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Space Shuttles Survive Hurricane Frances
maggeth writes "In an update to a previous story, NASA damage assessment teams have begun work at the Kennedy Space Center, which was hit by Hurricane Frances. It appears that there was no damage to any of the space shuttles, according to the first word from NASA. Although more details still are to be released, we know that Frances died down in strength before making landfall, limiting the amount of wind damage."
Reader knix writes, though, that "It looks like NASA did have quite a bit of damage from Hurricane Frances," pointing to an AP story which adds some detail, and noting that besides a knocked over Mercury-Redstone rocket, the massive VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) had 1000 panels missing after the storm hit. According to the AP, "The holes left by the missing panels created 40,000 square feet of 'open window' on two sides of the building."
This is extremely good news! As I said previously, if we had lost any of the orbiters, the shuttle program would be over. And if the shuttle program is over, manned space flight as we know it would be over. While many think that the shuttle is a very poor vehicle (actually it's amazingly engineered, but always lacked a real purpose), having it around pushes Congress to fund something simpler and cheaper.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
If the shuttles are meant to travel through the atmosphere a minimum of two times, and possibly more for a few, I should hope they can survive a little thing like a natural disaster. After all, if the US space program can be destroyed by a little thing like a hurricane, I shudder to think what an extraterrestrial disaster would do to us.
It's only an insult if it's not true.
Given the safety cord and lack of oversight, it is good that if this had to happen, that it happened now, rather than when the shuttles were on 'active duty.' Now at least there isn't the pressure of a pending mission, and hopefully the engineers can have some time to thoroughly go over the orbiters to verify that there has been no damage.
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Too bad, if they had been damaged perhaps progress would have been made on other methods to get to orbit that are just a little more efficient.
That redstone rocket is basically irreplaceable. I'm sorry to see such a significant historical artifact destroyed.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Well, the X-Prize folks haven't gone anywhere yet and the Russians can barely afford their current feeble effort and don't seem to have any plans to pay for the design and development of new spacecraft or missions outside LEO.
(I'm deliberately discounting that little coast up to 60 miles. I want to see the private sector put payloads on the order of at leat 100 tons in orbit. That's the kind of capability we need to actually go somewhere.)
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
That's why it's so incredibly stupid to include tons of dead weight in the form of wings, landing gear, 1st stage engines and extra heat shields to protect them all in addition to the payload.
I have to imagine that if the shuttles had been destroyed, they would have built new ones. I don't know how much each ones costs, but wikipedia seems to indicate that it costs $500 million just for the launch.
:-)
Now, assuming that they had been destroyed and would be rebuilt...lets go on to ponder how many people are currently without homes/food/clothes down there in Florida. And how many of them could be fed/clothed for $500 million? Not all probably, but many.
I guess my only point is that I am surprised this made headlines. We should care just as much about the people down there getting their federal relief funds as we should about NASA fixing their walls. I'm all for space flight, but we should take care of those in need as well. Maybe once NASA fixes the hole in the wall, everyone can move in there!! Sounds like a big place.
Unfortunately you can't plan out that far for hurricane hits at this time, so instead of flying them out for every false alarm they take a chance with the orbiters in Florida.
Besides it's safer to have the orbiters buttoned down well in Florida, than have them caught off guard by a fast storm like Andrew with one of the orbiters still in process to be mated with the aircraft.
Interestingly enough, the cost per pound to put something in orbit was significantly lower for the (expendable) Saturn V than for the (reusable) Space Shuttle. Even when you take inflation into account.
Guam
Saipan
The US Virgin Islands
Peurto Rico
American Samoa
Nah, the USA dosen't have any colonies...
OTOH, the shuttle alone can't be taken as sufficient evidence that SSTO is a bad idea, or that VTHL is a half-assed way to put a winged airframe someplace without air, or that reusability either is or isn't worth its extra effort. nonetheless, i believe we should note that the shuttle is not and never was cheap to fly, that it has a sucky safety record, and takes a continuing enormous investment of time, money and manpower to operate.
it's been, what, thirty years since it was proposed and twenty since it first flew? maybe - just maybe - we could do better these days, with the lessons we've learned from it?
Congress? simpler and cheaper? have you ever read a U.S. newspaper?
If congress does anything to change the status quo, the change would probably be more complicated and more expersive!
Open Source Sushi
Or are you saying that every time theres a hurricane/flood/tornado/blizzard/wildfire/earthqua ke that NASA should scrub a launch and donate that money?
I've been through a couple of hurricanes lately. Floyd and Isabel. Lost most of the roof in Isabel. The longest wait was waiting for a reputable company to redo the roof. The insurance company came out, inspected, sent me a check the next day.
Do some people need more help? Sure. But the world shouldn't stop because Florida had a hurricane.
Instead of NASA, why don't we pick on the DOT for funds? Or INS? Or some other federal agency.
are probably safest parked out in the wide open
They don't keep the world's most expensive vehicles in hangars...?
If we lose the Shuttle now we lose the Hubble.
Better off having the shuttles now and replacements on the way than nothing at all until something new comes along. And in either scenario there wouldn't be anything on the horizon for at least a decade.