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Historic Shuttle Spacesuits to Meet Fiery End
collectSPACE writes "While some museums bid for retired space shuttle orbiters, the real prize may be the spacewalking spacesuits, at least if NASA's plans for them hold true. The now-reusable extravehicular mobility units (EMUs) are soon to become disposable, allowed to disintegrate as they reenter the Earth's atmosphere inside spent cargo ships."
They are talking about after Orion replaces the current space shuttles. Orion does not have the ability to carry as much weight as the shuttle; thus, some things can not be brought back. One of these will be some suits that are stored on the ISS.
ok. say there are 6 people, that's 1200 pounds. bugger chutes, more fuel, who knows what else, that would add even more weight. Falling out of the sky mach 25 (at 120 km up), think about the extra trusting power it would take to avoid wither shaking to pieces or leaving a crater at Edwards. The more powerful thrusters and extra propellant would take more fuel at launch, requiring more space for the extra fuel, requiring slightly more fuel. Then there's storage of these things when landing. I know how annoying it is to have something sliding from side to side in the back of my truck, but while flying your shuttle home at the end of the day? That would get on anyone's nerves. :)