could a retired shuttle be reflown?

In article m,
says...

On 12-10-04 08:28, Jeff Findley wrote:

SSME's were removed and replaced with replicas. The aft compartment has
been gutted of plumbing and hardware related to the SSME's. Both were
done to harvest hardware for the NASA HLV.

Were all 3 orbiters "done" to the same extent, or has one been left with
some of the hardware/plumbing ?

I'm pretty sure they were all "gutted", but there is lots of info here,
if you want to sort through it yourself:

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/T&R/

BTW, what is to happen to the 2 SCA aircraft ? Will they just be
retired, or will they just remove the shuttle mounts and use the747s for
other purposes ?

Wikipedia says they'll both be used for spare parts for NASA's
Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). I thought I'd
read somewhere else that one would be kept flyable for training flights
and the other used for spare parts.

Are there any other vehicles that NASA would want to carry on them ?

None that were ever funded.

For over-sized cargo, the Super Guppy can still carry some pretty big
stuff internally. That's how the shuttle astronaut trainer was
delivered to the USAF Museum in Dayton Ohio. They landed it on the
runway right next to the Museum.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer

On Oct 4, 8:44*am, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article 41da502a-af03-428c-a8ee-
,
says...



On Oct 3, 8:05*pm, Brian Thorn wrote:

Well, not quite. Most of the infrastructure is still there and still
relatively easily brought back for Shuttle service,

No, it isn't. *It is being gutted.

Brian has the details right, at the engineering level.

No, he is wrong

On Thursday, Jeff Findley queried:
says...

Well, considering that the Earth will likely collide with a black hole
sometime in mid december (is the end of the world on the 12th or 21st
?), there would really be no time to rebuild the shuttles.

WTF?

Ah, thsoe Mayans. Always thinking about how to play a joke on future
generations.

/dps

--
Who, me? And what lacuna?

In article m,
says...

Question:

It's been mentioned that they removed the SSMEs from all orbiters to be
used for some other pet project.

How much life to these engines still have in them before then need full
major maintenance overhaul ?

They will be used on an expendable launch vehicle, so this is a non-
issue.

And considering that NASA has the full blueprints and engineering for
those engines, how expensive would it be to order some brand spanking
new identical engines ?

NASA is going to develop a cheaper, expendable, version of the SSME, so
this is another non-issue.

You save on all the R&D, tooling, certification etc since you are
working off what is essentially a production engine with proven record.


Or has NASA destroyed the blueprints and told the manufacturer to
recycle the tooling into beer cans and/or steel beams ?

The tooling won't be destroyed, but will instead be adapted to build the
new engines, tanks, and etc. needed for their, mostly expendable, heavy
launch vehicle.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer