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NASA's New 'Lesson' from Space Mac the Nice 08-17-2007
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Posted by Mac the Nice on August 17, 2007, 1:19 pm
It's a paradox:

Shun risk, and yet passively persist in a state of risk--howsoever
'calculated'.

From the Seattle times . . .

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003840413_shuttle17.html

"The astronauts had spent much of the day running through the
never-before-attempted repair methods, just in case they were ordered up."

While procrastination continues to dog necessary repairs for Hubble, even as
essential weather satellites are on the verge of going out of commission
with nothing on the agenda to replace them, somehow, somewhere in the
administration of the Space Program, there is deemed (in a mentality the
flavor of Fruit Loops) to be room on the Shuttle for another frivolous,
trivial, patently asinine "School Teacher in Space" mission--but no room in
the crew for a pair of crack space-ship mechanics, let alone an engineer or
two, to be on board for every mission, thoroughly trained and equipped for
just such an exigency as this, which occurred with the last Kaptain Kangaroo
and Romper Room in Space mission which ended in catastrophe--as only such a
mission is apparently destined to do.

There just seems to be a fateful kind of logic to it that is too
mathematical, too concrete, too almost cosmically lawful (let alone 'awful')
to be expressed in parabolas of words. It has nothing whatever to do with
"justice" that 1 + 1 = 2; it just flatly makes sense, as likewise so does
the observation that inanity tends toward tragedy.

When things get stupid, needless, wasteful, capricious, snotty and
slothful--well, once again from the Seattle Times . . .

"Endeavour's bottom thermal shielding was pierced by a piece of debris that
broke off the external fuel tank shortly after liftoff last week. The
debris, either foam insulation, ice or a combination of both, weighed just
one-third of an ounce but packed enough punch to carve out a 3 ½-inch-long,
2-inch-wide gouge and dig all the way through the thermal tiles. Left
exposed was a narrow 1-inch strip of feltlike fabric, the last barrier
before the shuttle's aluminum structure."

And now get a load of this . . .

"The chairman of the mission management team, John Shannon, said Johnson
Space Center's engineering group in Houston wanted to proceed with the
repairs. But everyone else, including safety officials, voted to skip them."

How on earth (or in the heavens) can this be happening again, right before
our eyes?

It's simple: one 'risk' is deemed superior to another--the easiest risk, the
passive, the do-nothing one, not the active one, wins the day in the Romper
Room realms of the inane at NASA.

So what *is* the "lesson" for the children to learn from this?
--
Mackie
http://whosenose.blogspot.com
http://doo-dads.blogspot.com/
http://www.mackiemesser.zoomshare.com/0.html
http://vignettes-mackie.blogspot.com/



--

.............................................................
> Posted thru AtlantisNews - Explore EVERY Newsgroup <
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Posted by qbit on August 17, 2007, 1:29 pm
>
> It's a paradox:
>
> Shun risk, and yet passively persist in a state of risk--howsoever
> 'calculated'.

The poor astronauts.
I think this time they will need much more luck then the last time.
I heard in England they are making bets...

> From the Seattle times . . .
> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003840413_shuttle17.html
> "The astronauts had spent much of the day running through the
> never-before-attempted repair methods, just in case they were ordered up."
>
> While procrastination continues to dog necessary repairs for Hubble, even as
> essential weather satellites are on the verge of going out of commission
> with nothing on the agenda to replace them, somehow, somewhere in the
> administration of the Space Program, there is deemed (in a mentality the
> flavor of Fruit Loops) to be room on the Shuttle for another frivolous,
> trivial, patently asinine "School Teacher in Space" mission--but no room in
> the crew for a pair of crack space-ship mechanics, let alone an engineer or
> two, to be on board for every mission, thoroughly trained and equipped for
> just such an exigency as this, which occurred with the last Kaptain Kangaroo
> and Romper Room in Space mission which ended in catastrophe--as only such a
> mission is apparently destined to do.
>
> There just seems to be a fateful kind of logic to it that is too
> mathematical, too concrete, too almost cosmically lawful (let alone 'awful')
> to be expressed in parabolas of words. It has nothing whatever to do with
> "justice" that 1 + 1 = 2; it just flatly makes sense, as likewise so does
> the observation that inanity tends toward tragedy.
>
> When things get stupid, needless, wasteful, capricious, snotty and
> slothful--well, once again from the Seattle Times . . .
>
> "Endeavour's bottom thermal shielding was pierced by a piece of debris that
> broke off the external fuel tank shortly after liftoff last week. The
> debris, either foam insulation, ice or a combination of both, weighed just
> one-third of an ounce but packed enough punch to carve out a 3 ½-inch-long,
> 2-inch-wide gouge and dig all the way through the thermal tiles. Left
> exposed was a narrow 1-inch strip of feltlike fabric, the last barrier
> before the shuttle's aluminum structure."
>
> And now get a load of this . . .
>
> "The chairman of the mission management team, John Shannon, said Johnson
> Space Center's engineering group in Houston wanted to proceed with the
> repairs. But everyone else, including safety officials, voted to skip them."
>
> How on earth (or in the heavens) can this be happening again, right before
> our eyes?
>
> It's simple: one 'risk' is deemed superior to another--the easiest risk, the
> passive, the do-nothing one, not the active one, wins the day in the Romper
> Room realms of the inane at NASA.
>
> So what *is* the "lesson" for the children to learn from this?
> --


