DIY rocketry ... and Darwin awards

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

He could have done this safer in a balloon. Brian

[polygonum_on_google]

On an earlier attempt (or trial of some sort), he did indeed have a parachute. And used it.

[ARW]

Mine had a Ouija board.

[nightjar]

They will hit the ceiling before they do that.

[nightjar]

NASA is a big conspiracy to disguise the spending on US government secret projects.

[Fredxx]

You may jest. How else could they justify the cost of developing rocket engines to launch ICBMs.

The best one was when they put a telescope in space and called it Hubble. There were some very good reasons why it was short sighted.

[charles]

but, it gave us the LED

[Chris Hogg]

And non-stick frying pans!

[Tim Streater]

Ah, you mean so it could read the headlines on Putin's copy of Pravda, when he sat on his balcony. And then later, NASA gave it replacement lenses just like I got with my cataract treatment, so it could read the newspapers of the LGM on distant planets.

Mmmm, yes.

[Fredxx]

You may scoff, but how else could the cost of $1.5b for the design be justified.

[GB]

Have they issued a new version that complies with 18th Regs?

[John Rumm]

Cheaper than the LHC, and not that different from LIGO.

[Dave Liquorice]

government

Biro

Velcro(?)

[Tim Streater]

Invented by László Bíró in 1931.

Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral in the 50s.

A bit before NASA existed.

[polygonum_on_google]

No, not the biro:

In 1941, the Bíró brothers and a friend, Juan Jorge Meyne, fled Germany and moved to Argentina, where they formed "Bíró Pens of Argentina" and filed a new patent in 1943.

Not even the Fisher Space Pen.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I was actually in the BBC studio doing the the UK side of it for broadcast. We had direct feeds from NASA throughout, of course much of it never used. It would have taken the most enormous amount of work to fake all of that.

[Clive Arthur]

Not a hoax, but NASA clearly had extra-terrestrial technological help in arranging some sort of meeting on the Moon. The big clue is there for all to see, the alien greeting 'Gnorts' being all the Astronauts could learn of their language.

And that clue? 'Gnorts, Mr Alien'. Read it backwards.

[whisky-dave]

Nah non stick was 1938 the first coating, but non stick pans existed 3000 years ago.

Velcro effect is the way some ants use to walk along, so those hooks and eyes came from nature.

The first LED was 1927 so not exactly connected to space.

[charles]

the LED as we know it was the answer to a NASA specification: an indicator that would stand up to the G forces on launch.

[whisky-dave]

But not used , they weren;t ready and not very usuable they used nixi and floureescant displays alone with standard filement.