website NASASpaceflight.com. In my capacity as an ISS reporter, ISSLive! proved to be an invaluable asset to me last year when I was writing articles about the P6 ammonia leak in May, and the Loop A PM failure in December.

ISSLive! allowed me to quickly ascertain the status of the affected systems and disseminate that information in my articles - for instance, during the May ammonia leak, ISSLive! allowed me to immediately see that the two power channel feeds from the P6 Truss had been shut down, and likewise during the December PM failure, ISSLive! allowed me to quickly see that the entire Loop A cooling loop had been shut down.

This information was a great help to me in writing articles about the failures, since it enabled me to quickly include the latest status of the affected systems and be able to publish a fully up-to-date article in a timely manner.

I sincerely hope that this great resource, which offers such a unique and useful insight into the world's only currently operational human spaceflight platform, can continue.

Kind regards,

Pete Harding
ISS Editor, NASASpaceflight.com

[Space Pete]

Response already!

Hi Pete,

Thanks for your feedback.  Your feedback, along with that of many others, has bought us some time for re-evaluation.  Look for a new scrolling message in the short term.  Long-term plans are to be determined.

Jennifer B. Price

[DeanG1967]

"Thanks to your feedback, the ISS Live! clock has been extended."

Guess it isn't going away anymore

[SWGlassPit]

Just received that email as well.  They are also looking for enhancement and improvement ideas from the user base.

[dsobin]

Yup, I got that email also.

FWIW, I suggested that they enlarge and enhance the ISS picture on the "Live Data" home page to make the image reflect actual attitude and solar array position, as well as an actual rotating earth with map features to reveal the approximate location of the ISS. I also suggested live visiting vehicles positions.

I also suggested making this live image a java applet and invite viewers to add it to their own web pages so anyone can display a live, realtime, ISS animation.

I'd be curious what others suggest.

[Jester]

Just got a reply at work:

"The ISSLive Management team would like to personally thank you for the kind words of support.  Your effort has saved the site from closure.

NASA is currently considering several options for the future of ISSLive and is interested in collecting ideas and thoughts for improvement from the user base.  You are invited to reply by e-mail and provide whatever ideas you have and they will be considered; our hope is that a few of these comments will lead to development.

 
A few of our favorites are:

1.       Finish the API

2.       Provide more streaming data – especially payload related and/or video feeds

3.       Add additional content to the astronaut schedule including equipment photos and links to published research reports

 

Comments submitted by April 2nd will get a full review.

-ISSLive Management Team"

[rdale]

I think option 2 would have the biggest bang for the buck! Thanks for the followup, I'll turn my thoughts in...

[Lee Jay]

I turned in the following suggestions in addition to their three:

A calendar of significant ISS events (visiting vehicle arrivals and departures, debris avoidance maneuvers, orbit raising or lowering burns, EVAs both Russian and American, PAO events, etc.)
Current location of ISS on a world map
Nighttime sighting opportunities (perhaps a link to Heavens Above for that would do)
Audio (communications) feed
Significant or highlighted current experiments
Some outreach effort to get more of the public interested

[catdlr]

Just got a reply at work:

"The ISSLive Management team would like to personally thank you for the kind words of support.  Your effort has saved the site from closure.

Perhaps changing the name of this thread?  "ISS live! Saved from retirement by NSF"

[Space Pete]

Excellent work to all. Power to the people!

[Ian]

THANK YOU ALL! I am that happy that they stopped the retirement! That was only possible because you sent them mails! Thank you sooo much!

I am very very happy at this moment! I will send them a mail in the near future about my ideas on what they improve.

[Waddy John]

At the risk of showing my low I.Q. here I did have a question about watching the Earth from the ISS through the Live Stream. They seemed to have had a problem yesterday(4/7) and it was fixed but today it's down. I was wondering if anyone else know where I could get my fix so speak of seeing my planet. I never would have said this before buy yes I am a space junkie. It's been great watching on a spare PC I have and listening in on the conversations going on not to mention seeing through the different cameras. Could someone help with this problem? Thank you for your time. john/wc

[rdale]

There is only one feed from ISS. If it's down, we have to wait until they fix it.

[Space Fan]

FYI, thought this info may be of interest.  The Space Station Live! crew timelines page was not functioning over this past weekend.  I received this information from the NASA web team when I reported the errors on the page:

"Thank you for writing in to the NASA web team. The Space Station Live! web site and apps were developed as a fast-prototyping exercise for a group of NASA flight controllers and station operators. Support for the site and apps is at a minimal level as program managers discuss whether it will continue to be supported. During this period, not all aspects of the site and apps may be fully functional.

NASA hopes to make a determination about the possibility of long-term support for Space Station Live! later this summer"

[JasonAW3]

I think that the website might ought be changed to more of a Manned Spaceflight Website with subsideary websites for ISS the eventual EL-2 Station, Asteroid Capture, etc. as needed.

Obviously this won't happen until there are other missions and flights that are not ISS centric, but with new crew vehicles coming on line and extended range capibility built into SOME of them, I seriously doubt that NASA will forgo missions that they can accomplish much cheaper and sooner with a commercial spacecraft, then to wait on their own space craft that will still be atleast 5+ years in testing after the commercial crew vehicles are already certified.

As the web is becoming almost equal to many peoples primary means of news and information, TV, expansion of this website, to possibly include commercial/NASA cooperative manned missions, could go a LONG ways to popularizing Manned Spaceflight again

[Jim]

Obviously this won't happen until there are other missions and flights that are not ISS centric, but with new crew vehicles coming on line and extended range capibility built into SOME of them, I seriously doubt that NASA will forgo missions that they can accomplish much cheaper and sooner with a commercial spacecraft, then to wait on their own space craft that will still be atleast 5+ years in testing after the commercial crew vehicles are already certified.

  The main point of the website was to get live telemetry and status of systems on the ISS.  That won't happen with commercial vehicles.  And hence, why it won't be a manned spacecraft website.  Anyways, there are plenty of other places on the NASA web for other missions.