Tiger sleeps tonight

SiberianTiger

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Back in 2005, I have done several personal discoveries. The first was Orbiter and its rich forum (the "old" one, at m6.com), another was Hyugens landing on Titan, and the final one was this presentation movie of future Phobos-Grunt mission:

These things have rocked my mind, and made me a real fan of spaceflight. I have suddenly received an opportunity to virtually orbit Earth or travel to other planets. I have been able to see laws of orbital mechanics at work, after studying the basic laws of it in my student age. I could watch a great community of people who helped each other create this great spaceflight sim, shared cool information on real life spaceflight and exchanged views and ideas that expanded my own vision of the world.

On another hand, after gaining this much of inspiration, I could see that there still was a language and cultural barrier that separated Orbiter fans community from many information sources in Russian segment of Internet that related to Russia's national space program. Those years, there was much to watch for in it, to look forward and to be impressed by. Things were clearly going uphill. Expectation of a fantastically ambitious Phobos-Grunt mission was just one of the things. There was Clipper project, there were promises to invest into an interplanetary spaceflight, into expanding RSOS if the ISS. It was about this time when internet coverages of Russian launches first appeared or improved from a previous, more simplistic, style.

I thought it would be cool if people who take interest in spaceflight could have access to all this information. I also could see that somehow image of my country and its culture is not understood very well in the West, much less accepted or praised. These things formed a feeling of a mission I should have performed. It may be too silly sounding, but I fancied myself a missionary who should deliver insight into these things to Orbiter community. Mostly because of that I spent very much time translating texts and littering "Space Flight News" and "Off Topic" sections of the forum with information relating to development in Russia in general and proceedings in our spaceflight, joining "cheer teams" of space launches just to be there 1st to type "LIFT_OFF!>." when a rocket lifts off. I have even gone as far as translating some nice songs into English and posting them here.

I also was a fan of every interplanetary probe that took off anywhere on Earth and sailed to the vastness of space. I waved good-bye to the New Horizons, that carried names of me and my family on a CD to the infinite star bound trip. Meanwhile, I never stopped hopping that one day I get a chance to see off a Russian interplanetary mission, and world gets astonished by such a sound event.

The reality has made me few blows since then, however. The more deeply I stroke my roots into spaceflight community and communicated to people who really worked for space industry and science, the less illusions I had about what future may hold. Developments in the world and in the country since 2005 were also not very happy. The worst thing ever was the "8/8/8" war which was a heavy trial for my health of mind. I was deeply scared of a possibility that things would quickly spiral down to a real WW3 then. I didn't know what way of loving my country was the best to pick these days.

Now, when we can safely say that Phobos-Grunt mission is over (if you permit me to say so), I have no good expectations left. It has cost me too much nerve. I can clearly see that wins or fails in space are rooted on Earth, and until things are fixed down here, there's no sense in having high hopes about shining future of space faring Earth. It's best to devote my personal time to the work I have and spend less of it to stupid browsing of spaceflight websites and retyping information I find in one place, to another. Orbiter forum has many great and knowledgeable posters who can provide insight and reminder of proceedings to people who want to know more about spaceflight and watch how new amazing discoveries are done. Existence of free online translator tools helps to overcome language barriers. Bridges between various spots of fan activity taking places in several well known forums are easy to cross.

I feel like I've done enough and I can finally deafen the buzzer inside me that used to tell "I MUST post this to O-F!" I will lurk here from time to time to see how things will proceed. If anyone wants to wake me up, send a PM, leave a comment in my still existing blog: http://tigerofsiberia.livejournal.com or use my personal email if you know it.

It was a pleasure to be with you. Bye.
 

N_Molson

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Hello SiberianTiger,

Your absence would be a severe blow for the community here. Your news posts about the incoming launches were excellent, with a quantity of details that I never saw elsewhere. And information alone is almost useless, the way you synthetized & translated it was unvaluable.

You were like an ambassador of the Russian community over there ; I appreciated very much the way you tried to share russian culture ; and you are definitively amongst the people that got me addicted me to this forum.

I understand your frustration about the space program. It has been a pretty bad year, especially for Russia. Still, you should consider that Russia is the only country in the world that currently send people to ISS and has a man-rated spacecraft. Chinese are still in the experimental phase, unless the contrary is proven. USA are probably going to suffer a 5-years gap. Europe has clearly specialized into the unmanned branch. Therefore, the Soyuz TMA-M, the R-7 and their possible evolutions have great years to live. Especially with the new Soyuz launchpad in Guyana, that boosts the R-7 to unreached performance levels.

Yet, for all those reasons, I hope you will reconsider your decision. Enthusiasm is fading over there, and I fear to see this place become a "let's shoot on any program/space agency" pitflame, where spaceflight will become only a pretext for political arguments.

Regards,

N_Molson
:cheers:
 

PhantomCruiser

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I can only echo what N_Molson has said. I'd be sad to see you leave. Although I only know you from here on the forum, you've been a great benefit to this former cold war sailor. Both from a technical standpoint, and a cultural one.

For now I'll say "Fair winds and following seas". I dearly hope to see you back on the forum again in the future, until then, I hope you enjoy some down-time.
 

Izack

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A third echo from me, too. It has always been the news posters like you who kept me returning to this forum. The myriad images that don't make the popular press and invaluable translations (don't say machine translators are a substitute: they're more amusing than practical and don't actively browse Russian-language websites for information, as you have.)

Sure, we can all subscribe to space.com, but we'll be missing out on so much without you here.

