NASA Abandoned A Spacecraft in Orbit for 5 Years. When It Came Home It Surprised Them!

[@Xsiondu]

I feel that passive orbit stabilization deserves an exhaustive explanation video.

[@flybywire5866]

Indeed!👍

[@ConnorAustin]

Absolutely

[@melainekerfaou8418]

*attitude stabilization

[@jean-lucfacade6219]

Yeah Scott, you con't just drop that and run. "💣, I'm Scott Manley."

[@ptonpc]

Search for "Passive three-axis stabilization of the Long Duration Exposure Facility" and you can find a copy of the paper from the NASA website. An annoying thing about Scott, he never posts links to his source material.

[@Strike_Raid]

I worked many months of 60 hour weeks on Pad A activation to get that thing back on STS-32. It was close; a schedule that couldn’t be delayed because payload was going to re-enter but we barely made it.

[@xliquidflames]

That must have been stressful but also a lot of fun.

[@Strike_Raid]

@@xliquidflames Exactly!

[@Absaalookemensch]

Thank you for all your hard work. It benefits all of humanity.

[@albertawheat6832]

@@Absaalookemensch How does it benefit humanity ??

[@jeremycox2983]

@@albertawheat6832You would be amazed about we learn from every flight manned or unmanned

[@jameslmathieson]

Hi Scott! FYI: Lockheed Martin has one of the few space environmental effects labs in the world in Palo Alto, including 2 atomic oxygen chambers, one of which was designed and built by yours truly. We also do UV, ESD, and electron/proton radiation in that lab. Hit me up if you'd like to know more or look into arranging a tour!

[@SebSN-y3f]

Great! That would be a very interesting report about.

[@enginerdy]

Chances are he won’t see this.. you should email him if you are so inclined!

[@jameslmathieson]

@@enginerdy I was looking for an email address but couldn't find one.

[@AlexOlsenpang]

Damn

[@enginerdy]

@@jameslmathieson looks like there’s a contact form on his website, but nothing more than that.

[@Zuloff]

I was in the B-2 test team at Edwards when the Shuttle landed there with LDEF aboard. When the Shuttle Transporter 747 and Shuttle (still carrying LDEF) taxied out for takeoff we were watching from our taxiway gate about midway down runway 22. It was the heaviest Shuttle ever carried. When we saw the dust kick up as the pilot went to takeoff power we were shocked how slow the acceleration was at brake release. When that pair went by us it still looked way too slow. We knew that 747 was totally committed, fly or die. They'd already stopped all vehicle traffic on the main road off the end of Rwy 22. That 747 used every inch of the 15,000ft runway when the mains finally left the ground. The gear immediately began retraction and the pilot brought it up to only like 200 ft or so then kept it there. Skimming the bushes just gathering speed for a few miles. Finally almost out by Rosamond Lake we saw it finally start gaining altitude and beginning the turn to swing around to the east. That was the wildest Shuttle carrier takeoff we ever saw.

[@bluefish239]

Super overweight take offs are always a little eyebrow raising, and kind of funny once they get just high enough and keep going barely gaining altitude as they go. Can't imagine how much crazier it is to see while the plane is carrying a whole shuttle too.

[@palehorse1511]

That will 100% be a memory seared into your brain. What an insanely majestic and nerve-wracking sight to behold.

[@TlalocTemporal]

​@@bluefish239-- Reminds me of how nuts some KSP SSTO flights are, just crusing a dozen meters over the ocean for minutes gaining speed before doing the same thing 70 km up.

[@Rezin_8]

😂❤ used the WHOLE STRIP 😂❤ DANG

[@RobParkinVideo]

I was on a film trip to the top of Mt Kenya, the airbus helicopter that came to pick up crew flew straight out, skimming the grass of the clearing it landed in. Later we asked the pilot and he said he was redlining just to keep it off the ground as we were at the service limit of those helicopters! Kinda glad I chose to ride my bike back down the mountain that day.

[@ellenbryn]

My dad is one of many scientists who would thank you. He had the Thiokol solid rocket propellant experiment, which I think I saw a photo of towards the end (the rubber matrix was dyed green if it was "safe" - they left out one of the chemicals so it wouldn't burn in order to perform physical stress tests like twisting, squeezing, shear force, or, in this case, longterm storage in space.) Dad's sample came back with some impressive micrometeorite craters. Come to think of it, that data was probably used for Magellan, one of the last missions he worked on before retiring: it had a big ol' star 48 solid rocket motor that had to sit idle for a year and however many months it took to get to Venus, and I think Dad said he helped design the redundant firing system- another small charge -that would fire it up when the time came.

[@richardbrayshaw570]

Amazing! Best wishes to you and your dad.

[@SteamCrane]

Looking at the "after" photos, this was probably one of the most important orbital experiments ever done. The delay was a big bonus.

[@CheradenZakalwe]

Indeed, just unfortunate the circumstances around it.

[@Veritas-invenitur]

@@CheradenZakalweIf we didn’t run the study, lives would likely have been lost. No one expected the craft to end up trashed like it did. The mission paid for itself.

[@ASDasdSDsadASD-nc7lf]

With NASA's renown planning, they brought a 5 pound mylar bag to encompass the entire object so that it would not be exposed to the earth lower atmosphere for even 1 second, ensuring valid data...oh wait, they didn't. Ignorant fools...

