[ale] OT: Space Shuttle Columbia

[Jeff Hubbs]

On Tue, 2003-02-04 at 23:02, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> I think it boils down to matter of practicality. There is no point in
> doing an EVA to the belly side as there "are no user serviceable parts".

Jim, your point is well taken; given the actual situation, i.e., no way
to actually fix damaged tile, an eyeball inspection of the damage may
have led the decision tree down a path that might have included an ISS
rendezvous or an "unusual" re-entry.  An EVA to effect a repair is
something that could only have been accommodated through advance
preparation

> Every pound of mass they take up cost 20 pounds in fuel. If there is
> nothing to be gained by lugging a 250 pound EVA suit, that means another
> ton of explosives that can be left behind, or actually another 250
> pounds of something more useful to be carried.

Jim, if you want to get into a pound^H^H^H^H^Hgram-for-gram argument,
fine.  I'll trade you an EVA suit for a couple of weightless-termite
experiments (I'm being facetious, but I think you see my point).  More
seriously, how about trading an EVA suit for a crew member?  What, you
can't accomplish as much with crews of only six?  Well, fine, let's have
three-year "WTF?" sessions every few years when we lose an orbiter and
see if we accomplish more.

> What is needed is another way to get to space, not a fix to the problems
> of the shuttle. NASA knows they are old and don't suit the need. But we
> have lacked the political will to take on the daunting task of designing
> and building something better. I have watched with dismay now as two
> separate BIG projects have been scrapped in order to better perfect ways
> of killing other humans has taken precedence, the new space plan, and
> the SSC (Superconducting Super Collider in Texas (now a mushroom farm)).

I agree; there needs to be some redistribution of effort/money that
reserves manned spaceflight for really, really stupendous feats in
pursuit of Answers to Big Questions.  I never cease to be amazed at what
we learn from robotic probes, and I am about ready to see all the "which
way does grass grow in space" experiments left to robot satellites.

I'm ex-DOE, so the abandonment of DOE's SSC after it only succeeded in
the matter/anti-matter annihilation of several billion dollars is to me
an example of the worst this country has to offer (shoddy procurement
practices; my wife and a few others like her probably could have saved
it)

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