Posted by Uncle Al on August 17, 2007, 2:36 pm
Mac the Nice wrote:
>
> It's a paradox:
>
> Shun risk, and yet passively persist in a state of risk--howsoever
> 'calculated'.
>
> From the Seattle times . . .
>
> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003840413_shuttle17.html
>
> "The astronauts had spent much of the day running through the
> never-before-attempted repair methods, just in case they were ordered up."
>
> While procrastination continues to dog necessary repairs for Hubble, even as
> essential weather satellites are on the verge of going out of commission
> with nothing on the agenda to replace them, somehow, somewhere in the
> administration of the Space Program, there is deemed (in a mentality the
> flavor of Fruit Loops) to be room on the Shuttle for another frivolous,
> trivial, patently asinine "School Teacher in Space" mission--but no room in
> the crew for a pair of crack space-ship mechanics, let alone an engineer or
> two, to be on board for every mission, thoroughly trained and equipped for
> just such an exigency as this, which occurred with the last Kaptain Kangaroo
> and Romper Room in Space mission which ended in catastrophe--as only such a
> mission is apparently destined to do.
[snip]

> So what *is* the "lesson" for the children to learn from this?

The only certain means to be rid of a tenured teacher is... making it
ride the Space Scuttle. Princess Diana was a kindergarten teacher
before she was a British Royal broodmare. It wasn't every day that
her charges got the intellectual better of her.

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/nasa3.htm

--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/lajos.htm#a2

Posted by jcon on August 17, 2007, 3:12 pm
wrote:
> It's a paradox:
>
> Shun risk, and yet passively persist in a state of risk--howsoever
> 'calculated'.
>
> From the Seattle times . . .
>
> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003840413_shuttle1...
>
> "The astronauts had spent much of the day running through the
> never-before-attempted repair methods, just in case they were ordered up."
>
> While procrastination continues to dog necessary repairs for Hubble, even=
as
> essential weather satellites are on the verge of going out of commission
> with nothing on the agenda to replace them, somehow, somewhere in the
> administration of the Space Program, there is deemed (in a mentality the
> flavor of Fruit Loops) to be room on the Shuttle for another frivolous,
> trivial, patently asinine "School Teacher in Space" mission--but no room =
in
> the crew for a pair of crack space-ship mechanics, let alone an engineer =
or
> two, to be on board for every mission, thoroughly trained and equipped for
> just such an exigency as this, which occurred with the last Kaptain Kanga=
roo
> and Romper Room in Space mission which ended in catastrophe--as only such=
a
> mission is apparently destined to do.
>

Better yet, bag the whole shuttle program. With the cancellation of
the AMS experiment, the last tenuous claim that the ISS would do
"science" vanished. Now, as Bob Park says "NASA must complete
the ISS so it can be dropped into the ocean on schedule in finished
form."

> There just seems to be a fateful kind of logic to it that is too
> mathematical, too concrete, too almost cosmically lawful (let alone 'awfu=
l')
> to be expressed in parabolas of words. It has nothing whatever to do with
> "justice" that 1 + 1 =3D 2; it just flatly makes sense, as likewise so do=
es
> the observation that inanity tends toward tragedy.
>
> When things get stupid, needless, wasteful, capricious, snotty and
> slothful--well, once again from the Seattle Times . . .
>
> "Endeavour's bottom thermal shielding was pierced by a piece of debris th=
at
> broke off the external fuel tank shortly after liftoff last week. The
> debris, either foam insulation, ice or a combination of both, weighed just
> one-third of an ounce but packed enough punch to carve out a 3 =BD-inch-l=
ong,
> 2-inch-wide gouge and dig all the way through the thermal tiles. Left
> exposed was a narrow 1-inch strip of feltlike fabric, the last barrier
> before the shuttle's aluminum structure."
>
> And now get a load of this . . .
>
> "The chairman of the mission management team, John Shannon, said Johnson
> Space Center's engineering group in Houston wanted to proceed with the
> repairs. But everyone else, including safety officials, voted to skip the=
m=2E"
>

I would take this as an indication that at least some of the experts
feel the "repair" introduces more risk than doing nothing.

-jc




> How on earth (or in the heavens) can this be happening again, right before
> our eyes?
>
> It's simple: one 'risk' is deemed superior to another--the easiest risk, =
the
> passive, the do-nothing one, not the active one, wins the day in the Romp=
er
> Room realms of the inane at NASA.
>
> So what *is* the "lesson" for the children to learn from this?
> --
> Mackiehttp://whosenose.blogspot.comhttp://doo-dads.blogspot.com/http://ww=
w=2Emackiemesser.zoomshare.com/0.htmlhttp://vignettes-mackie.blogspot.com/
>
> --
>
> .............................................................
> > Posted thru AtlantisNews - Explore EVERY Newsgroup <
> > http://www.AtlantisNews.com -- Lightning Fast!!! <
> > Access the Most Content * No Limits * Best Service <



Posted by Paul Foley on August 18, 2007, 9:33 am
jcon wrote:

> Better yet, bag the whole shuttle program. With the cancellation of
> the AMS experiment, the last tenuous claim that the ISS would do
> "science" vanished. Now, as Bob Park says "NASA must complete
> the ISS so it can be dropped into the ocean on schedule in finished
> form."

The "science" claim to justify the manned space program has evaporated.
With news of drunk astronauts and unhinged/jealous astronauts, so has
the "national prestige" argument. What's left?

We beat the Russians to the moon. The urge to relive past glories is
strong, and has kept the manned space program funded ever since. But
the Evil Empire is no more, and the cockeyed dream of returning to the
moon is as pointless as it is fraught with peril. With the bill soon
coming due for the Iraq war, there's no way it's going to get funded.


Finally, thankfully, the manned space program will come to an end.

Page 1 of 8       1 2 3 > last >>
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