Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

Re:Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died by ArnoVW on Friday November 10, 2023 @04:48AM (#38216948)

only for retro-grade orbits, meaning you lose the "boost" from the rotation of the earth (in fact, you have to work against it)

there's a reason that there are launch sites in French Guiana and Florida.

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Re:Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died by closewith on Friday November 10, 2023 @06:12AM (#38217512)

Where do you think Venezuela is?

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Re:Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died by ArnoVW on Friday November 10, 2023 @07:03AM (#38217858)

ah. serves me right for geeking out during boring meeting. confused it in my head with Colombia. Visited both, should have known better =)

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Re:Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died by Someone on Friday November 10, 2023 @07:04AM (#38217870)

Venezuela has an eastern coast that, I think, would be suitable for a launch site if you put it south of Trinidad and Tobago.

It’s far from population centers, though (1), so it would require building/growing a city for personnel to live. It also appears to be swampy (not a show stopper, as Florida shows, but not ideal, either), and it has monsoons, so the weather may be a showstopper.

I also would be worried about political stability of the country.

(1) Apple Maps shows Tucupita as about the only thing near that coast. It’s about 100km away and, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucupita has a population of less than 100,000.

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