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NASA Considering Early Retirement of Shuttle Program

Posted by michael on from the out-to-pasture dept.

Rei writes "While publicly assuring the public that it has no plans to do so, leaks have indicated that NASA has been quietly investigating plans to get rid of the Space Shuttle as soon as possible, and finish the International Space Station with disposable rockets, even as NASA works on achieving Return to Flight in 2005."

6 of 428 comments (clear)

  1. Saturn Vs, Please? by Simon+G+Best · · Score: 5, Funny

    Aren't Saturn Vs just magnificent? They're magnificent! I reckon it's time for them to make a come-back. Please?

    --
    Freedom of expression includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas expressed in software form.
    1. Re:Saturn Vs, Please? by wikdwarlock · · Score: 3, Funny

      You forget, perhaps, that this is, indeed, rocket science.

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      "I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." -Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
  2. Why not just.... by elid · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...outsource it to India? :-)

  3. Re:Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Which part of the Apollo program was reusable, exactly? The astronauts? That doesn't count.

  4. Not really news by stratjakt · · Score: 4, Funny

    They've been constantly considering the viability of the Shuttle program since it began in the 70s, and it's always been under the threat of having the plug pulled at any moment.

    I don't know why it's so "hip" to hate the shuttle program around here. If you look past the cost, the shuttles are pretty damned cool, and have a better safety record than any commercial passenger jet.

    It's just so sci-fi. The shuttles are honest-to-god spaceships, everything else is just strapping a tin can onto a big bottle rocket.

    They just needed to shoot lasers and have a socket to mount an R2 utility droid and they'd be teh coolest EVAR!!!1!1!!!

    I find your lack of faith disturbing.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    1. Re:Not really news by meringuoid · · Score: 3, Funny
      boring-ass rockets that you'd see in 1950's sci fi films

      Hey! I resent that! 1950s sci-fi rockets had a chequered band around the middle! A CHEQUERED BAND! Is there a chequered bit around anywhere on the Shuttle? No. A nice two-tone design with the heat tiles, I'll give you that, but no cool-looking chequered bit. Dan Dare wouldn't go up in a Shuttle if you had him at gunpoint. Hell, if you get Dan Dare at gunpoint you're the villain anyway and you're going to get a kicking but that's beside the point. Any cool rocket needs a chequered bit, robot arms come a distant second.

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.