Posted on 06/19/2004 7:49:01 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
But with all of the knowledge gained from the years of NASA testing. I am not detracting what he is accomplishing, just that this is not an orbiting platform, nor will likely be for a long time.
I am well acquainted with how all three systems were designed and implemented. I am just commenting on the fact that we are an awful long way from SSTO.
NASA's get-up-there-itis will prove a killer, once again.
I figgered. Grunts are, in their opinions, largely unsullied by ego, politics, or fear of reassignment to Guam, right? Burt Rutan is the 'Tucker" of aerospace engineering. (I was into hang-gliding, once, so I know a little about him) I'm cheering him, too. But for management at NASA, the institutional mediocrity is being exposed. Mebbe GW will ask Burt to be a cabinet-level Adviser for Space Exploration, just to make 'em blanch. HAHA
Smart move.
I predict the program will be terminated before any actual flights occur with an 'Advanced Health Management System' on board...
--Boris
And NASA benefited from the knowledge of German scientists amongst others. Shakespeare was known to borrow a story line or two. Newton stood on the shoulders of giants. In the long run, the private sector will win out.
Translation: The Shuttle is unsafe.
It's long past bedtime for this program. The Shuttle should be permanently grounded and the Space Station abandoned. Back to the drawing board!
27 - "Translation: The Shuttle is unsafe. "
space flight has always been unsafe. The orbiter will be 'safer' if they address the problems, but it will never be 'safe'.
The two problems they write up in the story are fixable, if they will do it.
1. Fixing the foam on the external tank should solve the problem about punching large holes in the wings.
2. And they already designed a robot inspection camera years ago, which could inspect for damage.
3. There are however other structural problems, and numbers of things which make it less safe than it could be.
4. However, the biggest safety problem is the NASA culture. which is what killed both the Challenger and the Colombia.
ping
This thing is, and was, death on a platter.
...and Columbus should have stayed home where it was safe.
That's ignorant-media-speak for the momentum wheels (gyroscopes), which are too heavy for the Progress to carry. If the station loses just one more, it will have to be abandoned.
He-hehe. I got that fellow to sign my logbook once.
Aren't these the same folks that managed to send a glorified R/C dune buggy to Mars to take photos? You'd think a small, dedicated UAV would be a no-brainer for these guys. Why complicate the the cargo arm?
Only if there is a profit.
How would you control it? Could you ensure it would not impact the Shuttle by accident?
Indeed. If the station is abandoned and starts to tumble, would we be able to dock safaly in the future?
Look at the commercial airlines. Over their decades long history, I think they are sum total in the red.
I guess if they left enough propellant onboard to use thrusters to stabilize the beast so the Shuttle could dock, that might work. I don't know the propellant figures of late. I'm betting that is getting low as well.
I hope you are right. I got into the space program because I have loved it ever since I was a wee lad.
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