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US Urged To Keep Space Shuttles Flying Past 2010
DarkNemesis618 writes "A US Representative has proposed that NASA keep the shuttle fleet flying past its planned 2010 retirement date. The move would help NASA avoid reliance on Russian rockets during the gap between the Space Shuttle retirement and the start of the Orion program. One proposal would keep the shuttle fleet flying from 2010 to 2013 while another would keep the fleet alive until the Orion program is ready in about 2015. 2011 marks the end of the exemption that has allowed NASA to use Soyuz rockets for trips to the Space Station, and they would need an extension to keep using Russian launch vehicles. NASA's other option lies in the private sector; but thus far, the progress from that quarter does not look sufficient to meet the 2011 deadline."
It's been 60 years since Sputnik took off. You'd think the "who's got the biggest cock" race would be over by now. The current shuttles are getting a bit old now and the most recent problems/accidents/tragedies indicated the very same thing. Maybe Russian rockets is the safest route for now?
Full Tilt
TFA seems to suggest extending the STS life while also cutting costs. This sounds like a recipe for disaster.
I know that strapping yourself to a rocket and heading for space is never safe but it would be better not to make it more dangerous. At the same time, I can see that extending the life by 6 months or so would help alleviate the current pressures on the STS for the station-construction mission (but that's not what the article discusses)
I presume the reasoning for not wanting to rely on the Russian crew launch system is that any souring of the American-Russian relationship could make the deal problematic. How about if it were via ESA and the forthcoming Soyuz operation at French-Guiana? Would this side-step some of the possible relationship issues?
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
The spend is justified simply because (and a certain well known physicist will back me up) if we do not learn to leave this rock we, as a race, will ultimately perish here.
I'm not sure that the STS as it was finally created could ever be called a 'responsible' use of resources but right now, it's the only manned launcher the USA has so they've got to work with it until Orion becomes available.
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
Now they can launch that telescope thingie that was going to be left to wither because all the remaining flights have been scheduled for finishing the ISS -- and with delays, they still won't be done by 2013 anyhow.
;-)
Hey NASA can go waste all the billions they want, it's still a drop in the bucket compared to wars which suck up a lot more money and produce even less useful results than NASA.
It's too bad the privatized companies (Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, SpaceX, Armadillo) can't ramp up development to meet the need. Oddly enough, *their* space race will produce the only results that will actually lower the cost per pound to orbit.
It's too bad we're all so scared of failure these days. Consider that during the development of aircraft, a lot of people died. A lot of people died just trying to cross the Atlantic. We didn't halt aircraft development every time some lunatic in a biplane was lost in a storm. But for some reason, we're afraid to blow up the occasional person to get into space. We need to get over that. A lot of people are going to die before we're able to easily leave the planet as easily as we currently visit another continent. That's just a reality and no amount of double checking is going to change that.
Well, for test flights anyhow, we could always use that Humanoid Robot (REEM-B) some guy spent three *whole* years developing!
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Is it that hard to imagine why senators want US dollars to be spent in their home states instead of going to Russia?
My guess is that this is a national economy thing and has nothing to do with flight-worthiness or risk analysis.
Break the sound barrier - bring the noise.
Moreover, the money spent NASA isn't even a drop in the bucket compared to the defense budget
I heard a series of talks from a former nasa engineer-y-type, far from comparing nasa's budget to the defence budget, he pointed out that the annual budget for nasa is less than the annual budget for clearing up the national parks after each summer's round of camps.
Politics too often trumps science and common sense. Here's a congressman who wants a lucrative deal in his district, that's the story.
I like how the congressman describes it as an "arbitrary" date for decomissioning and that the risks won't increase overnight. I say send a congressman up on every mission after the shuttle's sell by date.
They probably can be used effectively for many years, but that doesn't mean that they should. Every bit of extra maintenance and upkeep performed on an old system, every bit of extra testing to make sure parts still function and every investigation into a failure will slow the space program and new developments. This is pork politics no matter how it's dressed up.
Well, thanks to the Internet, I'm now bored with sex.
[snip]
So maybe you are too intelligent if you keep asking "why"
Deleted
Stop thinking you need to invent stuff that has already been invented by seasoned professionals in the commercial launch industry. Trust me we have solutions for whatever troubles your heart about spaceflight. We are systematically blocked by pervasive not-invented-here syndrome and an near total lack of hands-on know-how at NASA. We planned out an entire cost effective architecture that would have put people on the moon in 2012 for about 20% of NASA's projected costs. This was to be commenced in 2007. The offer still stands. Have you heard of it? Probably not- it has been systematically blocked from publication by NASA administrators and their henchmen for years now.
But you can keep on with ARES- it will be history within 15 years if it flies at all- remembered as a pimple on the leprous butt that was Shuttle. Sensible designs will outlast it- as they did Saturn.