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Shuttle Retirement In 2010 Under Review
An anonymous reader alerts us to an Orlando Sentinel report based on a leaked NASA email, indicating that NASA is looking at options to extend the Shuttle program. The fighting between Russia and Georgia has put a strain on plans to rely on Russian boosters until the Shuttle's replacement flies in 2015. Yet extending the Shuttle's life is no sure thing. According to a former NASA program manager, "We started shutting down the shuttle four years ago. That horse has left the barn." And NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has told Congress that if the Shuttle fleet were to fly two missions a year until 2015, "the risk would be about one in 12 that we would lose another crew. That's a high risk... [one] I would not choose to accept on behalf of our astronauts." And then there's the matter of finding the $4 billion a year it would take to keep the fleet operational. The Sentinel mentions that John McCain has called for additional Shuttle flights, but doesn't mention that Barack Obama has made the same point, as the BBC reports.
$4 billion/year to keep the fleet up and running ? Let's see... $200 million/day spent on the war in Iraq... that's 20 days of war to keep the Space Shuttle in the air.
How about pulling out of Iraq and adding a few Space Shuttles, a mission to the moon, one to Mars... and I'm sure there will be lots of research centres that will know what to do with the other $50 billion or so... maybe find a cure for cancer ? Or is it worth more to fight a hopeless war than to cure cancer ?
Some people's dumbness never ceases to amaze me...