[@kellylinder896]

I was the project manager for a payload that was in the cargo bay for the recovery flight. It was called the Interim Operational Contamination Monitor. It was there because they were concerned about any contamination IDEF received after recovery. One thing that I have never heard mentioned was what happened to the remaining foil after the Mylar was gone. The bay had a positive pressure in it to keep out any "dirt" after landing. They had a technician put some equipment in the bay to measure the humidity and such on the flight back to Kennedy. She entered through the airlock. When she opened the door a lot of the foil broke into tiny pieces and flew all over the place. My payload had pieces all over it, maybe because it was in the front of the bay close to the door. This stuff was really thin. If you tried to pick it up with your fingers it just disengaged.

[@KnightsWithoutATable]

Sounds exactly like what Mylar does when exposed to UV long term. The plastic portion of it just turns into monomers as all the cross linking breaks down in the polymer, turning it into very fragile little pieces just like that.

[@WiseOwl_1408]

Sure bro

[@kellylinder896]

We saw no evidence that the mylar was ever there. It was completely gone. What was left and what we captured was the metallic film that was applied to the mylar.

[@HlormarCloudcleaver]

What on earth is with all these AI conversations? 🤣

[@KnightsWithoutATable]

@@HlormarCloudcleaver This coming from a username that looks like a botfarm generated name? You do know that there are engineers, scientists, and technicians that watch these videos, right? We like to discuss them, too.

[@fax10]

A friend has a piece of the LDEF. Gifted to him by a relative who was a researcher at NASA in the 60’s and 70’s. It was always an interesting object but to think it led to the ISS really makes it extra special.

[@mtpaley1]

I had so many opportunities to do this but I never got around to it. Just a tiny bit of support structure with no impacts would have been good.

[@azsoftware]

​@@rh906 what? Researchers aren't real right now?

[@cyberGEK]

@@azsoftwareEverything used to be better when I was younger too! 😂😂😂

[@chefscorner7063]

My Dad gave me the "Thank You for your work" Medallion he received after working on one of the Manned Apollo Missions. I think it's pretty darn cool and so is your friends piece of memorabilia. My Dads medallion was made from metal used on the mission. I often wonder what that means exactly. Was it the coin itself in space or parts from the return craft melted and formed into medallions, etc... I'll have to find out. ✌️

[@ctb0001]

This video makes me so happy. As a young kid, I would watch the IMAX movie The Dream is Alive on repeat. I will never forget Walter Cronkite's narration about LDEF... "The LDEF satellite weighs 10 tons and is the size of a school bus. It carries 57 experiments - the work of more than 200 scientists from 8 countries. LDEF will stay up here for more than a year exposing various materials to the vacuum of space." That movie helped inspire me to work in aerospace.

[@TubbyJ420]

My local IMAX just finished a special 1 week run of The Dream is Alive. It was fantastic to see the classic film shown in Dual Laser, i went twice and had a giant smile the whole way thru.

[@TreyVaswal]

Just saw The Dream Is Alive at Udvar with my kids the other week. Huge science dad moment when my 11 y.o. daughter clutched my hand as the boosters lit on the shuttle.

[@marsaustralis6881]

Speaking of IMAX movies, I watched the old Destiny in Space and own the VHS for it. The LDEF mission was cameo'd with close-ups of the micrometeorite impact craters. Being so young at the time (and not fully paying attention to the movie), I mistook them for a freaky monster bacteria creatures growing on the hull of LDEF until my mother cleared it up.

[@Iamdebug]

I heard the voice as I read it. Had to look for a non VHS copy recently to watch it again

[@richardbrayshaw570]

@@TubbyJ420 Wow. Haven't seen that amazing film in a LONG time.

[@patreekotime4578]

The passive orbit stabilization stuff is really cool.

[@Xsiondu]

I want to know more about it

[@chrischeshire6528]

​@@Xsiondu The bottom of the LDEF had water store to make it heavy, this produced higher drag which kept it stationary.

[@thekwoka4707]

That wouldn't be drag...​@@chrischeshire6528

[@zachhoy]

super cool, I agree

[@robertt9342]

@@chrischeshire6528. Doesn’t match up with what was said in the video.

[@mtpaley1]

My PhD was all based on the retrieval of LDEF. I was doing the preliminary work in anticipation but there was a graph on the wall showing altitude vs time with a line at the point at which it would probably be impossible to retrieve. The extrapolation did not look good so I was very happy when it was successfully retrieved. I then had the wrinkled silver thermal protection panels that you see in many photos plus our actual experiment of layered aluminium foils which are the rectangles split into triangles (Micro Abrasion Package). My PhD was determining the probability of penetrating a aluminium sheet of a specific thickness per unit time in a specific orientation. Predictably the leading side (running into the rain) had far more impacts, the sides less, back even less but the space facing and earth facing least of all as there were no orbits that these could come from so they required a one off source. The wrinkled silver panels were not of much use as they were a multi layer plastic + metal layer which had different behaviour with temperature and degraded with time. Also the multi layers caused some complicated impacts and when taken together I could not get much useful data from them.

[@GTeam-kl4je]

It's very obvious. I am surprised you needed to do this as your PhD research project. Calculating these probabilities should be straight forward.

