Shuttle damaged during thunderstorm

On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:18:51 -0600, Pat Flannery
wrote:

However, to retrofit such an operations concept into the shuttle system
*now* would be costly and disruptive, because lots of procedures and even
hardware are built around the idea that the shuttle will spend much longer
on the pad, and that operations like cargo loading will mostly be done
there.

What's odd about the way we do it is that if they had hit the original
expected launch rates (one or more each month) this way of doing it
wouldn't work.

They got the pad stay-times down to a respectable 2 weeks in 1985,
though (STS-61A and 61B). After Challenger, they no longer had the
flight rates of 1985+ and they didn't need to reduce pad times, so
they eased off.

Brian

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

The launch has been pushed back at _least_ a month; if the description of
some of the hail being the size of golf balls is accurate:

USPGA or R&AGC size?

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

Here's a high resolution view of the damage:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/1...7pd0547-lg.jpg
This doesn't look like what golf ball sized hail would do.

Whenever hail is bigger than normal, the mainstream media *always* say it's
golf-ball-sized. Hail is never found anywhere between normal-sized and
golf-ball-sized in the media.

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

If it were up to me, I'd stick a new ET on it, and send this one back to
Michaud to get stripped and re-foamed.

If it were up to me I'd take it off, send it here and ignite it at my
fiancée's graduation ceremony next year.

"Greg D. Moore (Strider)" wrote in message
nk.net...

And you'd probably want to roll out a few days in advance, if only to plan
for cooler, more stable morning air.

Is it possible to roll out at night?

"Neil Gerace" wrote in message
...

"Greg D. Moore (Strider)" wrote in
message nk.net...

And you'd probably want to roll out a few days in advance, if only to
plan for cooler, more stable morning air.

Is it possible to roll out at night?



Calmest air I believe is about currently when they do it, just before dawn.

--
Greg Moore
SQL Server DBA Consulting
sql (at) greenms.com http://www.greenms.com

Really bad hail and rain.

And who steps up to the microphone?

"Wayne Hale".

Weally ?

In article t,
Greg D. Moore \(Strider\) wrote:
And you'd probably want to roll out a few days in advance, if only to
plan for cooler, more stable morning air.
Is it possible to roll out at night?

Calmest air I believe is about currently when they do it, just before dawn.

The issue is not so much calmest air, as lowest incidence of surprise
short-notice thunderstorms (although of course, the two are connected).
Since the launch platform no longer carries the Saturn-V-era umbilical
tower, the stack has no (external) lightning protection while in transit
between the VAB and the pad!

Central Florida is actually an awful place to put a spaceport. It's the
thunderstorm capital of the continent... which is part of the reason why
so much lightning research gets done at the Cape.
--
spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |

Neil Gerace wrote:
Whenever hail is bigger than normal, the mainstream media *always* say it's
golf-ball-sized. Hail is never found anywhere between normal-sized and
golf-ball-sized in the media.



I'm trying to remember what other sizes of hail I've heard mentioned.
There's pea sized, marble sized, golf ball sized, baseball sized,
softball sized, and once basketball sized.
There needs to be something between marble and golf ball sized, we must
develop a new sport or game that uses some sort of spheres of around
grape size. This could be called "hailball" and could consist of two
players standing around fifty feet apart trying to bounce small rubber
balls off the ground in such a way that they fall on their opponent's
head. ;-)

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...


Neil Gerace wrote:
Whenever hail is bigger than normal, the mainstream media *always* say
it's golf-ball-sized. Hail is never found anywhere between normal-sized
and golf-ball-sized in the media.


I'm trying to remember what other sizes of hail I've heard mentioned.
There's pea sized, marble sized, golf ball sized, baseball sized, softball
sized, and once basketball sized.
There needs to be something between marble and golf ball sized, we must
develop a new sport or game that uses some sort of spheres of around grape
size. This could be called "hailball" and could consist of two players
standing around fifty feet apart trying to bounce small rubber balls off
the ground in such a way that they fall on their opponent's head. ;-)

I've heard of "orange" sized.



Pat



--
Greg Moore
SQL Server DBA Consulting
sql (at) greenms.com http://www.greenms.com