Current status of shuttle programme ?

Let's face it, the Shuttle is the most expensive and most dangerous
spacecraft we have ever flown and it never leaves orbit.
It is not what the engineers wanted when it was being designed, but
it's all they cold get. I would still however stop short of saying
the Shuttle is a failure, it has fulfilled its role as best it can and
that is to build a space station (ISS).

So I say we use it, if at all possible, to finish what we've started
with the ISS. After both Challenger and Columbia the Shuttle has
become safer in being able to make more flights without a failure,
which did kill people .... and yea, it was the Shuttle design that
killed them .... We knew the Shuttle wasn't safe when we were
designing it, let's just hope it's safe enough for another 19
flights, it should be.

After that, let's learn from what we've done so far in space and
let's learn from the vehicles we've flown to make a better and
safer spacecraft, I hope the CEV is it.

Then let's use it to go to the Moon and Mars, until we can find
something better.



And Bob is spelled with the "B"'s at the ends ... let's try to
remember that, it's my name too.

" wrote in
oups.com:

Let's face it, the Shuttle is the most expensive and most dangerous
spacecraft we have ever flown and it never leaves orbit.
It is not what the engineers wanted when it was being designed, but
it's all they cold get. I would still however stop short of saying
the Shuttle is a failure, it has fulfilled its role as best it can and
that is to build a space station (ISS).

So I say we use it, if at all possible, to finish what we've started
with the ISS. After both Challenger and Columbia the Shuttle has
become safer in being able to make more flights without a failure,
which did kill people .... and yea, it was the Shuttle design that
killed them .... We knew the Shuttle wasn't safe when we were
designing it, let's just hope it's safe enough for another 19
flights, it should be.

After that, let's learn from what we've done so far in space and
let's learn from the vehicles we've flown to make a better and
safer spacecraft, I hope the CEV is it.

Then let's use it to go to the Moon and Mars, until we can find
something better.



And Bob is spelled with the "B"'s at the ends ... let's try to
remember that, it's my name too.

How many more times do you intend to post this, Bob Secret?


--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

Let's face it, the Shuttle is the most expensive and most dangerous
spacecraft we have ever flown and it never leaves orbit.
It is not what the engineers wanted when it was being designed, but
it's all they cold get. I would still however stop short of saying
the Shuttle is a failure, it has fulfilled its role as best it can and
that is to build a space station (ISS).

So I say we use it, if at all possible, to finish what we've started
with the ISS. After both Challenger and Columbia the Shuttle has
become safer in being able to make more flights without a failure,
which did kill people .... and yea, it was the Shuttle design that
killed them .... We knew the Shuttle wasn't safe when we were
designing it, let's just hope it's safe enough for another 19
flights, it should be.

After that, let's learn from what we've done so far in space and
let's learn from the vehicles we've flown to make a better and
safer spacecraft, I hope the CEV is it.

Then let's use it to go to the Moon and Mars, until we can find
something better.



And Bob is spelled with the "B"'s at the ends ... let's try to
remember that, it's my name too.

Let's face it, the Shuttle is the most expensive and most dangerous
spacecraft we have ever flown and it never leaves orbit.
It is not what the engineers wanted when it was being designed, but
it's all they cold get. I would still however stop short of saying
the Shuttle is a failure, it has fulfilled its role as best it can and
that is to build a space station (ISS).

So I say we use it, if at all possible, to finish what we've started
with the ISS. After both Challenger and Columbia the Shuttle has
become safer in being able to make more flights without a failure,
which did kill people .... and yea, it was the Shuttle design that
killed them .... We knew the Shuttle wasn't safe when we were
designing it, let's just hope it's safe enough for another 19
flights, it should be.

After that, let's learn from what we've done so far in space and
let's learn from the vehicles we've flown to make a better and
safer spacecraft, I hope the CEV is it.

Then let's use it to go to the Moon and Mars, until we can find
something better.



And Bob is spelled with the "B"'s at the ends ... let's try to
remember that, it's my name too.




Mark Lopa wrote:
The shuttle doesn't kill, Bob.

Ahh I think the familys of 14 astronauts would disagree. The astronuts
were alive till the shuttle failed.....

Go take a basic high school science class, Bob. Space shuttles don't

Let's face it, the Shuttle is the most expensive and most dangerous
spacecraft we have ever flown and it never leaves orbit.
It is not what the engineers wanted when it was being designed, but
it's all they cold get. I would still however stop short of saying
the Shuttle is a failure, it has fulfilled its role as best it can and
that is to build a space station (ISS).

So I say we use it, if at all possible, to finish what we've started
with the ISS. After both Challenger and Columbia the Shuttle has
become safer in being able to make more flights without a failure,
which did kill people .... and yea, it was the Shuttle design that
killed them .... We knew the Shuttle wasn't safe when we were
designing it, let's just hope it's safe enough for another 19
flights, it should be.

After that, let's learn from what we've done so far in space and
let's learn from the vehicles we've flown to make a better and
safer spacecraft, I hope the CEV is it.

Then let's use it to go to the Moon and Mars, until we can find
something better.



And Bob is spelled with the "B"'s at the ends ... let's try to
remember that, it's my name too.

"Jorge R. Frank" wrote:

This is usually the point in the discussion where the innumerate trot out
the "but Soyuz hasn't had a fatal accident in 34 years" canard. Number of
years is not relevant, only number of flights, and Soyuz has had 83 safe
landings since its last fatal accident, which again is comparable to the 87
safe landings the shuttle had between the 51L and 107 accidents.