[@myZcarlife]

In college I worked summers at Space Camp and watched the I-Max film, “The Dream Is Alive”, many times. This film featured the release of the LDEF satellite. I got pretty good with my Walter Cronkite impression saying, “The LDEF satellite WEIGHS 10 TONS, and IS the SIZE of a SCHOOL bus.” A couple of years later, I was in the Air Force doing some environmental monitoring experiments around launch pads in Cape Canaveral. We had some space in an old hanger at Cape Canaveral AFS, and we noticed this big enclosed trailer in the hanger bay. Since the trailer had some windows we peered inside, and to our amazement, it was the LDEF satellite sitting inside. Since the others were familiar with "The Dream Is Alive" we were joking around saying things like, "Wow! That's the size of a school bus!" and "I bet that thing must weigh 10 tons!"

[@Fleetwing1627]

I grew up nearby the USSRC and I remember seeing that film so many times on numerous field trips to the center. It was either that or "Blue Planet," which was nowhere near as cool because it didn't prominently feature the Shuttle.

[@samh6761]

Awesome demonstration of the versatility of the Shuttle... it could take this giant thing up to space, leave it there for several years, launch another satellite then rendezvous with it on the same trip to bring it back down to earth safely.

[@KOZMOuvBORG]

There ware plans to bring down the Hubble Space Telescope after its (then planned) missions were done and eventually place it in the Smithsonian. This retrieval would've been practice for that.

[@jaimeduncan6167]

Yep, it was an amazing machine. To advanced for the 80s technology so it was risky (I know the Challenger was a bureaucracy failure but we did have other close calls) but it was simply amazing. By the way, do all that and carry 5 people to space in the same mission, and keep them alive 10 days something Buran never did. Nothing comes even Close 43 years after the design was "completed"

[@phillyphakename1255]

​@@KOZMOuvBORGyou didn't have to tell me that. Now I'll be mad when I go to Udvar Hazy that there isn't a Hubble there.

[@MattMcIrvin]

For a lot of things the shuttle did, like launching comsats, it really made no sense to use it at all. But its ability to bring large payloads home was something unique to this type of vehicle. Ordinary rockets can't do that. This is why I think the military is largely telling the truth about the mission of the X-37B--that it's a kind of reusable LDEF, devoted to testing new technologies and materials in the space environment. It makes no sense to use that kind of winged vehicle unless you're interested in bringing the payload back intact. If it's just some kind of operational space weapon or spysat, why go through the rigmarole of putting a winged shuttle in the rocket? But if you need to put something up there and physically bring it back later, now you've got a reason.

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

...and then contaminate all the experiments with it's thrusters.

[@Hagop64]

Just a perfect example of why your channel is great. Super interesting yet obscure space history!

[@chefscorner7063]

Obscure if you're over 50, part of life if you're older and lived in Southern Cali, Florida and Texas. (where much of the testing, building and launching was done in the 50s - 90s).

[@gesseger3005]

Thank you for mentioning the outgassing from LDEF. I was responsible for analyzing some Gallium-Arsenide semiconductor samples that had been on it post-recovery, and if there had been any changes in their composition or electro-optical properties during their time in space they were masked by that.

[@ChristopherDeVries]

So glad you covered LDEF. My first science job involved cataloging micrometeorite impact craters on one of the forward facing panels and measuring them so we could characterize the mass distribution of micrometeorites and help with meteorite risk analysis for the space station. I thought it was really neat just to carefully disassemble, section off, and examine something that had been in space so long.

[@chefscorner7063]

Very cool!! 👍✌️

[@peteb901]

At an early 80's LPSC I was approached by Fred Horz to work on the residue geochemistry in the microcraters, but the funding deadline had passed so it didn't work out. Years later I was interviewing for a position at NASA Langley and when I went to the cafeteria for lunch realized that the LDEF was being grappled that day for retrieval. Life is weird.

[@pattschetter]

Can definitely put this mission in the "Things Kerbal Space Program Can't Teach You" file.

[@setaindustries]

Yeah, that random lab I left orbiting Duna for 82 years still looks the same

[@Siderite]

Kerbal Space devs: "Challenge Accepted! Atomic Oxygen mod coming up!"

[@chefscorner7063]

I wish I knew what that meant, or do I? LOL

[@saltboi6374]

KSP actually has a part for material experiments (SC-9001 Science Jr.)

[@tbaxter4711]

Hi Scott, love the video, what a blast from the past. I started working at Lockheed Space Operations (LSOC) in Aug of 1988. Lockheed decided to hire graduates from Embry Riddle in Daytona Beach, we were the first employees that had an aircraft maintenance degree, to my shock! I was working as a quality inspector and STS32 was a special mission for me. Columbia was my favorite shuttle, mainly because I had a good deal of time working on it. But this mission was one where I was able to work on it during processing in the OPF, then to the VAB on to the launch pad and then to Edwards for the prep for return to KSC. I was also one of the inspectors that removed the LDEF from the cargo hold. So, this is very rare while working there as you rarely followed the whole flow of an orbiter like I was able to, very special experience. What you state in the video is absolutely true, especially all the micrometeorites, it looked like it was shot with a shotgun using bird shot, 1000's of micrometeorites. It really looked like it had gone through a very rough time for sure, stuff was hanging off it and like you said, odd coloring etc. The landing at Edwards was pretty amazing, the tire heated up instantly with the IR video. The tires were shot, down to the cords due to the weight. Great channel and thanks for all the info, it was quite a machine!

