NASA confirms: shuttle in mid-May at best

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
. uk...
Its a very sobering thought that in this day of hi tech everything, tthe
weather can still throw a surprise or two for us.
That's life I guess.


The trick is to design and build a spaceship that is very tolerant to bad
weather. The shuttle is not. It sits on the pad for way too long, needs
excellent weather to launch, and needs excellent weather to land. As of
1993 the Russians had never cancelled a Soyuz launch or landing due to
weather and it sits on the pad for a very short period of time.

If you build a system that is sensitive to the weather, you can expect
delays due to the weather.
This is a decision NASA made when they picked the shuttle.

Danny Deger


Brian

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"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...
All hope is gone of making the April 22-23 launch period,
when the window opens. There remains some small hope
of making the end of that window in mid-May.

Florida Today: Wednesday, March 21, 2007
posted by Todd Halvorson at 5:54 PM EDT
NASA: May still an option for shuttle flight

NASA is going to press ahead with repairs to shuttle Atlantis'
hail-damaged external tank in hopes of launching its International Space
Station assembly mission in May, officials said today. But the agency is
holding open the option to replace the tank with another -- a move that
would push the Atlantis mission and outpost construction back to June.

http://www.floridatoday.com/floridat...r-shuttle.html

"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
...
"Danny Deger" wrote:

The trick is to design and build a spaceship that is very tolerant to bad
weather. The shuttle is not. It sits on the pad for way too long, needs
excellent weather to launch, and needs excellent weather to land. As of
1993 the Russians had never cancelled a Soyuz launch or landing due to
weather and it sits on the pad for a very short period of time.

Yes - comparing fish to bicycle is *so* useful.


My point is you need to pick a concept that is tolerent to weather. The
shuttle and Soyuz are like a fish and a bike as you point out -- that is my
point. A shuttle that needs good weather to abort is going to have lots of
launch scrubs due to weather. I vehicle that sits for weeks at a time in
the open is going to have a risk of weather causing damage. The shuttle is
a bad design based on the concept itself.

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

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