Getting large stuff back to earth intact.
"Brian Gaff" wrote in
. uk:
Without the Shuttle how could any large experiment or item be brought
back to earth?
Short answer, it can't. If it could be disassembled into
much smaller pieces, the most important parts might be
returnable in Soyuz or Orion--maybe.
Potentially an aeroshell could do the job, but it'd be
expensive and there's not much demand for such a service
at present. The capability wasn't used all that much with
Shuttle, other than SpaceHabs. If a demand develops, I
suppose a capability will be developed, if only as a
cargo-only version of Orion or something similar.
We're going to miss Shuttle's capabilities, on occasion.
--Damon
|