[@Sendu7]

The deterioration looks much like Walmart garden furniture after a season or two.

[@numnut1516]

@@simonehudspeth861Walmart stuff is shielded from the full force of the sun by the earth and it’s atmosphere. NASA stuff doesn’t get that shielding and bears the full force of the sun and it’s UV rays and radiation.

[@robertt9342]

@@simonehudspeth861. 3) Walmart makes terrible stuff

[@splowski]

What I take from that: The surface is just a really low orbit. Walmart stuff would not last very long in Leo. But I can't confirm that, as there is no Walmart in Germany (anymore).

[@FuelX]

Don't leave your Walmart garden furnitures in orbit for a season or two.

[@AaronOfMpls]

UV and "weather" damage happens to both. 🙂

[@AsbestosMuffins]

"Presumably by the time it came home it was the longer term exposure facility" ya nasa has that kind of dry sense of humor

[@phillyphakename1255]

If it were a telescope, it would be called the "very long term exposure facility." The follow up mission would be the "extremely long term exposure facility."

[@burningchrome70]

That's not even taking into account the vampire that was nailed to the other side of it with silver spikes through his extremities at ankles and wrists.

[@CothranMike]

@@burningchrome70 was the silver to prevent the werewolves in orbit from attempting removal of the suffering vampire?

[@kevinevans7507]

Always wondered how this turned out. Thanks for doing the video on this.

[@burningchrome70]

Orbital Werewolves are a totally different story...

[@lordskitch]

My dad worked in the VDAS lab at JSC and spent a significant amount of time doing analytics of LDEF once they recaptured it, I still have some of the original film negatives... this all brings back memories, good stuff Scott!!

[@MoonWeasel23]

Currently designing a CubeSat with a tether and we are really having to worry about micrometeoroid impacts, and space debris as well as erosion from the plasma that’s up there. Some pretty wild ideas getting thrown around for how to deal with those right now in our mission.

[@gpetheri]

Leather...

[@interestedinstuff]

Use a double skin with a super thin layer of thick stuff that will flow enough to seal up the tiny holes. We all know you aren't asking for solutions, but this is the Internet. Ha. Good luck.

[@remaincalm2]

You can use ablative hull plating, or if there's a sufficient power source you can try using a deflector shield. Hope that helps. 🙂

[@boonedocksfl2012]

@@xliquidflamesyea yea, but it’s cool the every day person with curiosity can make a suggestion or a “guess” in the public square and get feedback and continue to learn, don’t you think?

[@robm.4512]

Wrap it with a large corporation’s retail customer complaint form. They’re highly developed to ensure that nothing gets through, ever.

[@jmdibonaventuro]

As a sailor, your proper use of Windward and Leeward was great to see. Glad I’m not the only sailing and space nerd out there!

[@MarekMakes]

About 11 min you said about the mylar disintegrating over time … isn’t that what they used for the solar shield for JWST?

[@scottmanley]

Yeah, they developed better Mylar with things like silicone coatings. But, also JWST isn’t in LEO so it doesn’t have the same atomic oxygen environment.

[@Xsiondu]

This was a great question.

[@9HighFlyer9]

​@@Xsionduprobably why Scott took the time to answer it.

[@kargaroc386]

@@scottmanley So what you're saying is, we need a LDEF sequel for deep space and the moon.

[@technikchaot]

​@@kargaroc386for moon we could try to look at the left hardware of the old Apollo missions.

[@JoeMoross]

In the early 1990s I helped design a linear accelerator facility for Japan to do materials research. Two things make it relevant here: First,the experiment chamber routinely achieved pressures at least two orders of magnitude lower than is typical in low Earth orbit. (A hundred times fewer molecules per unit volume.) And second, one of the beam sources was monoatomic oxygen. So no, the vacuum in near space at orbital altitude is not “a more perfect vacuum than anything we can make in vacuum chambers on the Earth.”

[@wagnerrp]

LEO is everything from 100km to 2000km, with a massive difference in conditions from one edge to the other. Do you have a specific altitude you’re taking these “typical” properties from?

[@JoeMoross]

@@wagnerrp Not only does the pressure (vacuum) vary with altitude, it also varies with weather conditions. I deliberately didn’t specify but I was assuming the range of altitudes that the LDEF occupied over its time on orbit. (About 480km max.) There was enough confusion between various system suppliers back in the 90s on how to display very low pressures that for process control purposes we defined our own internal units for vacuum. It was a logarithmic scale because for interlocks, roughing, heater control, etc we needed dynamic range more than precision. In systems like that, a tiny partial fingerprint accidentally left on a component or sample would ruin the ability to achieve the desired vacuum.

[@bill9540]

That’s fascinating 👍

[@tonyleukering8832]

How's the math work for "100x fewer?" I can't get anything but massively negative numbers. Why are we now so scared of fractions?

[@JoeMoross]

@@tonyleukering8832 It means the quantities were different by a factor of 100. So to make them equal, one would need to be multiplied by 100 or the other divided by 100. The words “more” or “fewer” tells you which way things are. Since the subject is “vacuum” which actually means low pressures, things can get confusing. I suppose I could have kept everything in absolute numbers, avoiding the nonsensical notion of a negative number of molecules, by rearranging like this: “Pressures in low Earth orbit are typically two orders of magnitude higher than the experiment chamber achieved. (A hundred times more molecules per unit volume.)” But then someone might complain that “there’s no air pressure in orbit.”

