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Discovery Heads Into Retirement
dweezil-n0xad writes "Technicians in bay No. 2 of Kennedy Space Center's Orbiter Processing Facility remove shuttle Discovery's forward reaction control system (FRCS) on March 22 as part of the ship's transition and retirement processing. The FRCS will be completely cleaned of all toxic fuel and oxidizer chemicals, which are used for the steering jet system while a shuttle is in orbit. NASA says the FRCS will then be put back into Discovery to help prepare the shuttle for future public display." These photos are pretty cool.
Only if you consider the US dismantling what little remains of its manned space program cool.
**A massive disaster occurs on earth, forcing humanity to flee.**
"Oh wait...we forgot we took apart our space only space ships."
Darwin would be proud.
Why aren't we replacing this generation of shuttles with an updated and improved "Mk.II" version? This just seems like an enormous step back to me and I can't get excited about this process at all.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
The problem is that flying the shuttles costs a lot of money, and developing a replacement costs a lot of money. NASA is never going to get enough budget to keep flying and developing a replacement at the same time. The only real option is to stop flying so NASA can concentrate on development.
The shuttle was overheard to be saying, "Damn kids! Get off my launchpad you lazy bums!"
Monstar L
It actually looks like they are being very careful with this process. Odds are they are doing it in a way that they could return them to flight if they needed to. But I am just guessing.
Part of me kind of wishes they would launch the last one unmanned and boost it up past Geosync and leave it there. Vent the volitals and park it there for some far distant generation to find.
Yes I know the Shuttle lacks the fuel to go into that high of an orbit it would take launching and docking a separate booster and would cost a lot of money and effort but I can dream can't I?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Maybe I'm reading too much into what I see - but it looks to me like most of the people in those pictures are about ready to weep.
It actually looks like they are being very careful with this process. Odds are they are doing it in a way that they could return them to flight if they needed to.
Uh, no. The parts production line was mostly shut down a year or two back; there will be no more external tanks after the currently planned flights, and they'll presumably be laying off shuttle workers before long.
Restarting the program now would be expensive and complex; restarting it in a couple of years would probably cost as much as building a new spacecraft from scratch.
We went down the wrong path with the shuttles. I think their main purpose was a plot to make the Soviets copy them breaking their economy. If we would have kept making Saturn V's ( 10 times the lift capacity of the shuttle ) we would be walking on Mars TODAY.
But no, 30 years of waste, tiny lift capacity, and far more expense than single use rockets.
The best use of the Shuttles in my opinion it to let people look at them in museums.
The program can't end soon enough for me.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
... but to me, we shouldn't take the shuttles apart until we have a viable replacement that isn't just drawings and a budget meeting. If we dismantle the shuttles, and then the Republicans cut space budget for the new vehicle, we're at the mercy of Russia, China and the EU for the foreseeable future. Bad, bad move without a functioning replacement in the hangar.
We'll only be at the mercy of Russia, China, and the EU if Democrats cut the military budget. The military has it's own launch capabilities.
There's no place like
It is just as likely that the Democrats will cut the space budget for the new vehicle.
More likely, in fact, since they've done that already.
Try not to let your political prejudices affect everything in your life.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
It's more that the shuttles had a limited lifespan. They are old. The airframes are only rated for so much before they get mechanical weaknesses in the airframe and they just become too dangerous to fly. The longer we keep aged vehicles flying, the more chance they have of failing during flight and giving us another Columbia. The shuttles are already flying beyond their original lifespan. After a certain point, mechanical fatigue means you have to replace major parts of the airframe, essentially building a new orbiter. This is not just about the cost of keeping them running. It's about not unduly putting the lives of those who fly in the shuttles in jeopardy - replacement or no replacement.
Why even bother reinstalling it? If the only part visible from the exterior is a dark cone, just install a conical cap. Most of the hardware inside the shuttle such as computers, control panels, actuators etc is completely unnecessary for a museum piece. Just remove most of it and install dummy components.
Because it's about history and legacy, pal - not a tourist attraction. There will be a time when people will look at the shuttles trying to figure out how we did what we did - and a mockup won't tell them that.
Hey, the British sent a Concorde to the USA on retirement despite Concorde being hated (mostly by environmentalists). How about sending a Shuttle to the UK for display?
Take Nobody's Word For It.
what, cut the pork barrel ares and orion, and try and get more funding for COTS and spacex? which, by the way, are fucking awesome.
Actually I might be wrong, but I believe there is no backup shuttle for Atlantis. The boosters it's using were the last ones made, and they were meant to not be used because Atlantis was supposed to be the emergency backup for Endeavour. But when another flight was authorized, Atlantis moved from backup to being an actual flight. If there's a problem with Atlantis, the astronauts will ride home in a Soyuz from the ISS.
"I disagree with you" does not equal "flamebait."
No, he stomped on a bad project, in order to direct money to better projects. How much did Ares cost, versus how many orbital flights? Now compare that to what Falcon costs, and how many orbital flights it's had.
Now, with that in mind, which is offering the better return on investment?
Obama made the right call.
It was a good ride while it lasted, sad to say, we'll probably sit by and watch while other countries carry on in space.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.