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strangeanimal... wow. wow, wow, wow.
and they don't seem to have any idea what happened, all they've been able to do so far is rule things out... like, they know it wasn't hit by a missile or anti-aircraft fire, since it was traveling at Mach 4 and there's no way you can hit a target that fast.
another seven astronauts giving their lives for space exploration...
... thinking way ahead here, since obviously, present thoughts are on the tragedy and on the losses of the astronauts' families... I wonder if this will push a wholesale change in the space program. the shuttles as we know them have been in service for 20+ years, and now have had two tragedies. are we going to see new vehicles, or will the space program essentially grind to a halt?
... it feels like 1986 again, and not in a good way.
and they don't seem to have any idea what happened, all they've been able to do so far is rule things out... like, they know it wasn't hit by a missile or anti-aircraft fire, since it was traveling at Mach 4 and there's no way you can hit a target that fast.
another seven astronauts giving their lives for space exploration...
... thinking way ahead here, since obviously, present thoughts are on the tragedy and on the losses of the astronauts' families... I wonder if this will push a wholesale change in the space program. the shuttles as we know them have been in service for 20+ years, and now have had two tragedies. are we going to see new vehicles, or will the space program essentially grind to a halt?
... it feels like 1986 again, and not in a good way.
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no subject
Date: 2003-02-01 09:14 am (UTC)Not to mention the fact that it was at extreme altitude.
As for changes in the space program, I recall discussion of retiring the orbiters several months ago. If I recall correctly, the expected lifetime of the spacecraft was measured both in years and in missions. The crafts were approaching the expected number of years that they were supposed to have lasted, but since they were well under the number of missions that they were designed to fly, the consensus was that they were still safe to fly for several years.
My hope is that the space program isn't going to grind to a halt, but I expect an accelerating shift toward unmanned missions (like the Pathfinder mission to Mars). Which grieves me, as I took joy at seeing the construction of a space station in my lifetime.
Re:
Date: 2003-02-01 09:28 am (UTC)definitely not the way you want to retire them though...
no subject
Date: 2003-02-01 10:08 am (UTC)God bless NASA's mission: to understand and protect our home planet, to explore the Universe and search for life, to inspire the next generation of explorers... as only NASA can.
And God be with the 3 humans still on the ISS.
Re:
Date: 2003-02-01 10:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-01 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-01 11:14 am (UTC)Having seen the Challenger explosion on television, this now makes two times too many that I've lived through such tragedies.
Re:
Date: 2003-02-01 11:56 am (UTC)one small step, etc, etc....
Date: 2003-02-09 12:15 pm (UTC)Yes it is sad that the astronauts abord the shuttle were killed, but it shouldn't be that shocking. This is perhaps a reflection of our society that something as inherently dangerous as travelling into space is considered common place or in anyway "safe". It isn't.
Leaving aside any considerations of the age of the shuttles, combined they flew more than
100 missions and have only blown up twice. In the entire history of American manned space flight, NASA has only lost three crews (2 shuttles and the three man crew of Appollo 1.
In the realm of success vs. failure, not a bad average.(Yes, I AM a callous bastard, whatta you gonna do about it?)
The people involved in the space program know (knew) what they are/were getting into, and the potential risks involved. A respectful pause to reflect on their loss is called for but turning them into some sort of heroic martyrs is overstating it a bit.
Re: one small step, etc, etc....
Date: 2003-02-09 06:07 pm (UTC)I say at very least, it's sad to lose seven people in their primes who were engaging in something halfway helpful and worthwhile.
Re: one small step, etc, etc....
Date: 2003-02-09 08:28 pm (UTC)That's another question,...the helpfull/usefullness of the current NASA manned programs. There are much cheaper less dangerous ways of getting people to and from the space station (soyuz capsules for example..and cargo shipments can easily be sent up in unmanned vessels...
Now let's consider worthwhile, is it?
Don't misunderstand me, I'd be the first to say that the space station is very cool and if they allowed untrained civilians to go up there I'd be first in line, but there is no serious legitimate science being done up there that can't be acomplished down here. The only real helpful aspect of it is to justify the NASA budgets.
And the Russian space program has already proved that long term space missions are do-able with MIR. (I still think they should have tried to salvage MIR and build onto it rather than let it burn up and start over with the ISS.
I'm of the opinion that they should scrap the shuttle program (wildly over budget) that exists now and throw the savings into the Mars missions...and when are they going to go back to the moon? (There is a crazy ammount of ice (frozen hydrogen and oxygen) in the southern polar region that is just waiting to be converted to fuel & breathable air for the mars missions.
No more baby steps,...lets get out there already!
-R-
Re: one small step, etc, etc....
Date: 2003-02-10 05:25 am (UTC)