Posted on 10/31/2004 6:57:37 AM PST by Paul Ross
Nasa to resume shuttle missions
By Daniel LakBy Daniel Lak
BBC correspondent in Miami
The US space agency (Nasa) says the first space shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster of 2003 is to be launched next May or early June.
All shuttle missions had been suspended pending investigation of the accident, in which seven astronauts died. Improvements have also been made to the orbiter and its fuel tank system.
Plans to resume the launches in March were put back after hurricanes hit east Florida, where the Kennedy Space Center is located, in July and August.
The Nasa official in charge of human space flight, William Readdy, said the decision to resume shuttle launches next May was a major relief for the space agency.
The hurricane season hit Nasa particularly hard. Three of the four hurricanes to come ashore in the state swept over or near the Kennedy Space Center on Florida's eastern coast. Even before the storms hit, Nasa engineers were already warning that work on modifying the shuttles was getting behind schedule.
There was still a chance that the May launch date could be delayed, officials said.
Columbia lessons
The Columbia accident was found to have been caused by damage to the shuttle's wing.
This came about because of heat-shielding foam that broke away from the fuel tank during launch.
The damage went undetected and proved catastrophic when Columbia re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.
Super-heated air got inside the wing and caused the shuttle to disintegrate in flight.
It was the second fatal accident in 113 shuttle missions.
About 28 more missions are planned once launches resume, most to help build the International Space Station.
Critics say the shuttle fleet is too old and too expensive and the station could be put together more effectively by using single-use rockets.
Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3967045.stm
Published: 2004/10/30 04:02:36 GMT
© BBC MMIV
Glad we don't stop all cars from driving on roads and highways for a year or two every time there is a major wreck or death on the highway...... Life is fragile, handle with care and prayer. But you have to go on.....
Fly NASA fly!
The history of manned space flight 1970-2004 makes what happened 1960-1969 all the more amazing.
You wouldn't get me up in that thing.
This is great news. My personal and professional life seemed to be going down the toilet on the day that this tragedy happened. At the time, it gave me so much to think about, how blessed I was and how these heros had given so much. Now, almost two years later, my life is so much better and its wonderful to hear that NASA is going back into the sky. There's a wonderful Christian song which goes, "God and time" that's all we need.
'Cause he'll be worried about a third term?
Maybe not "worried" but concerned about legacy.
Very sad, that Nasa astronauts no longer possess
the courage needed to fly to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Give me a space ship commanded and staffed with Navy & Marine pilots and a couple US Army Special Forces guys. No girls..no foreigners..no doctors..if someone gets sick & dies ...throw them overboard..
We need to summon the courage and tenacity that Christopher Columbus and Ferdniand Magellan showed.
God help us if the Chinese Communists beat us to Mars. That will mark the demise of the United States.
Or the moon......
NASA had better start doing something bold pretty fast in light of Spaceshipone or they will quickly slide into irrelevance more than they already have.
Sorry, but that's just plain wrong. The astronauts all want to go back to the Hubble. It's the chairborne bureaucrats in DC that won't let them.
If cars cost $1,700,000,000.00 each (plus tax, title, and license), they might stop for an accident.
We would stop to figure what went wrong. We wouldn't pretend that astronaut's lives are worth billions. If astronauts don't want risks, they can step aside and there will be hundreds of qualified people to take their place. I want astronauts to say this. That they virtually never do shows me about how much courage they actually have.
I'll be happy to take your seat then. I'd vastly prefer to ride on a private enterprise flight, but would run not walk to Cape Kennedy if a seat on a Shuttle flight were offered to me.
ping
That's what, a 1.7% accident rate?
With something as complicated as the shuttle, and considering it's pretty much just a huge bomb, which, when working properly, the explosion is controlled and directed out the tail nozzle, I think it's pretty remarkable.
GodSpeed!
It's the shuttle that cost $1,7000,000,000.00; not counting anyone's life. It probably costs more now.
Yup.
It will take a while before the next generation shuttle is built. :-(
SSTO would be ideal.
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