|
Posted by Michael Bulatovich on August 18, 2007, 8:37 am
We've got to be approaching the end of the line for the shuttle...How many
more missions are planned with it?
--
MichaelB
www.michaelbulatovich.ca
> Good thing the astronauts are keeping the shuttle in good repair, so they
> can go up again....and repair it.
>
>
>
>
>> On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:19:10 -0500, "Mac the Nice"
>>
>>
>>>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,
>>
>> Jeez... one stupid little research satellite (launched as the first of
>> its kind in 1999), is approaching its end of life with no replacement,
>> and critics make it out be the end of the weather satellite program
>> and we're all gonna be doomed by hurricanes. QUIKSCAT will be mourned,
>> but let's keep perspective here. We still have a fleet of GOES weather
>> satellites (the ones that provide the cool global weather photos on
>> News At Six) and the low-orbit weather satellites still have one
>> last-generation yet to launch before moving on to the new generation
>> NPOESS. Plus those Earth Observing Satellites ("Mission To Planet
>> Earth") are still going strong.
>>
>> And you do realize NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric
>> Adminstration) is responsible for weather satellites, not NASA, right?
>>
>>>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
>>
>> Morgan's a full-fledged astronaut now, and the teacher aspect is her
>> very-secondary duty. She also operates the robot arm and probably
>> would have done so had the tile repair been ordered. But let's not let
>> facts get in the way of a good rant.
>>
>>>--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,
>>
>> Last I checked, they've already gone out three times on this flight to
>> install and repair things on the Station, and will do so again on
>> Saturday. Sounds to me like they have the mechanics if they need them.
>> But again, we must have our ignorant rant...
>>
>>>"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?
>>
>> The "everyone else" are pretty smart, too. And the guys who disented
>> aren't the guys most familiar with the hardware involved. And those
>> guys didn't think it was a loss-of-crew situation, just a danger of
>> time consuming repairs afterwards.
>>
>> Brian
>
>
|