[@mikescamping]

There were tomato seeds on aboard too. They were distributed to schools to promote interest in the space program. I wrote NASA and asked for some of the seeds and promised to build a grow table for my son's 2nd grade class and to video record the progress. To my surprise I was granted a package of the seeds which came in a gold foil package with all the documentation. I did as I had promised and we grew enough tomato plants for all the students in my son's class to bring home. I had several parents that would not allow their family to eat the tomatoes for fear something had altered them in space. I and my family ate several of the tomatoes and none of us had any ill affects. I still have the packet with some seeds, the documentation and the video.

[@williamfulop5277]

i have those seeds

[@The_Modeling_Underdog]

The average space modeller: "Weathering only happens on re-entry." Me, after watching this video and sharing it with said modeller: "You fool!" That was a fascinating story I knew nothing about. Outgassing of supposedly "stable" components is one of the nasty surprises scale modelling has in store for you, sometimes. Thanks for sharing, Scott.

[@matthewhelton1725]

My Geometry Teacher measured several of the samples for this experiment while he was on an internship in college (late 1970's/early 1980's). He told us about this back in about 1985... of course, we had to wait until after. Thank you, @Scott Manley for covering this experiment and why it was done! Thank you, Mr. Reidy for participating in this experiment and telling us why it was done.

[@deadpin]

Think what you will about the shuttle, but being able to bring stuff back was always a nice feature.

[@executivesteps]

And absurdly expensive.

[@x--.]

@@executivesteps The American Way!

[@tommyrq180]

Stuff. You know, all kinds of stuff. Like maybe not our stuff, for example. I’m sure we never did that, though… 😅

[@Titan500J]

Back in the early 1970's my first mentor was involved in the LEM and Skylab. He helped me to appreciate the engineering that goes into any space flight. He would have loved to have seen this video. Thank you so much for this fascinating video!

[@paulfrancis9223]

This is one of my favourite things you've covered. Not something that's common knowledge for laypeople, but super interesting and highly relevant to everything that's going on at the moment. Plus space history is awesome. Thanks Scott!

[@phillyphakename1255]

It makes me wonder what's on the X-37Bs. Surely they are doing a few materials science experiments onboard.

[@SebSN-y3f]

Well said!

[@11moonshot]

Again, Scott, brilliantly told - with loads of fact and deep understanding but on the other hand... still entertaining for scientifically minded people... plus your wonderful scottish accent!! I simply love it! All yours, Mike Dresden, Germany

[@EvilSuggestions]

6:45 The best part about the 8-bit CGI is that I can imagine syncing up the audio for Dire Straits "Money for Nothing" with this.

[@nobodynemoq]

The engineering behind passively maintaining the correct attitude is breathtaking. I wish I could be so smart to understand it after being so briefly mentioned by Scott. Great video, as always! ❤

[@parrotraiser6541]

The polymerisation of the organic molecules was interesting for the "life began with molecules from space" arguments.

[@MetallicMedium]

Interesting note, PTFE a.k.a. "Teflon" included in the materials on LDEF, was surprisingly resistant to the deleterious effects of long term LEO.

[@alveydoug]

Great job Scott. You took information that could be a “yawn-er” and made it fascinating! Thanks; I remember when “the bus” went up and had forgotten all about it! Again, good job!

[@EndingSimple]

Its nice to see that NASA thought ahead about this and did this long term experiment. There's a lot of stuff in this world that gets done without thinking about the long term consequences.

[@petermeyers8396]

Hi Scott - Nice piece on the LDEF mission. One thing you did not mention was the tomato seed experiment. One of the major seed companies supplied NASA with an amount of tomato seeds that went up on the LDEF. When the seeds returned scientists then planted the seeds and checked their growth for any abnormalities. The fun part, which allowed the general public to be a part of the experiment, could apply and receive a packet of the “space seeds” to plant and try to grow “space tomatoes”. Of course, the conspiracy folks said that the seeds were unsafe and the tomatoes would be poisonous and should not be eaten. Go figure! Pete

[@MegaDirtyberty]

Who gets to decide what is or isn't a conspiracy?...

[@zaddy83]

well, did they grow? Were there any abnormalities?

[@marcmcreynolds2827]

@@MegaDirtyberty Who gets to decide what is or isn't a conspiracy?" That generally breaks along the lines of "knowledgeable" vs "ignorant", with the nod going to the former. "Who has to throw away the most information in order to stick to their viewpoint" is another way to slice it. In the case of Moon Landing Hoax, for example, conspiracy types must jettison literally thousands of verifiable facts in order to hold on to their feeling of specialness.

[@bbartky]

@@zaddy83According to the NASA study I found, ~78% of the seeds grew, which was not much lower than the control group.

[@brendancooney9401]

@@MegaDirtybertythose who know the difference between facts and fairytales? Those educated in particular fields?

[@deadzero1387]

I had seen the pictures once or twice but had never known what the satelite was actually about, this was crazy informative, thank you!

[@ericcomendant7150]

Sate are just balloons with panels, batteries, there you go, you’ve been told the truth now!

