shuttle woes
Posted by Holly.
forgive me if i’m being a bit callous here, but any bets on whether the shuttle repair makes things better or worse?
when are they finally going to accept that it’s RISKY blasting people into space? and accept that you can’t expect miracles from 20+ year old vehicles. my car isn’t even that old! the very first shuttle launch (Columbia, yes?) was scheduled for THE DAY I WAS BORN! it was ultimately delayed a couple days, but still. i really think they’re flogging a dead horse here, trying to make the shuttles “safer”.
August 1st, 2005 at 10:02 pm Using
well, really the problem is “let’s throw a few trillion at the osprey, and a few more at Star Wars, but science isn’t really relevant.” the fact is the space program (the manned portion, that is) is in many ways behind where we were 30 years ago, due to neglect. granted it’s hard to follow up the success of moon/Apollo missions, but still.
August 1st, 2005 at 10:18 pm Using
i’d love to see a mission to mars, which i think is “the moon” of our times. it should be feasible. i wrote papers on this in high school, and there were plans already put forth then for a reasonably-priced mission. but nobody ever took it beyond planning, since taxpayers balk at spending money on science, but useless warfare? hell yeah, bring it on.
i think a mars mission could also incorporate a new shuttle design, because clearly the shuttle will never make it to mars, let alone land. but i don’t expect shrub and co. to get that right.
i do think that the only way we will ever answer our questions about life on mars is to put people on it. we need first-hand interaction with the experiments, so that questions can be easily followed up on. not this “send one robot, wait awhile til it gets there, do some experiments, realize something’s amiss, spend years designing another robot, etc”.
August 1st, 2005 at 10:24 pm Using
but, of course, i have to say, if asked to choose between mars and hubble, i’d definitely take hubble!
August 1st, 2005 at 10:27 pm Using
god, i’m getting verbose here. i’d also like to point out that i think the apollo program had a good approach to the problem. test in stages. each trip made one more technological step. granted, that’s a little harder with mars, but we do have the moon as the testing ground for mars-bound vehicles.
August 1st, 2005 at 11:57 pm Using
yeah, the fundamental problem/difference with mars is the time factor… the moon is local but mars is way the hell away.
also, am I the only one who’s creeped out by the idea of pulling out the gap filler? seems to me it’s an easy way to pull off a heat shield, too. *icky* sawing them off seems safer, though that’s not super easy/safe on a spacewalk.
August 2nd, 2005 at 12:00 am Using
P.S. Nathaniel, I just posted that comment, with a link, and there was no moderation period. is there a problem with the spam filter, or did you remove it?
August 2nd, 2005 at 12:06 am Using
yeah, i did find that a little disturbing that they’re gonna try to just yank it out. seems like it was there for a reason, so what will happen with it gone? the saw seems a very dangerous operation. trying to saw right next to fragile heat shield tiles? i can’t saw through a piece of wood without a few slips with a handsaw on earth with no bulky space suit gloves.