Shuttles Can't Finish Space Station

Doug Dante writes "The shuttle can't make the 28 flights now planned before it retires in 2010, according to Dr. Michael D. Griffin, the new administrator of NASA. It can only do about 15-23, leaving 5-13 planned missions to alternate lift vehicles. NASA is expected to consult space station partners on alternatives once they are approved by the Bush administration. Should the Space Shuttle be cut loose?"

Comments

Reg-Free Link

[KidHash]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/national/17nasa. html?ex=1276660800&en=add396f591fcab73&ei=5090&par tner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Lost Blueprints.

[torpor]

The blueprints for the Saturn V were *NOT* lost. They are on micro-film at Marshall Space Flight Center. They're not going to be terribly useful: rocket-science has come a loooong way since the 70's, courtsey of a few other sciences (materials/manufacturing).

Saturn V

[drxray]

from sci.space via skepticfiles.org.

Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, the Saturn V blueprints
have not been lost. They are kept at Marshall Space Flight Center on
microfilm.

The problem in re-creating the Saturn V is not finding the drawings, it
is finding vendors who can supply mid-1960's vintage hardware (like
guidance system components), and the fact that the launch pads and VAB
have been converted to Space Shuttle use, so you have no place to launch
from.

Also, I think the moon is fairly low in metals, so mining it to build spacecraft isn't a great plan unless you want to build them out of rock. Building a moonbase by remote control would be pretty awesome though.

Re:Bush administration

[Hungus]

well according to this MSNBC article from a bit over 2 weeks ago

"We have the money to do good things," said Administrator Michael Griffin, who has visited at least seven of NASA's centers since he was appointed in April. During a two-day visit at the home of human spaceflight, he spoke with astronauts, flight directors and other top administrators.

Griffin said on Tuesday that the agency has received a steady flow of funding, which when adjusted for inflation is comparable to the funding the agency had when it first sent astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program of the 1960s and early 1970s.

emphisis mine

Re:NASA, get out of the launch business!

[ocelotbob]

The only reason that Fedex doesn't deliver first class mail is because it's against the law for them to do so. In the interests of universal service, the government decided that no one other than the postal service is allowed to deliver first class mail.

Bring back the USSR first! (Re:Bring back Energia!

[Anonymous Coward]

Energia was largely a Ukrainian project. Once the locomotive of Soviet industry, this "independent" country is now struggling with African levels of poverty, being one of the poorest nations in Europe.
In little less than 15 years, Ukraine has been thoroughly demodernized. The "Russians" (in the narrow sense) cannot build Energia without Ukraine. Ukraine cannot build a bycicle as it stands right now. The only thing that the "orange revolution" changed is that now they are proud of it and even less likely to cooperate with Russia on any issue. They're back to the middle ages.

Now wait just a minute

[carambola5]

The ISS is most definitely not useless. It is essentially the world's only permanent microgravity laboratory. In addition, if the station reaches assembly-complete, it would have low-g capabilities a la the Centrifuge Accommodation Module (CAM). Not only should we have the CAM installed, but we are obliged to. The Japanese agreed to fabricate the CAM only if the USA would provide its lift to the ISS. As of now, the completed CAM is sitting in Florida collecting dust. It would be an international gaffe to not send the CAM up.

Now, the science aspect of the CAM is quite significant, as it allows long-term biology experiments at lunar- or martian-level gravity. Therefore, it would be possible to study the effects of low gravity on plants or small animals without requiring an expensive trip to the moon or mars.

Going private is nice and all, but the governmental infrastructure is already in place. The costs of replacing that in the near term is simply not cost effective.

PS: this "stuff" is not way too expensive. Every flight-certified piece of equipment needs a ridiculously high MTBF. Preventing the expense of on-orbit replacement is simply applied before the unit flies. You don't want stuff just breaking in outer space (see: Russian-made O2 units).