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Lolu chungechunge lwabekwa kunqolobane. Uyacelwa ubuze umbuzo omusha uma udinga usizo.

NASA realtime javascript won't run in my Firefox browser.

JPK
JPK
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I'm an avid retired space company person trying to figure out how to get NASA realtime javascript to run in my Firefox 76.0.1 browser. Needless to say this use to work in the older versions of Firefox. The link is https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/index.html then "Orbital Tracking". When you click "Orbital Tracking" the javascript use to run and you can see the track of the ISS. I've seen fixes like enabling javascript through about:config but with no change. I installed an addon which put a little square box in the URL line that enables and disables javascipt but this has not helped. Anyone that knows how to get this fixed, I would appreciate the help. I've installed the version 8 update 251.

I'm an avid retired space company person trying to figure out how to get NASA realtime javascript to run in my Firefox 76.0.1 browser. Needless to say this use to work in the older versions of Firefox. The link is https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/index.html then "Orbital Tracking". When you click "Orbital Tracking" the javascript use to run and you can see the track of the ISS. I've seen fixes like enabling javascript through about:config but with no change. I installed an addon which put a little square box in the URL line that enables and disables javascipt but this has not helped. Anyone that knows how to get this fixed, I would appreciate the help. I've installed the version 8 update 251.

All Replies (2)

TyDraniu
TyDraniu
  • Top 25 Contributor
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This webpage requirers Java, not Javascript.

And Java plugins are not supported in Firefox.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Hi JPK, JavaScript is a widely used scripting language on the web that browsers interpret without any plugins. JavaScript is what updates the clocks on that page.

Java is a different programming language that has been used for a wide range of projects over the years, and still is used for some applications. Although the names are similar, they run very differently.

This page has a region created using the old <applet> HTML tag that isn't recognized in Firefox 56+, Chrome 47+, or Edge. Even if a newer <object> tag were used, the Java applet won't run without the Java plugin (sometimes called the JRE, or Java Runtime Engine). Firefox discontinued support for the Java plugin after the Extended Support Release of Firefox 52 a few years ago, after Chrome had already stopped running it.

Currently I only know of one browser you can use for the Java portion of the page, and that is Internet Explorer 11. If you type iexp in the Windows 10 search box, the Start menu search results should lead you to the familiar pale blue e.

I see from the footer that NASA page hasn't been updated since 11/30/2012. I'm sure they know that Java is ch obsolete in browsers now, but I guess there isn't enough funding to get this page updated.