Re: Space Shuttle Grounding....depressing....

On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 14:08:48 +0000 (UTC), phil <steward1@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>snip
>>According to what I've been reading, it was originally planned as a
>>crew vehicle to service the international space station -- supplies
>>were to have been lifted to the space station with Saturn V's produced
>>in a new run of eight vehicles, which would have meant that the
>>station could have been assembled in just a few launches. But the
>>Saturn V run was cancelled when NASA's budget was cut, and the shuttle
>>was pressed into service as a cargo hauler.
>>
>>Also, NASA made unrealistic claims about the shuttle, about how it was
>>going to make spaceflight cheap and routine and so safe that anyone
>>could go. But, as you say, it was really an experimental vehicle
>>rather than a workhorse; ad hoc fixes can't overcome basic design
>>flaws, such as having the fuel tank next to the vehicle, and we aren't
>>yet experienced enough with the design of spacecraft to avoid all
>>those mistakes.
>
>I'll always blame Nixon for this: on one hand he's congratulating Neil
>& Buzz and his hatchet man, Agnew, is on the Hill cutting NASA's
>budget ( makes sense, the moon program was the dream of the man who
>beat him ) then when NASA submitted plans with a main booster
>with liquid fueled engines and reusable to boot Nixon said 'too
>expensive, make it cheaper"

I thought Nixon might have been involved -- I remember when he took
the axe to the space program -- but I didn't know the specifics.

It's always galled me that his signature is sitting on the moon,
affixed to the triumph of a program he inherited from Kennedy, then
gutted as soon as he had the chance.

--
Josh

.

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