NASA's O'Keefe Dropped On His Head As An Infant??

sam ende wrote:

Paul F. Dietz wrote:

Bill Bonde ( the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack )
wrote:

There will be people willing to ride the Shuttle almost no matter
what. Our responsibility isn't to just say it's OK, anything is OK,
just because they are willing.

If they are correctly informed of the risks, they can make their
own decisions. Personal freedom means the freedom to control
ones own life, including the risking thereof.

yes. we must be allowed also to be 'wrong'.

Problem ... it isn't "wrong" just for THEM - they'll
be flying a huge chunk of taxpayer money AND national
pride into oblivion as well.

They may be willing, but there's more on the line than
just their lives. Saying "Wait until we get the bugs
worked out" seems fair and prudent.

"OrionCA" wrote in message
...

There is no practical way to repair damaged shuttle tiles in orbit.

That remains to be seen.

NASA tried for years to develop a repair kit and finally gave up.

They have since restarted the effort.

Each tile is unique, you see; and carefully bonded to the fuselage
under specific environmental conditions. It's not like you can just
slap a little wet cement over a gash in the wing, let it dry, and hope
for the best on re-entry.

It may yet be that you can do precisely that.

The plan has always been that if tile
damage is discovered in flight the orbiter is ABANDONED and the crew
retrieved "if possible".

I do not believe there were any plans to abandon the shuttle
in space.

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 20:41:11 +0000, in a place far, far away, sam ende
made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such a way
as to indicate that:

OK, then what do you believe? Should Shuttle be flown just because
someone is willing to fly it?

No, but then, at this point, I don't think it should be flown at all.
It costs too damned much.

how much does it cost ?

More than a launcher should.

and to get an idea of proportion;
how much is the u.s defense budget ?
how much is spent on education and health ?

Irrelevant.