NASA Columbia survival report question.

If the Chinese are copying the shuttle they're screwed.

What exactly is the problem with having a stronger Chinese civilian space program?

If it were not for the Russians (ex USSR), our space station project would be screwed.

It should have been screwed from the start - a total waste of money that would have been better spent on ultra-cheap heavy lift rockets.

-- snip --

"NASA -- we obey the law"?

If it's taxpayer funded, and there's no overriding security motivation in keeping it secret, it's gotta be shared.

Democratic governments that don't share information with the public don't stay democratic very long. The Chinese aren't democratic -- they'll screw things up for us without us having to screw ourselves.

It was an awful lot of work to determine the failure mode of a system that is already known to be excessively dangerous, and is due for retirement.

I felt that the Shuttle should have been grounded after Columbia (at the time, I expressed the view that it would be). If anything has been learnt about external foam insulation, it must be that it's best avoided.

Sylvia.

I didn't. Then as now, I believe that space is a naturally dangerous endeavor and risks are part of the price of admission. Everyone knows this, except the PR shills who keep telling the press and Obama voters that it's safe as crossing the street (though they never said which street).

OTOH, I now see no purpose in continuing the program as it is. There is nothing to be learned from the space station other than how to live on the space station. Another moon program is equally stupid, for much the same reasons.

Why heavy lift? Better to concentrate on unmanned missions (robotic) and the technology to make the payloads smaller and lighter. At some point, if we need a large, unmanned satellite, we can develop the technology to launch components and have them assemble autonomously.

Because small payloads are covered six ways from Sunday, already?

That's not cheap either.

Unless it was a successful colonization project to send old politicians to die, er, to retire.

d.

I believe the original NASA estimate of a fatal shuttle mission was about 1 in 10,000, before the Challenger explosion. The latest public estimate is about 2 in 100

I sense that you are so old that you see no future benefit.

I'm by no means opposed to space exploration, nor to manned space exploration, and agree that it's a dangerous environment, and that people will die in the task.

But the space shuttle was a flawed design, compromised by USAF requirements (once around abort being a particular one), and by being built to a budget.

Money spent on keeping it in service was money not available for developing a safer replacement.

Sylvia.

Maybe not now. But that's why we've got to get to work on the technology. That money will be better spent than sending up astronauts with the requisite life support just to have them drop tools.

And that's a valid concern. Commercial technology has problems enough if the State Department decides that its 'dual use' and needs to be restricted. Using military h/w (and R&D) is going to keep the products of NASA funding out of the commercial satellite business. Meanwhile, the French, Russians, Chinese and Indians will take that market away from us.

I'd rather see all the funding go to open NASA projects and the military stuff get rides into space on commercial technology.

The Chinese will have no qualms about offering their technology up for commercial launches.

That's what Gitmo will be for. By the time they figure out it's not South Florida, It'll be too late.

Well, the idea is to ship enough people offworld to create a viable autonomous colony. That means (as the SpaceX guy puts it) reducing the cost of transporting a single Human to Mars to under $2m.

Yep. If we sent leftist weenies we could at least get some disposal value ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Gitmo is safer.

d.

I agree completely. But would add:

Bush (43) had the wet-dream to get back in space with a lunar mission. Probably had nothing to do with science. (Like he would even know what that was?!)

Maybe he thought it would impress his daddy? Like the majority of his "decisions", this one too makes no sense.

I have so little faith in anything the government undertakes these days its downright scary.

-mpm

Yeah, but is that in meters or feet? :)