At the buzzer!!!!!!!!
For the moment, forget SPB, forget the Hubble breakdown, forget it all. A couple of match ups came down to a few last minute votes.
IF the results hold (and they should,) Voyager 1 & 2 beat Cassini by 29 votes and Expedition 1 beat MRO by 84 votes. Throughout the day, these missions swapped leads and battled for advantage. You can whine about SPB and multiple voting all you want, but there was drama at 11:59pm, and it was AWESOME!
Congratulations to everyone, and specifically to Voyager 1 & 2 (Vger lives) and Expedition 1. You fought hard and won!
On a sad note, Apollo 13 gets bounced. Hubble?!? What happened?
Well, you get one day to rest, and then back to voting. Although, SPB can probably take a few extra hours off and still win.
Round 3 should be fun.
Check out the match ups and then get ready to vote.
NEBULA
Apollo 11 vs LRO
Freedom 7 vs Mars Pathfinder
GALAXY
Vikings I & II vs Pioneer 10
SOHO vs Skylab
STELLAR
SPB vs Expedition 1
X-29 vs Orion
HORIZON
Expedition 16 vs JWST
Voyager 1 & 2 vs New Horizon
See the results for yourself here: http://mission-madness.nasa.gov/mm/results.html?1
My bracket is trash, I have no one left to pull for…
The Co-Host
The multiple voting is unfair….because to be honest, unless a miracle happens, there is one clear winner here, and its a big silvery thing that floats…!!
The balloon needs popping…and fast!!!!!
Id love to be able to sit and vote for my fave missions all day…but some of us have homes to run, kids to look after!!! Seriously guys, cant you limit the voting to say a couple of votes each? Otherwise this multiple voting makes a bit of a mockery of the whole thing. Is a big balloon REALLY NASA’s greatest mission??? Is it better than the lunar missions? Than the missions that have sent spacecraft to the edge of our solar system? Than all the incredible manned missions that have show how much man can achieve? I dont think so!!! Maybe im just bitter cos Apollo 13 got beaten by a mission that hasnt even got of the ground yet!!!!
The winner has already been decided by those who have the time to sit and vote thousands of times over and over again. And this is a great pity.
I will continue to vote for my favourite missions, but like many people, I have a feeling this is a lost cause, and NASA may be made to look a little foolish as the world comes to pay homage to that great mission, the best mission….a big pumpkin shaped silver balloon!
I can no longer sit by while SPB infiltration, SPB indocrination, SPB subversion, and the international SPB conspiracy continue to sap and impurify all our precious bodily fluids.
What a tournament so far. Thank you all for your candid comments and suggestions. This activity has really brought some deep emotions to the surface. At the end of the tournament I’ll explain the process we went through in deciding multiple or single voting.
As we take a break today from voting (round 3 starts tomorrow), I ask you all to think about this. What if MER had won the first two rounds with the same number of votes as SPB? Clearly they would have engaged in multiple voting too. Would you all be up in arms if they beat everyone in the field by 7-10 thousand votes? Would you be asking NASA to cut MER’s funding? Writing letters to Congress? Again, I had MER winning the whole tournament and they are in my fav 5. The idea that you launch a rover that travels millions of miles to another body and successfully enter another atmosphere and land pretty close to your destination is unbelievable.
In fact, I had MER facing Hubble in the finals. How can Hubble lose to LRO? I wonder if we’ll see LRO bashing over the next couple of days.
With all the negative energy that I’m sensing from the blog, I would think someone would turn that negative energy into positive energy and challenge SPB in the next round. Just a thought.
Again, thanks for participating in Mission Madness. Here are my predictions for round 3.
Apollo 11 over LRO
Mars Pathfinder over Freedom 7
Vikings I & II over Pioneer 10
Skylab over SOHO
Expedition 1 over SPB
Orion over X-29
Expedition 16 over JWST
Voyager 1 & 2 over New Horizons
Everyone have an awesome day!!!
NE Host
For those of us inside NASA, we’re all ONE NASA. This excessive drama over SPB this and SPB that is ridiculous. We should be proud of all our missions and I think that the SPB team is clearly showing they are proud of their mission. Cut them some slack. I’m proud of my missions, and just because they are not still in this competition–I’m not furious at the missions that are.
NASA Edge had a fantastic idea with this…. but I’m afraid a little “friendly competition” is going to turn into a war. There’s a lot of negativity going on and I think that’s CLEARLY not the intent.
Remember folks.. this is just a game. The world will continue. Get over it.
I have to agree with Sam on the multible voting. It should be limited. To see such great acheivments fall to the wayside due to people who have nothing to do all day but vote over and over. I have to actually work when I’m at work. Which is the only place that I have computer access. I hope that next time there will be limitations and that some of these great missions will be given a fair chance once again. But all in all, Thanks to NASA EDGE we sure love the interaction with others who feel as strongly about the science and love of NASA Missions.
For the first time ever I can’t wait to get to the office so I can log on and see whats happening. Thank You NASA EDGE.
