Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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. Damn them, indeed! by caluml · · Score: -1, Troll

    Yep, damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-agead!

    --
    Get your own free personal location tracker
  2. Fireworks! Whee! by daniil · · Score: 0, Troll

    What a great way to celebrate my birthday!

    --
    Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
  3. Maybe this shuttle will blow-up in NASA's faces. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Then hopefully the final shuttle will blow-up in their faces. After that the ISS's orbit will start to decay, other countries will refuse to help the USians and then the ISS will crash into Washington, US and take out the USians in their congress. WOOT! WOOT!

    GO AHEAD! FUCKING FLAME WAY 0R WASTE YOUR GOD DAMNED MOD POINTS FUCKTARDED SHITDOT SHEEPLE!

  4. Another Failure of the Free Market. by Bob_Robertson · · Score: -1, Troll

    "If this thing blows up, guess who're going to be blamed for it?"

    That's easy: Capitalism and the Free Market.

    That's who gets blamed for every government bureaucratic boondoggle.

    Slashdot is hardly the place to call for abolishing NASA and repealing all the laws against individual exploitation of space. Too many government run public school "graduates" who have accepted the "government is good" Big Lie hook, line and sinker. Or rather, "lock, stock, and barrel."

    Bob-

    --
    The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics
  5. Install small nets? by maggern · · Score: -1, Troll

    Call me stupid, but if things are falling off the shuttle and damaging the heat shield, wouldn't a simple solution be to install small nets with many "floors" in order to catch the falling objects as close to the "start-falling-point" as possible? (so the falling objects won't have the opportunity to gain speed, which would increase the chance of damage) Then ditch the nets (and possible catched objects) when reached zero-gravity?

  6. Re:Chemical rocketry is lame by danratherfoe · · Score: -1, Troll
    Have you noticed some exploitable physical phenomenon that no one else has happened upon? Or do you just think that wishing hard enough will do the trick?
    The former, but I'll not comment further here.