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A Brief History of the ESA (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Ars Technica takes a look at the history and development of the European Space agency. Getting things done at the ESA has an extra layer of difficulty compared to most other space programs because they rely on cooperation between many governments with different goals and budgets. "The first talks regarding the ESA took place against the backdrop of the growing space rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union, which had burst onto the world's stage with the successful Sputnik mission in October 1957. ... By 1959, the effort took on a sense of urgency.
Auger and Amaldi were concerned that the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Science Committee was thinking of developing a satellite to put Europe in space. Krige's book states that both scientists '[balked] at the prospect of having European space research located in an [organization] essentially dedicated to military goals, an [organization] which would impose layers of bureaucracy and secrecy on any space science effort.'" This led to the formation of the European Space Research Organization and the European Launcher Development Organization, which became precursors to the ESA. Today, the ESA's mission pipeline is packed with interesting probes set to do fascinating science.
Auger and Amaldi were concerned that the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Science Committee was thinking of developing a satellite to put Europe in space. Krige's book states that both scientists '[balked] at the prospect of having European space research located in an [organization] essentially dedicated to military goals, an [organization] which would impose layers of bureaucracy and secrecy on any space science effort.'" This led to the formation of the European Space Research Organization and the European Launcher Development Organization, which became precursors to the ESA. Today, the ESA's mission pipeline is packed with interesting probes set to do fascinating science.
No it wasn't. The SRBs were always going to be segmented because otherwise, they would be nearly impossible to refurbish as one-piece items. It had nothing to do with shipping it. Morevoer, the proximal cause of the accident was a compound of two issues - a design flaw that had been "normalized away" by repeated success, and launching outside the qualified temperature range.
The ET foam was always an issue (as it was on the S-II stage from the Saturn V) and the area of the bipod ramp was just a worst-case example. Arguably this was also a design flaw, also "normalized away" by time and lackadaisical attitude towards damage. The specifications on the tolerance of the TPS to damage was *zero*, none whatsoever. They got away with it time after time, until luck caught up with them.