This is turning out to be quite an interesting event/competition. When I first heard about it. I thought, “who cares, each program will vote for its own and the largest program will win”. But it seems that the competition is bringing in people from all different programs.
I guess it is drawing in interest from the outside too.
Just a thought.
I’m sad to hear that you say you have “no one left to pull for.” What happened to pulling for LRO?!
To guest 3/25/09 9:25:24 As for drawing intrest from the outside, The only reason I keep satilite/cable TV is for the NASA CHANNEL. Oh Yeah! we’re watching. And thanks to NASA EDGE we can now get involved. We are very proud of all the missions. And as Americans the best of all of our acheivements have been through NASA. So weather your teem wins or not, know that we are proud of your work.
A Guest wrote:
“The co-host should verify or squelch the rumor that SPB votes are coming from a limited number of IPs. I attended a workshop a few years ago in Albuquerque during which a presentation was given on the history of NASA’s balloon program. Last night, I went back into the bowels of my hard drive and found the presentation. There have been over 2200 balloon flights for over 160 institutions over the years. It’s estimated that over 900 PHD dissertations have come out of the program. It’s just possible folks that balloons have a following bigger than any of you realize. 160 institutions is one (bleep) of a collaboration my friends. Nonetheless… we all know Apollo 11 must win.”
Just a reminder to avoid dropping the “h” bomb in your blog.
The Co-Host
The NASA junkie is fascinated by all this. I essentially saw the competition coming down to one of two choices. I am both glad and sorry I won’t have to choose between them.
Apollo 11 is simply an absolute milestone for the human race — the first time mankind set foot on another planet and returned. If our race endures another million years, I think this will always be a benchmark of human development.
Yet, when it came down to actual “science”, has anything ever done more than Hubble? The astronomy I learned in college many years ago is largely (almost entirely) obsolete because of the marvelous and incredible observations made through Hubble.
I was also puzzled to see included programs that are still largely “gleams in the eyes” of their program personnel. The Webb Telescope AND ORION come to mind without any disrespect intended to them. They may become great milestones themselves, or they may be forgotten footnotes like “Dyna-Soar”, but it is impossible before they become operational to value them fairly against “the giants” of NASA.
So, I pass this along for next year’s competition — some thought should be given to some recommended criteria for voting. Maybe there should be a “programs of the past” bracket and a “programs of the future” bracket.
Looks like someone’s bot is doing all the posting. Takes all the fun out of it. Too bad.
Post No. 9 don’t forget Dr. John C. Mather, and Dr. George F. Smoot (2006 Nobel Prize for Physics also did some ballooning.
per #12 – But John Mather won his Nobel prize for work done on Kobe, which didn’t even make it into the first round. That was certainly a worthy entry…
Per #13 – Good point. I hope the Science Mission Directorate selects Kobe to be in the field next year.
I know I sounded sort of mean before, but I’m really a nice kid. I’m a very nice, sensitive kid who can’t even stand to kill bugs.
So now I’d like to peel back all those layers of fanaticism and humor, fun though they are, and look you guys straight in the eye so that we can levelly, clearheadedly continue.
It’s Expedition 1. Since that day, every SINGLE minute of every SINGLE day of ever SINGLE year, there have been humans in space. Just like Science Fiction, just like people used to dream about in the old days.
This matters.
I’m not telling you how to vote. I’m just asking you to be serious here.
NE Host, you “wonder if we’ll see LRO bashing over the next couple of days”. I would point out that the issue people had with SPB winning over MER was a combination of a few factors. For instance a lot of people posting in these blogs keep acting as though SPB is some kind of avatar for all balloon programs past, present, and future. They would discuss scientific achievements from balloon programs that happened decades ago. Than they talk about how balloons could explore more area than a rover could without even considering that no balloon has ever been deployed on another planet yet alone a planet with an atmosphere as thin as Mars. In other words it sounds like some people are voting for SPB because it is a balloon program and not because of what the SPB program itself has achieved. Now add to that the negative comments posted against the MER by those who supported the SPB, which you even encouraged, and it just seems to me that the situation between LRO and SPB has a few differences.
C’mon now; this is completely ridiculous. It doesn’t matter WHAT project got a bazillion votes, multiple votes should not have been allowed. Clearly some people have more time than others to spend “voting”. And you can be assured that there are folks spending government time doing so – I guarantee it! And I think we can all agree, a balloon no matter how “cool” it is or what science it has or will contribute is not, absolutely and unequivocally NOT cooler/better than anything that has gone or will go to Mars or the moon, ever. no matter what your intentions, this has degenerated into a juvenile game. What’s sad is that you could have prevented it by not allowing multiple votes. Generate interest in NASA and its missions? Nope, just highlighted NASA for something stupid (again) and we just don’t need that.
So I guess blogging on government time is more noble than voting on government time? Gimme a break.
Poster 17…GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF MAN!
Let’s split some more hairs folk. This was a great idea that turned sour because it wasn’t thought through. Period.
Neil Armstrong must be wondering why he bothered!!!!! Or else kicking himself that he didnt attach a basket to the balloon and get to the moon via that method!!! Prob worth a few votes eh!!!!??