Editing Talk:1596: Launch Status Check

Looks like a Falcon Heavy to me. :) So I guess the bird is some kind of falcon. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.147|162.158.34.147]] 08:21, 28 October 2015 (UTC)
:Could it be related to this? [http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/07/21/first-flight-of-falcon-heavy-delayed-again First flight of Falcon Heavy delayed again.] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.121|108.162.229.121]] 10:04, 28 October 2015 (UTC)


If I recall correctly, during rocket launches they use visual inspection to ensure nothing is close to the launch vehicle. I don't know if large birds are an issue for a rocket, but I can well imagine they are. In classical XKCD fashion the characters totally go overboard on that tangent. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.160|162.158.91.160]] 08:26, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

:Rockets generally produces lot of noise and hot gasses. I doubt any bird is stupid enough to stay around THAT. Also, there is no air intake on rockets - it's hitting the air intake of motors which is dangerous to aircraft. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:17, 28 October 2015 (UTC)
::Birds have damaged aircraft windscreens.  I believe the bipod ramp that brought down Columbia was smaller than a large bird.  It's not at all clear that a bird will be able to take evasive action.  Rockets accelerate hard, and a birds normal collision avoidance is to dive, which doesn't help when a rocket is headed straight up.

Unrelated:  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/behindscenes/roadkill_prt.htm  --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.101|198.41.235.101]] 20:29, 28 October 2015 (UTC)
::Also, Cape Canaveral is a bird sanctuary that actually houses eagles and hawks. So this is a VERY realistic situation. And that's not gas you see, its superheated water. The more you know.
http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=41570 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.81|108.162.237.81]] 02:36, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

It could be a reference to "The Martian" where a bird flies into view on the Live Feed as they are about to launch the supply probe. It later fails when it tries to go sideways. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 10:35, 28 October 2015 (UTC)
:Reference and coincidence are not synonyms. '''reference:'''  a thing you say or write that mentions somebody/something else [http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/reference_1]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 15:19, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

I changed the transcript a little - it's clear from the comic that there are at least four people involved, as opposed to a back-and-forth between two people.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.29|173.245.53.29]] 17:00, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

Ah... the person who discretely (and/or discreetly!) added the link the Atlas V, regarding the rocket profile, I think you've nailed it.  Looks very much more like the New Horizons launch stack than any of the alternatives I've so far reviewed.  (I checked Atlas V, when looking around, but must have missed the half-height double-booster-set/large-shroud picture further down that page.  For better comparison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NewHorizons_Rocket_Bly.jpg ) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.185|141.101.75.185]] 18:04, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but what exactly does Randall's drawing having a resemblance to a type of real-life rocket have anything to do with the point of the comic? The comic is more centered on the foolishness of Ground Control then what kind of rocket is being used. Or maybe it's that very same Ground Control writing the explanation and getting distracted so easily ( ._.)..... [[User:Schiffy|<font color="000999">Schiffy</font>]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|<font color="FF6600">Speak to me</font>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|<font color="FF0000">What I've done</font>]]) 23:27, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

Let us not forget the brouhaha over Space Frog ([http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/nasa-rocket-launch-accidentally-lifts-frog-space/story?id=20237426 ABC News Coverage]) and Space Bat ([http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts119/launchbat.html NASA Press Release]). Twitter exploded over Space Frog. --[[User:Run, you clever boy|Run, you clever boy]] ([[User talk:Run, you clever boy|talk]]) 00:28, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

I think this might be a joke on live broadcasts of rocket launches. It sounds pretty exciting at first, but it often turns out to be a pretty dull affair, because endless delays mean you end up watching a motionless rocket on the launch pad for hours on end, and you turn desperate for anything interesting happening AT ALL, like maybe a bird flying by. (At least it was like that when I was a child, haven't watched any rocket launches for ages. Guess why) ----[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.213|162.158.90.213]] 13:16, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

Might as well be a shot at the habits of telescope related personnel in general. The most interesting objects to look at are often those with insufficient resolution - in this case some pixels of a certain avian variety. In a way, fuzzy white spots on Ceres leave more room for imagination than detailed close-ups of Saturn's rings. Also, the more powerful your telescope is, the more faint the targeted objects are gonna be in return - so when analyzing imagery, you are mostly looking at tiny specks of light, even with Hubble. The title text proposing to change the rocket's inclination reminds me of decisions to chose where cameras of space probes or mars rovers are to be pointed at (respecting limited time, energy and bandwidth). {{unsigned ip|162.158.90.196}}

The rocket resembles more an Ariane 4 launch vehicle than an Atlas V or the SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.238|198.41.243.238]] 11:57, 3 November 2015 (UTC)

The rocket and comic also resemble Roscosmos' Proton rocket, with the situation being an American/avian version of the [groundhog living at the Baikonur cosmodrome https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0E9kmGKysc ]. {{unsigned ip|108.162.217.209}}

== Comparison to real rockets ==

Here's a comparison to the Titan III-B Centaur, the Atlas V 551, the Ariane 4, and the Falcon Heavy. http://i.imgur.com/uU3gPTD.jpg I believe it's a Titan.