[@anthonycamilleri7297]

thank you so much scott your extensive knowledge is a breath of fresh air i appreciate your site very much cheers from melbourne australia

[@Meg_A_Byte]

Any ideas where is it now? Did they keep it or dismantled it completely? Definitely a unique piece of space history.

[@FlorenceSlugcat]

I doubt its im one piece. The trays came from various sources, different organisations, universities, projects. As a result, the trays were sent back to them so they could analyse it. So its trays got spread across

[@phillyphakename1255]

​@@FlorenceSlugcatand frankly the frame is kinda boring. It's the size of a school bus, where are you gonna store it? Where are you gonna display it? I'm guessing someone sent it back to Ball Aerospace to move it onto the aluminum can production line.

[@athenawilson4019]

@@phillyphakename1255 NASA in Houston has plenty of room to display things like this. They have things that are *much* bigger on display there. Boring? The Mercury capsule on display in the museum in Herman Park isn't boring...neither is any of the other decommissioned equipment. It never gets old. Being able to put your hands on a piece of space history? Priceless.

[@phillyphakename1255]

@@athenawilson4019 it would literally be an aluminum grid in the shape of a coke can. All of the materials experiments are gone to the researchers. It doesn't look like a rocket. It doesn't look like a satellite. It looks like a jungle gym. A bit cool for us nerds, but probably not the most impactful of exhibits. Just being realistic.

[@athenawilson4019]

@@phillyphakename1255 So? If you were being "realistic", you'd acknowledge that a moon rock *looks* like a plain old rock. And you can't even touch one. And yet people from around the world line up to stare through glass at one.

[@robertwarren4734]

@9:49ff Rather 'cool' seeing the tires light up due to heating upon landing in the IR film.

[@CrackedCandy]

Also cool seeing them light up then They got cooled upon deployment. They got hot from the re-entry. Air cooled, then heated again like you said

[@kenmercer2721]

Agreed and thanks for pointing that out.

[@Easy-Eight]

*Aviation Week & Space Technology* gave an exhaustive analysis of the LDF in the late 80s. The LDF was seen as two things. First, it was viewed as a failure because most of the experiments had gone bad over time. Second, the LDF's long exposure into space was a gold mine of information. Mylar was gone for most uses after that. Paints had to be changed. The Challenger accident sort of ended up being a long term blessing.

[@MCsCreations]

Fascinating! Thanks, Scott! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@GlideYNRG]

Absolutely fascinating Scott. Something us mere mortals don't think of. Thank you.

[@maybehuman4]

I'm disappointed to hear it wasn't V-GER.

[@marcondespaulo]

Well, that spaceship is still ou there, still going and still working. Who knows what will happen. I say that idea crossed my mind when the event unfolded.

[@John.0z]

@@marcondespaulo Recently there was a YT video on the computer used for the Voyagers. It is made of a very limited collection of old component concepts, so I can't really see it becoming self aware. If you look at some of the early science fiction about self-aware computers, you have to conclude that the computer industry has not done very well in either that area, or even voice command. The operating systems we use are nearly all very pedestrian compared to what was thought likely. The few that have some ability in that direction (ie "home assistants") are a world away from even The Jetsons. Of course I do not *want* a system like the ones portrayed in _A For Anromeda,_ _Colossus: The Forbin Project_ or _WarGames._

[@lerkzor]

The Voyager probes are outside the heliopause and moving away from us quickly. We will never see them again unless we are able to travel MUCH faster then we currently can - which means finding something besides chemical reactions for propulsion - or unless Someone Else finds one and brings it back to us. I hope the first option is the one to happen, but if it's the second, I hope the Others are friendly and tolerant of humanity's childish behavior & can help us mature as a species.

[@zakelwe]

Scott " A lot of science was done, I have barely scratched the surface ". Good one.

[@FlyingAce1016]

Scott I love your historic videos so much!! I have never heard of this mission before!

[@MrUnterhugel]

There were several (mostly passive) materials experiments on ISS called MISSE (Materials ISS Experiments), which were suitcase sized modules that were brought up to ISS via Space Shuttle and deployed during EVAs and later brought back on another shuttle. Scientists learned a wealth of information regarding LEO environmental effects on materials with them.

[@edmundhack6673]

I was peripherally involved in the LDEF retrieval. An exciting evening.

[@mocky]

Thanks Scott! Your historical presentations are wonderfully educational.

[@Emu0181]

Hey Scott, with all the hub-bub about regaining communication with Voyager 1, I was wondering, exactly what are the Voyager spacecraft still sending back (when they're not sending gibberish)

[@phillyphakename1255]

Pivoting from the furthest deep space satellite to the closest, the Parker Solar Probe's main science instrument is basically a vacuum tube transistor, so it sends back the magnitude of the current flowing in the transistor. Essentially an audio waveform measuring the intensity of the solar wind.

[@zounds010]

Voyager 1 has 6 active instruments: a magnetometer, and a series of particle detection instruments.

[@InsaneTreefrog]

This was totally how my Kerval Space Program missions went. Bus-sized cylinder covered with experiments that was meant to be retrieved later. Years later, I remember it's still out there and pick it up

[@RoryJamesFord-rn9yu]

Does this mean the millennium falcon's worn exterior is closer to reality than the enterprise's shiny paint job?

[@mred8002]

But Enterprise was protected by “screens and shields” that would protect the hull.

[@thenamazing6530]

You know Kirk was sending out redshirts every few days to polish the hull.

