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Does anyone else have a problem with the space station docking in 2001: A Space Odyssey?

 

I'm not an engineer but I see some pretty obvious flaws that have always bothered me.

 

1. The space station is rotating pretty slowly. Could this speed generate anything like Earth gravity? How fast would it have to rotate to generate the Earth gravity that we see in the movie?

 

2. The PanAm shuttle rotates to match the space station's rotation. Is this even possible? Couldn't they attach some sort of tunnel on ball bearings that the shuttle could attach to?

 

3. After the shuttle lands an entire room is closed off and filled with air. Do they have an unlimited air supply that that they can use for this? The lunar shuttle suffers the same anomaly.

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Well, I don't think there is any question about it. It can only be attributable to human error. This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error.

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V.T. Eric Layton

Well, I don't think there is any question about it. It can only be attributable to human error. This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error.

 

That was HAL answering you above in RED, Jim. Not me. ;)

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That was HAL responding to you.

 

Well, I don't think there is any question about it. It can only be attributable to human error. This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error.

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Matching rotation . This problem is easily solved with magnets on the docking mechanism .

Air . the "air" is spiced with fresh oxygen and recompressed after personel transfer and before separation of the modules.

Gravity. Increases the further out from the fulcrum. .. On earth we walk around the outer surface . On station we walk around the inside of the skin .

 

Hal is not as advanced at problem solving as Del. :alien: :clap: :alien:

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Of course someone has already figured this out.

 

http://2001.wikia.co...Space_Station_V

 

Space Station V
was the largest orbital structure ever built as of 2001. It is a large, international, rotating wheel space station, used as a transfer point from Earth orbit to the moon and other planets. It featured an orbital hotel, run by Hilton Hotels; a Howard Johnson's restaurant; lounge areas; and
booths.

 

The spinning of the station generates artificial gravity, equal to about that of the moon's gravity. This gave travelers from Earth a chance to acclimatize to the low gravity.

 

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