[ale] OT: Space Shuttle Columbia

[Christopher Bergeron]

Jeff Hubbs wrote:

>>rendezvous or an "unusual" re-entry.  
>>    
>>
>
>This is just wild idle thinking, but could there be such a thing as a
>temp-limited re-entry?
>
>Everything about Orbiter re-entry is predicated on the notion of getting
>it down to a certain altitude, speed, and heading at a certain location
>on the Earth (essentially, the point of flare-out right before
>landing).  What if you threw that out, decided you didn't give a crap
>where it landed, and just tried to get it subsonic in an altitude range
>where the crew could bail out?  I can imagine some kind of repeated
>skipping operation, intentionally coming in a bit too shallow each
>time.  I wonder if the simulators can even handle such.
>  
>
Jeff, that's an ingenious solution!  I tend to think, though, that it 
would require abandoning NASA's proposed next generation  re-usable 
spacecraft.  

Just my .02 cents,
CB

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