[@DABrock-author]

@@thenamazing6530 No matter what century it is, there’s always some poor schmuck who pi$$ed off the chief petty officer out on the hull chipping rust and repainting. 😂

[@walkir2662]

closer to reality in that Han can't afford to run the shields 24/7 while Enterprise has navigational deflectors and running them is cheaper for Starfleet that doing regular hull overhauls. ;)

[@Vadjong]

You can see the hard work it takes in the opening titles of Red Dwarf

[@charlie2640]

I had a friend that had a micro metroite collection surface on the Long Duration Exposure Facility. It was designed to open a cover after the shuttle left so the surface would not be contaminated. The cover was timed to close before the shuttle returned again to prevent comtamination. Of course it closed on time but then missed several years of sample collection opportunity.

[@wkadams88]

"A bus-sized vehicle with a bunch of experiments slapped over its surface." So basically, everything I build in Kerbal.

[@darkonc2]

The other reason why you wouldn't have the brown gunk on the leading side is that the 'wind' of the (very thin) air blowing against the front side and literally blowing away the polymer, wouldn't affect the back side

[@brandyballoon]

9:48 I love how the tyres getting hot on touchdown is clearly visible with that thermal camera!

[@JerelofSalopia]

i was working in BAE Space Division mid 80's and I recall a brief panic about the possible effect of monatomic oxygen on the first generation , ESA provided, solar panels on Hubble.

[@Thousand_yard_King]

My family are space freaks, We are all obsessed with space and spacecraft. Since the earliest days of NASA selling components, we've been buying stuff from them. We have stuff fromMetcury, Gemini stuff from Apollo, and stuff from the space shuttle, Skylab, and many other space projects. One of the interesting items we have are the solar sails from Skylab. They are dual use as they also generate electricity. They were built to withstand micrometeorites, that was way back in the early '70s

[@pinkeggrollwaffle]

Thats wonderful enjoy your sails that also generate electricity that were made in the 70s. NASA are the boot lickers of their field as are most of these American agencies(middlefingertoyouall).

[@MattMcIrvin]

I remember being fascinated by the LDEF because it was prominently featured in a popular NASA poster showing a cutaway view of the Shuttle orbiter.

[@ZEFFERize]

Thank you!! I knew about this but I never learned what they had discovered with the experiment.

[@YeMadAzza]

Nothing starts the day better than a hot coffee, some buttered toast, and Scott Manley

[@goalcreaseb]

9:45 Rudolph in shades. Keeping with the Christmas theme.

[@Skwertydogs]

14:12 - 14:50 That is fantastic shot of the Space Shuttle's shadow transiting across the ISS.

[@RCAvhstape]

I'd really like to hear more detail about the passive magnetic damper system. Gravity gradient I understand well but that mag system and how it kept the yaw angle steady is new to me.

[@kwakagreg]

Yes never heard of that before. Looks like a bit of reading ahead.

[@paulmartinek1716]

That was a really cool video Scott, thank you for doing it!!

[@thanksfernuthin]

Very cool. What a great and worthwhile experiment!

[@jewcedman2074]

Great video! I actually worked in one of the first founded Space Environmental Effects Labs at MSFC. The LDEF experiment was critical to helping us justify and create the lab which has a long history of working to develop new materials for space and certify flight hardware performance and survivability. I’d be happy to arrange a tour for a follow up video if you are interested in educating on how we design and test for a mission environment.

[@Ensign_Cthulhu]

You know, Scott, the title of this video is a very nice premise on which to build a Sci-Fi horror movie - and I'm sure it's actually been done already.

[@GrowthCurveMarketing]

Curious - were there any studies on vacuum welding between various alloys?

[@Bramon83]

The shuttles were the best trucks ever. the epitome of "yeah.... im free this weekend." IYKYK.

[@executivesteps]

Such a “best truck” the creators of LDEF had to wait an extra 5 years before a shuttle was available to recover their satellite.

[@nicejungle]

the most expensive truck though

[@JacquesZahar]

Thank you Scott for bringing back those lesser known spatial events. Fly safe

[@elliotsmith9812]

Please do another episode with more detail!!

[@wikkid1show569]

I can't help it , this was more than incredible. The amount of knowledge gained helped development over time of many Spacecraft's. These are the experiments that will lead to us going beyond the Moon and it's not only about the radiation but many other factors. Well said Scott Cheers

[@danteblankenship6213]

There were containers of seeds on that beast. My middle school was given some of the tomato seeds to grow.

[@Sherwoody]

Space Tomatoes. 🍅 🚀

[@kenworks6068]

Very educational. Good work Scott, thanks for teaching us all.

[@norlockv]

These videos are the your finest work.

[@billferner6741]

Hi Scott, when you mentioned that atomar oxygen, I remember one video when you described the "welding" of a hatch. It was on Gemini or on a Russian craft. As far as I remember, they almost couldn't close it. Was it due to the atomar oxygen?

[@marcmcreynolds2827]

Gemini had a hatch closing problem at the conclusion of the first (IIRC) US space walk. That was a design deficiency with the latching mechanism. The story I heard was that during a pre-launch visit to the McDonnell capsule production area by the astronauts, an engineer took them aside and informed them about the finicky nature of the latch mechanism, showing them where to stick a finger into the works if needed to get it unjammed.

