Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Space Shuttles almost Ready to Re-Launch

Posted by timothy on from the let's-gather-to-contemplate-a-meeting-about-a-talk dept.

stagmeister writes "CNN and Space.com are reporting that the Return to Flight Task Group, the overseeing committee that determines when the Space Shuttles can go back into space, has reported that the only items blocking the Shuttles are issues 'related to tank debris, orbiter hardening and tile repair.' They plan to re-meet in later this month to finalize their decision. However, 'NASA has made clear it intends to resume shuttle flights with the repair capabilities it has in hand without knowing for sure whether they would work in an emergency.' Would you want your children flying a space shuttle that hasn't been properly beta-tested?"

4 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Re:There Anything Left? by cdelta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why exactly isn't Mars that interesting anymore? In the past year, we have discovered that the planet was once covered in liquid water and could have supported life. We have two rovers there now, a few orbiters, and the ESA's Mars Express is about to start their radar mapping of the subsurface to see if there are any large aquifers present. If there is an abundance of water, human exploration and settlement will be that much easier. And as for getting to a planet, we've been going to them for the past thirty years. Cassini is in the Saturn system right now. The only difference between that and sending humans is a larger spacecraft, life support systems, and more fuel.

  2. There will always be risks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hi - this whole safety mania regarding the space shuttle is silly. Yes, it is tragic that two crews have died so far, but lets face it - when traveling in those atmospheric conditions at those speeds and temperature extremes there will always be a risk, even if NASA managers are under pressure to be able to claim it is now entirely safe.

    I mean, there are terrible airplane crashes every year, but do we shut down all commercial airflight until we can make it certain that flying has no risk?

    On the flip side, we should do more to acknowledge the risks those space shuttle crews take every time they go up for even a "routine" mission.

    TWR

  3. each flight costs $500 million! by distantbody · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The space shuttle program was ruined in its early days by too many government/military/nasa requirements, in short they wanted it to be a "jack of all trades", but because most of the shuttles functionality and specifications are rarely used, it turned out to be "a master of none" because of all the bloat. each flight costs in the order of $500 million rather than initial projections of $10 to $20 million!

    The Crew Exploration Vehicle appears to be on the right track, just as the shuttle concept was, lets just hope they dont make the same mistakes again! oh well, if they mess this one up too we can always look forward to the future European EADS Phoenix reusable launch vehicle!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle How a good concept turns into bad reality
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EADS_Phoenix What the shuttle should have been. Leave it up to the Europeans to get it right! ;)

  4. Come on... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Would you want your children flying a space shuttle that hasn't been properly beta-tested?"


    Oh fuck off. The astronauts know damned well what they are getting into... certainly better than you with your irrelevant software analogy.