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

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 10:05:20 +0000 (UTC), "David E. Powell"
<David_Powell3006@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>When they first flew the shuttle they came back with lots of tiles
>gone. Same on other flights. The Columbia just took a REALLY nasty hit
>that overwhelmed any redundancy factors built in.
>
>This foam thing that led to the re-grounding is horrid, yes - and is
>magnified by the fact that in 25 or so years of shuttle operations, no
>adjutant or follow-on craft was built, though designs have been around
>at least this long. With only one US craft, delays with the shuttle
>have meant suspensions of manned US space flights, and the recent one
>meant the International Space Station was dependent on the Russians..
>who are using the old style boosters the shuttle was supposed to
>replace.
>
>I wonder if NASA is reacting too wildly to the latest thing, with the
>insulation and so forth, but then agan they have every reason to be
>cautious now and I cannot fault them for that. Here's hoping they get
>things licked and get the ship up there now home safe with all hands,
>as well as completing the rest of the shuttle flights successfully.
>Bush's initiative is the right idea, getting them back on the path Von
>Braun and so many have wanted for us for so long. The shuttle is key to
>the next steps on that path, I wish NASA the best with them.

I'm no great fan of President Bush's, and I question some details of
his proposal, such as the focus on the moon rather than Mars, but I
think he deserves credit for moving us in the right direction here --
for breaking the logjam that has had NASA running in circles for so
many years . . .

--
Josh

.

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