(Henry Spencer) wrote:

In article ,
James Anatidae wrote:
The Apollo couches were a far cry from the systems used in preceding US
manned spacecraft.

I guess that's what happens when you go with the lowest bidder.

Hardly -- it's what happens when you understand the problem better, and
when your system provides a more forgiving environment. (Mercury had very
high accelerations in certain cases, e.g. suborbital reentry, and Gemini
ejection conditions were very close to the limits of human tolerance.)

By the way, NASA generally does not buy from the lowest bidder, because
it's rare that two bidders have such similar proposals that cost is the
deciding factor.

It's not uncommon for the rest of the government to go with the bidder
for the same reasons. Often the bids are sorted by technical merits
and the cheapest of the best is chosen. The lowest bidder on truly
wins when it comes to commodity items.

D.
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