NASA Finds Critical Assembly Fault in Shuttle

mzs writes "During corrosion inspection on Discovery, technicians noticed that one of the gears in a rudder actuator had been installed backwards. This particular actuator was the top-most of four that control the air brakes on the tail. As luck turns out, if it had been the bottom-most actuator, loss of the shuttle and crew would have been nearly inevitable. Plans are in place to have four spares by the time Shuttle missions resume next year."

Comments

Slashdotted.. mirror available

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is a mirror.

Re:Slashdotted.. mirror available

[Anonymous Coward]

I am writing out of a sense of outrage and frustration at a great injustice that, I believe, threatens the very foundations of these United States of America.

The injustice is the Uniform Controlled Substances Act. Its unintended consequence is the creation of a vast organization that monopolizes the distribution of cocaine. I have been made aware of the Seattle crack "Family" which was able to use its monopoly and the immense resources in manpower and money available to it to illegally surveil me, trespass against my property, physically intimidate and threaten me, try to restrict my freedom of speech, try to poison me, and generally harass me in many other ways. The decisions of the "Family" are not subject to oversight by any publically-elected body. They are able to get away with illegal activity, using their money and their monopoly on crack distribution to keep law enforcement officials at bay.

I invite you to come to Seattle and see for yourself the open dealing on the streets in Belltown, at the bus stop on 3rd and Pine, both inside and outside Deano's on 23rd and Madison, in the Jinsonia apartments at 8th and Seneca (recently the site of two fires). Check out the ownership of radio station KUBE 93.3 FM. Investigate a rumor I heard that Governor Gary Locke is involved. Consider Officer Slaughter of the East Precinct, who was recently convicted of taking drugs from dealers and giving it to his friends, letting them use drugs in his patrol car. Is it so hard to imagine other policemen taking bribes?

My motivation in writing this is outrage and disbelief at the impunity with which the crack "Family" violated my constitutionally guaranteed rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, privacy, freedom of speech, freedom from discrimination, freedom from harassment, etc. First, they hooked me on crack; then, they decide to shut me down, cut off my medicine. They have made me angry, and all I can do is try to expose as much of the crack game as I can, in the hope that if it becomes visible enough people will realize how the illegality of crack is causing far more problems for our society than the drug itself, were it legal.

Repeal the Uniform Controlled Substances Act. Take back our country from hardened criminals whose power derives from crack prohibition.

first post

[Anonymous Coward]

missed it again

Re:PARENT IS INFORMATIVE, NOT OFFTOPIC

[richmaine]

> What is wrong with moderators these days?

Maybe they actually check links... as you obviously didn't.

Re:Instead of slamming NASA

[Seek_1]

geez... three in a row. This is what I get for preview/spell-checking my posts!

Re:Should have used Java

[DR SoB]

Great, "IOException Error" = Brakes failed.. "Invalid Format Error" = Math wrong. DoWeAllWantToCode.In.Java.SoundsLikeFun.ExceptWhen WeMissADumbInstruction.ImGonnaFormatMy.Posts.LikeJ ava.CuzItIsSoooooCool

Re:TOO BAD

[Anonymous Coward]

Q: And what do both have in common?

A: They both make a mess on cars they land on!

URGENT WARNING URGENT - GNOME USERS

[Amiga Lover]

WARNING ATTENTION WARNING

gnome.org has been rootkitted. Anyone running a version higher than 2.4.2 should IMMEDIATELY DOWNGRADE TO 2.4.2

WARNING ATTENTION WARNING

Re:URGENT WARNING URGENT - GNOME USERS

[Anonymous Coward]

Care to sight your sourses?

Re:URGENT WARNING URGENT - GNOME USERS

[Anonymous Coward]

FYI, "sight" should be cite.

Re:TOO BAD

[Anonymous Coward]

You say education is substandard in the United States, but you can't manage to spell the word "important" correctly. How ironic.

And pledging allegiance to the flag means pledging allegiance to the values for which that flag is a symbol of. Those values are things such as liberty and justice.

And don't forget, the United States has true freedom of speech and doesn't censor people for speaking unpopular viewpoints, unlike in Europe. The United States is far more free than Europe can dream of being.

Re:Should have used Java

[AKAImBatman]

Dude, that crap looks like Visual Basic. Have you ever actually coded Java? THIS looks like Java:

public void engageBrakes() throws ShuttleException
{
try
{
Iterator iterator = getActuators();
Actuator actuator;

while(iterator.hasNext())
{
actuator = (Actuator)iterator.next();
actuator.setActuatorPower(0.35);
}
}
catch(IOException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
throw new ShuttleException("Failed to communicate with brake microcontroller!", e);
}
}

Just because you're a Microsoft lover doesn't mean you have to spoil the fun for those of us who can actually *code*.

Re:Should have used Java

[DR SoB]

It looks like what I wrote, a bunch of case-sensitive CRAP.

"Just because you're a Microsoft lover doesn't mean you have to spoil the fun for those of us who can actually *code*."

Did you come up with this on your own or what?

BTW- Actually I'm an assembler programmer.

Re:Simple solution, really.

[Anonymous Coward]

That damn GW Bush! This is all his fault, he's so stupid...