Not to mention the fact that those same innumerate wish to handwave
away the ongoing close calls and incidents suffered by Soyuz - while
at the same time lambasting NASA for ignoring close calls and
incidents of much less significance.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

Derek Lyons wrote:
Not to mention the fact that those same innumerate wish to handwave
away the ongoing close calls and incidents suffered by Soyuz - while
at the same time lambasting NASA for ignoring close calls and
incidents of much less significance.

Any vehicle operated by an agency which ignores problems/risks will have problems.

If Fed Ex had to get budgetary approval from the US government for
special expenditure to replace insulation in its aircraft with one which
is more fire resistant and the government kept postponing the decision,
would you blame FedEx if one of its plane caught fire and couldn't land
in time because the insulation spread the fire too quickly ?

NASA has had Shuttle upgrade plans for years and years. The government
only agreed to fund a tiny portion of it. NASA certaintly doesn't have
incentives to say "oh, that foam isn't quite 100% safe, so far no
fatalities, but could we still get X millions to study and reformulate
the foam systems ?"

If NASA were more empowered, perhaps internal calls for improvements or
warning about safety issues might have greater chance of moving
forwards. But as it stands, because the odds of getting funding are low,
there isn't much incentive to push for changes to the shuttle.


Prior to the Columbia accident, lets face, it, NASA wouldn't have gotten
budget approval for this. After the accident, NASA gets blamed but now,
and is getting money to fix the problem.


Is it the Shuttle that is unsafe, or is it the NASA environment which
has prevented fixes that would have eliminated risk areas from the
Shuttle ?

Had the foam been fixed in the 80s or early 90s, we woudln't be having
this discussion and the Shuttle wouldn't be seen as so unsafe.

The problem is that while folsk like Bob Haller may not have much
credibility here, the statements that the shuttle is unsafe and
expensive and fatally flawed have resolnated with politicians and NASA
hasn't countered that image. In fact, it was re-enforced by Griffin.

NASA should have presented a programme to make the Shuttle safe and
cheaper to run. And after an accident, instead of accepting blame, NASA
could simply point to its request for imporvements which were denied by
the government and reflect the politicians's criticisms right back at them.

NASA isn't problem free. But the attitudes inside NASA which do cause
problems may in fact originate from the way politicians treat NASA and
NASA's budgets.

Let's face it, the Shuttle is the most expensive and most dangerous
spacecraft we have ever flown and it never leaves orbit.
It is not what the engineers wanted when it was being designed, but
it's all they cold get. I would still however stop short of saying
the Shuttle is a failure, it has fulfilled its role as best it can and
that is to build a space station (ISS).

So I say we use it, if at all possible, to finish what we've started
with the ISS. After both Challenger and Columbia the Shuttle has
become safer in being able to make more flights without a failure,
which did kill people .... and yea, it was the Shuttle design that
killed them .... We knew the Shuttle wasn't safe when we were
designing it, let's just hope it's safe enough for another 19
flights, it should be.

After that, let's learn from what we've done so far in space and
let's learn from the vehicles we've flown to make a better and
safer spacecraft, I hope the CEV is it.

Then let's use it to go to the Moon and Mars, until we can find
something better.



And Bob is spelled with the "B"'s at the ends ... let's try to
remember that, it's my name too.

Let's face it, the Shuttle is the most expensive and most dangerous
spacecraft we have ever flown and it never leaves orbit.
It is not what the engineers wanted when it was being designed, but
it's all they cold get. I would still however stop short of saying
the Shuttle is a failure, it has fulfilled its role as best it can and
that is to build a space station (ISS).

So I say we use it, if at all possible, to finish what we've started
with the ISS. After both Challenger and Columbia the Shuttle has
become safer in being able to make more flights without a failure,
which did kill people .... and yea, it was the Shuttle design that
killed them .... We knew the Shuttle wasn't safe when we were
designing it, let's just hope it's safe enough for another 19
flights, it should be.

After that, let's learn from what we've done so far in space and
let's learn from the vehicles we've flown to make a better and
safer spacecraft, I hope the CEV is it.

Then let's use it to go to the Moon and Mars, until we can find
something better.



And Bob is spelled with the "B"'s at the ends ... let's try to
remember that, it's my name too.

Let's face it, the Shuttle is the most expensive and most dangerous
spacecraft we have ever flown and it never leaves orbit.
It is not what the engineers wanted when it was being designed, but
it's all they cold get. I would still however stop short of saying
the Shuttle is a failure, it has fulfilled its role as best it can and
that is to build a space station (ISS).

So I say we use it, if at all possible, to finish what we've started
with the ISS. After both Challenger and Columbia the Shuttle has
become safer in being able to make more flights without a failure,
which did kill people .... and yea, it was the Shuttle design that
killed them .... We knew the Shuttle wasn't safe when we were
designing it, let's just hope it's safe enough for another 19
flights, it should be.

After that, let's learn from what we've done so far in space and
let's learn from the vehicles we've flown to make a better and
safer spacecraft, I hope the CEV is it.

Then let's use it to go to the Moon and Mars, until we can find
something better.



And Bob is spelled with the "B"'s at the ends ... let's try to
remember that, it's my name too.