Phil Fraering pgf@AUTO wrote in message ...
h (Rand Simberg) writes:

It's kind of disingenuous to redefine the Shuttle as "an experimental
vehicle" after the fact, when it was declared "operational" almost
twenty years ago (I remember, because I was there when President
Reagan did it).

If the Gehman commision wants to recommend that it be so reclassified
now, fine, but everyone wanted to pretend otherwise through the end of
January of this year.

It's also pointless to reclassify it if it still winds up being
used mainly as an operational vehicle.

I think the new flight restrictions and the imperative to develop a
different method of launching people has reclassified it de facto to
an experiemental vehicle, regardless of what anyone says. Operational
vehicles are supposed to be used more than once a year.

Tom Merkle