This goes for more than spaceflight - your posts were personally my main portal to look in to Russia. Real, reliable news is hard to come by, and an English-speaking Russian with a head on his shoulders has no substitute. You will be sorely missed.

So if this is good-bye, then good-bye and thank you for all of your posts. But the door is always open, please come back whenever you want. :cheers:

Cheers,
Izack.

Enthusiasm is fading over there, and I fear to see this place become a "let's shoot on any program/space agency" pitflame, where spaceflight will become only a pretext for political arguments.
Very true, unfortunately. Can't have too much optimism on O-F, eh? :dry:
 

SiberianTiger

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Thank you guys. I don't want anyone to be sorry. I probably just need a break. Don't know for how long. I'll try to come back when I feel ready and inspired again.
 

Ripley

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No, please don't!

Edit: of course my "don't" refers to the first post.
 
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Tex

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ST!!! Mate, thank you for all of your extremely valuable posts and support you've put into this community! O-F would absolutely not be the same without you and your news threads. I completely understand the need for a break however, taking a step back is often times very healthy. I just want to let you know how much I appreciate everything you've done. You've inspired many here, whether you realize it or not, and I along with the rest of the staff and I'm sure the entire community truly wish you all the best!

The welcome mat will always be out should you decide to post more in the future.

Thank you my friend! :cheers:
 

T.Neo

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SiberianTiger, I am very sorry to hear that you feel that way. Your posts are some of the most informative, enlightening and well-written that I have read here or anywhere else on the internet for that matter. Please don't leave O-F for good, your input would be sorely missed.

I am also sorry to hear that you no longer have good expectations about spaceflight. I feel that there is precious little good news in spaceflight today, and it really erodes enthusiasm, but your own country's first space probe in over a decade, and hopeful return to interplanetary exploration, sitting stranded in LEO, must be particularly difficult to take.

Can't have too much optimism on O-F, eh?

It isn't like the problem can be fixed with magic. When reality calls it into the room, pessimism bounds through the door. And sometimes it mauls optimism in the process. :dry:

Maybe we need a new forum: the Stepford Space Forum. Where there absolutely can't be any pessimism. Ever. :hmm:
 

n122vu

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Another echo here. I agree completely that your posts regarding upcoming missions are second-to-none. The amount of information and the quality of its presentation, as N_Molson said, are by far the best I've seen. You will most certainly be missed.

However I also understand the need for a break. I think we've all been there from time-to-time. By all means, enjoy the 'time off' as it were, and don't think we're pressuring you in any way.

Best wishes.
n122vu
 

Codz

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SiberianTiger, you are an invaluable member of the O-F community, and it has been a pleasure to be able to have a fresh perspective on events on the other side of the globe. Thank you for your dedication to this forum and the advocation of spaceflight. While I may have been on this forum for a relitively short time I have come to immensley enjoy your posts of news and your opinion on such topics. While I am sad to see you go, I also wish you good luck in whatever endeavor you try to accomplish.;)
 
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mojoey

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no one leaves O-F...*dun dun dun*


quick, someone launch a manned mars mission! :p It was great having you around, hope you come back soon.
 

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You are definitely amongst the most contributing members here, and your absence will be noticed. I'd like to thank you for inspiring me to improve my Russian to the level where I'm able to follow your country's space program without requiring translation. I'm sorry that you're having a "crisis of faith" and do hope you return shortly.
 

IronRain

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Hi ST. I didn't believed what I was reading.. but I understand it :)
I wish you all of luck in your life mate and many thanks fore everything you gave to the community!

:cheers:
 

Ghostrider

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O-F is like the Hotel California: you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave (of course in Russian it sounds more badass-ish).

Here's to hoping you'll be back soon!
 

Notebook

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Sad to see you go ST, but if you need the break, such is life.
We'll be here when you need us, take care.

N.
 

ky

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O-F is like the Hotel California: you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave
One of my favorite songs. It will definitely be different without you here on a regular basis. Thanks for the info, and missions that you shared with us here on the Forums. Hope to see you back soon! Good luck and Godspeed :salute:
 

iamwearingpants

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Whenever I saw a launch thread I hoped it would be you who made it, because you make the highest-quality, most detailed ones.

I wish you luck in life. Farewell! :hello:

BTW, here's a hug for you! :p :bighug:
 

fsci123

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Yo you cant leave man...

By the way have you ever tried world building or coming up with some fiction... It could be a pretty good way to experience your spaceflight dreams....
Just sayin.
 

Cosmic Penguin

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Wow.... I would not have expected this to happen, even after the heart-breaking failure of P-G. :(
Despite this, I do agree that the near future of the spaceflight arena looks a bit bleak for the near future, what when the Russians have insufficient money to even feed the aerospace engineers (better than 1990s, but still...), the Americans are still engaging in the fight for money for NASA (I already feel tired on this since tracking the newest American government space policy in mid-2008), SpaceX has yet to settle down as a major player in private spaceflight, and the Europeans are struggling to keep up their flagship science missions. Oh well, at least things are advancing pretty well in my corner of the world... :p

ST, hopefully you could find back the starry dream of your own after giving yourself some rest from watching the universe. It's a pleasure working with you on the latest spaceflight news, and I look forward working with you soon.:tiphat:

GPS

P.S. Some good news for those who follow spaceflight news from here: I will probably try to follow Tiger's steps and continue to post Russian spaceflight news and launch reports, using the same excellent format set by ST. The first one will be the next Proton launch three days from now.
 
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