[snopercod]

Alas, having one vector - to the ISS - and a backup bird ready to roll out will be the norm for what remains of the Shuttle's mission.

I had not heard that KSC had any plans for a "backup bird", although the need for one is obvious to the most casual observer.

When I worked there and was in a position to devise a plan like that (I was an OTC), nobody was interested. Not in USA. Not in NASA.

I regret that I didn't try harder, but I was already on the "$hit list" for reasons that don't much matter any more.

The "We've never done it that way before" mentality was universal at KSC. Too damn bad. I quit.

[XBob]

re 34 - from #1 - "But ever since Laurel Clark and six other astronauts perished aboard Columbia, he feels more like an outsider as he pushes for cultural change within an agency that he sadly believes does not have what it takes to put humans on the moon or Mars. "

He's sort of slow. A number of us figured that out a long time ago, that NASA no longer has the 'right stuff'.