[@billferner6741]

@marcmcreynolds2827 Thank you for the details. I got the connection wrong. My origin question was about the unexpecting "welding" of materials in space when they come in contact together.

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

Singlet oxygen is wildly reactive, it’s cool to see what it does in a situation where it exists for more than a second or two.

[@kwakagreg]

My singlets usually contain a lot more smelly things than oxygen 😁

[@saabpoppa]

Materials science and engineering is the most interesting scientific subject of all! Thanks for the explanation. Superficial is good enough for this guy.

[@michaeldunne338]

This was a favorite project, even before the Shuttle took it up into space. I thought it was a great idea to have a school bus sized, free floating satellite to test out how materials would hold up in space over years. I suspect they should send something the equivalent to Cislunar space, a Long Duration Exposure Facility for the Moon, to test how materials hold up outside the Van Allen Belts.

[@MattMcIrvin]

The current X-37B mission is in a highly elliptical orbit with 38,000 km apogee and I suspect it's doing exactly that.

[@audiobrian1]

An unusual focus on material science here, Scott! An interesting and well - researched piece … thanks!

[@Max_Flashheart]

That was great and really interesting. Nice work!

[@ericlotze7724]

Could to do a video on the Wake Shield Facility? It was basically a device that kind of rode the slipstream of the space shuttle to get an Ultra High Vacuum! I don’t know if you discussed it in a deep space updates/patreon questions bit, but either way i, and probably a bunch of other people, would LOVE to see your usual detailed coverage on it all!

[@mjproebstle]

I was able to obtain one of the packets of seeds that were aboard LDEF. You were supposed to plant them and see if they grew. I never did…still could I guess 🤔

[@bbartky]

Do you have a school near you? When the seeds were brought back elementary school, high school, and college students grew the seeds and compared the results with a control group. I think your seeds would make a great and fun experiment for kids.

[@jimsvideos7201]

That IR landing film is the first I've seen that really shows the descent rate.

[@Kevin_Street]

Thank you! That was very interesting.

[@pauleveritt3388]

Scott, you mentioned micrometeorite studies as part of this mission. Look up the PEGEASUS mission with was dedicated to finding out the likelihood of micrometeorite impacts on spacecraft. Fun note about this mission: about 10 years after it was decommissioned in orbit, it managed to turn itself back on and started sending the blips of impacts again. NASA got in touch with it and turned it back off. As far as I know, it is still in orbit today.

[@bradgirod3292]

Our grade school got seeds from this to plant. I seem to remember them growing ok.

[@JinKee]

1:18 is the whole inside of this thing hollow? Was that the most efficient use of the launched volume?

[@rashkavar]

If you want a good practical example of debris messing with star-tracking systems, the Apollo 13 incident is a dramatic example. One of the first major steps they took after the explosion that damaged their craft was a burn to change their velocity enough that they were no longer traveling in the middle of a debris cloud and thus could figure out exactly where they were. Also, "Space Station Freedom is possibly the most 1980s American thing I've heard of that isn't SDI.

[@randomnickify]

Well, the russians had Mir = Peace, so Peace vs Freedom :)

[@rashkavar]

@@randomnickifyThey should've gone with the "Peace Space Station" then - is it in honour of Mir,or a giant middle finger? Who knows!

[@jimholliman2822]

Scott I love these videos. This one told me about something I didn't even know about. It was very interesting. Thanks for doing these videos. 😉

[@ellenbryn]

Gotta send this to my Dad. He had an experiment on LDEF and tickets for himself and a guest to watch that April 1984 launch from the grandstand 3 miles away, but very kindly brought the whole family instead, so we watched from the public viewing area 7 miles away. The countdown was broadcast on big public loudspeakers. Somewhere in my parents' house is a casette tape with about T minus thirty to T plus ten minutes, including the sound of Challenger's engines roaring to life. It was the only launch i ever saw in person.

[@DuchessandHammer]

Absolute hats off to the recovery team!! Unbelievable planning!! 🚀

[@timetraveller6643]

I wonder what that little red Tesla looks like now.

[@fax10]

Or the Voyagers

[@GlideYNRG]

Reckon the paint protection policy is null and void by now.. 😂

[@Spherical_Cow]

Well... at least it doesn't need to worry about atomic oxygen

[@BuffaloBilliam]

No bug splats on the bumper!

[@sittingstill3578]

What do you think of the _thunder00t_ video on Elon Musk and TELSA? Does it have much merit? If its conclusions are true, sounds dire for SpaceX.

[@differous01]

The atmosphere's interaction with solar winds generates arouras at the poles and a magnetotail away from the sun, which reaches the moon's orbit. Nobody's been on the moon when it passes through the magnetotail/when it's Full, but static discharges have been photographed by ROV. Can we rule out discharges as causes of marks like at 13:42?

[@kastleenterprises5151]

I still have a 3 volume set of data from the 3rd post-retrieval symposium I picked up at a NASA open house.

[@phillyphakename1255]

I love those old data books, back before online file sharing. My college library had a few sections where most of the books were straight data, and I could spend hours down there exploring. You want the temperature in Topeka Kansas on October 6th, 1953 at 2:00AM? This book of climate/weather data has you covered.

[@GeoSentinel]

Thank you for this video! This LDEF was an inspirational news story of my youth that helped me become the scientist I am today! This is a fun flashback into that era of our history. Thanks for all you do!