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Shuttle to Launch Despite Objections

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-agead dept.

sam0ht writes "NASA has just named July 1st as the launch date for the space shuttle Discovery, a year after the last shuttle mission. Last July's mission was the first since the break-up of Columbia in 2003, but after foam again broke away from the main tank, the shuttle fleet was grounded. More foam has been removed from the main tank, but NASA staff are divided over whether this is enough to ensure the flight's safety, with some reporting that both the lead engineer and top safety official are against launching again so soon. Managers want to make only one major change at a time, and plan that if damage does occur, the crew would be able to stay in the International Space Station, to which they are delivering supplies, rather than trying to land a damaged shuttle."

6 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. Rules of Shuttle Flight by ettlz · · Score: 5, Funny
    1. Do not ignore the engineers.
    2. Do not ignore the engineers.
    3. Do not open the windows.

    Ignoring engineers hasn't got the Shuttle very far in the past. From the Challenger Wikipedia article:

    [Feynman] was so critical of flaws in NASA's "safety culture" that he threatened to not sign off on the report unless it included his assessment, which appeared as Appendix F. He pointed to the discrepancy between management claiming a 1 in 100,000 chance of serious failure and the engineers claiming 1 in only 100, a risk one thousand times greater.
  2. sweet by M0b1u5 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Good. About friking time I had a new wallpaper for my 3840 x 1024 desktop.
    Each time the shuttle goes to the ISS I get new wallpaper.
    That might be just about the best thing to come out of the ISS program. *sigh*

    --
    How many escape pods are there? "NONE,SIR!" You counted them? "TWICE, SIR!"
  3. Re:grow a pair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Where has 'acceleration' been 'lately'?

    Probably "hiding" between a pair of "apostrophes".

  4. Re:This ain't the NASA of the moonshot by k_187 · · Score: 3, Funny

    which means the only solution is this: terrorists in space.

    --
    11 was a racehorse
    12 was 12
    1111 Race
    12112
  5. Re:Common sense by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 4, Funny
    Fatality per mile, the shuttle is no doubt kicking cars' ass.

    I don't know about that. Most shuttle trips are pretty short: They start at one of the Kennedy Space Center's launch pads, and they disembark just a couple of miles away at the shuttle's runway.

  6. Re:Common sense by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 3, Funny

    Comparing them to any kind of car is pretty pointless.

    You must be new here. This is slashdot, where car analogies are king.

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.