It is orbiting in a heliocentric orbit, lost to tracking.  Not a lot more to update about it.

It all comes down to the tyranny of the rocket equation. Every bit of mass you put up requires propellant to put it up there — and the propellant *also* needs to be lifted, so you need more propellant, which in turn needs to by lifted by more propellant, which means you need more propellant, so oh by the way, you’ll…

They don’t always fly with missiles loaded (and “armed” isn’t limited to missiles, since the F16 does have a cannon). It all depends on the mission. Since they only dropped tanks, I am quite certain they had no missiles on board. In an emergency, they would have jettisoned absolutely everything.

“When was the last time you turned your headlmaps on or off using a switch?”

“Also, the touchscreen interface of a phone isn’t a “necessary evil,” it’s a choice that reflects the consumer preference for screen size over a physical interface.”

Mileage varies for everyone with bifocals/progressives. It took four years before I found a frame design/reader placement that worked for me, and even then, I still slide them up and down my nose to optimize them for different tasks.  I’m on my laptop right now, so they’re about halfway down my nose to get the perfect…

I never had eyes that this worked well for; I got glasses at age 6. Lots of interior lights are a problem for me when night driving because they cause interior reflections on my eyeglasses. Contacts help a bit, but they don’t correct my astigmatism as well as eyeglasses do and I’m fussy about my visual acuity. I…

Well, it isParis, after all......  Seems to me they’re getting an authentic experience.  :-)

I guess I should be more clear. They jettison the tanks so that there’s less fuel on board when the plane comes down. It’s not about saving the airframe; it’s a decision based on the assumption the aircraft may be about to lose control and crash. The idea is to limit the devastation at the eventual crash site by…

Yes; the choice is “possible small explosions” versus “one really big explosion”. If it was carrying missiles or bombs, the hope would be to have them drop and hit the ground relatively intact and not ultimately cook off and explode in a burning aircraft fire.

They do have to be able to do that in an emergency situation. And that’s not all they can jettison. They can jettison all stores at once and get a completely clean jet in seconds, which is important preparation for an emergency landing so as to minimize the explosion at the site of their eventual possible crash. So,…

Well, for a long time, ambulances were pretty much the same vehicles as hearses, just with different trim.

Can it transport a person on a litter?  Or is it just for hauling around EMTs and their gear?  Because it seems to me it’d be a poor choice for an ambulance.  A station wagon would be a better pick if you wanted kind of a small ambulance.

It’s happening to me even in the middle of reading some articles.

What’s with the weasel word “claims” in the final sentence? It’s a simple fact that reentry opportunities exist through August. Strictly speaking, it’s been true for the entire mission — reentry opportunities have always existed.  That’s just how it works.

There’s a whole range of particularly nasty eww that can happen. Just . . . don’t. And yeah, I know what kind of injury you’re referring to, and not embedding the image is appreciated for those who haven’t seen it before and may possibly be enjoying a meal right now.

I guess it’s the nautical equivalent of a combi?

Well, as long as they don’t become a projectile, I’m okay with that.

Oh my lord, that is the most cringetastic when you think of the sorts of injuries that will result in an accident.

That one is definitely the stupidest. “I’m tough, and I will prove it by paying large sums of money to sit in silence for hours.” I mean . . okay? That’s . . . fine? I guess? But it baffles me what they think they are proving, and to whom.