[saturn_656]

Say what you want about the Russians... but their manned space program has continued uninterrupted for decades. Even during the fall of Soviet Union and the failure of the next generation Buran spacecraft, cosmonauts continued to fly on Soyuz capsules.

This is the second time that the Americans, who have FAR deeper pockets, have essentially shut down their manned space program. It was six years between ASTP and STS 1, who knows how long it will take this time.

Whatever happened to getting "the successor" on deck and ready for use BEFORE you retire your old crate?

[DanSC]

saturn_656 saturn_656:

Whatever happened to getting "the successor" on deck and ready for use BEFORE you retire your old crate?

Sometimes this happens.

[saturn_656]

DanSC DanSC:

saturn_656 saturn_656:

Whatever happened to getting "the successor" on deck and ready for use BEFORE you retire your old crate?

Sometimes this happens.

The O ring problem was recognized BEFORE the Challenger accident.

Some genus(s) at NASA felt the risk was acceptable. Oops.

[DanSC]

saturn_656 saturn_656:

The O ring problem was recognized BEFORE the Challenger accident.

It clearly wasn't ready for use then, was it?

[saturn_656]

DanSC DanSC:

saturn_656 saturn_656:

The O ring problem was recognized BEFORE the Challenger accident.

It clearly wasn't ready for use then, was it?

The Challenger was not safe for flight given the environmental conditions at the launch site. The problem with the O rings was recognized and the potential for disaster known.

They launched anyway. People died. The faulty O ring didn't kill those astronauts, incompetence at NASA did.

[DanSC]

saturn_656 saturn_656:

The Challenger was not safe for flight given the environmental conditions at the launch site. The problem with the O rings was recognized and the potential for disaster known.

If you don't fully understand and/pr respect the risks, a piece of flight hardware isn't ready. For another example, see Soyuz 1 or Apollo 1.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

This might be a good time to throw out a quote from one of NASA's earlier astronauts, and forgive me but I cannot remember which one said this. When asked what he was thinking as he sat in the capsule before launch he replied, "I look at all the electronics, computers, flight controls and other systems and think to myself, 'Gee, the contract to build this went to the lowest bidder'".

Now THAT'S understanding the risks

[saturn_656]

I think the problem lies in pencil pushers deciding that the risks involved in a certain design are "acceptable".

Then the astronauts have to learn the hard way just how wrong those pencil pushers are.

[BartSimpson]

DanSC DanSC:

saturn_656 saturn_656:

Whatever happened to getting "the successor" on deck and ready for use BEFORE you retire your old crate?

Sometimes this happens.

Pretty bad, ain't it?

[Bruce_the_vii]

It may be of interest for those of you that missed it but when the physicist Richard Feynman looked at the space shuttle that blew up he mentioned that the engineers calculate the chance of failure for each critical part and with the space shuttle the sum of the probabilities was 1. The thing is know to probably blow up on at least one mission. It's too dangerous. Just go with the planetary probes and that.

[saturn_656]

$1:

Just go with the planetary probes and that.

Unmanned probes should be a means to an end, the end being human exploration and colonization of other worlds.

If all we're going to do is send robots, and never leave the cradle ourselves, what is the point?

[raydan]

saturn_656 saturn_656:

$1:

Just go with the planetary probes and that.

Unmanned probes should be a means to an end, the end being human exploration and colonization of other worlds.

If all we're going to do is send robots, and never leave the cradle ourselves, what is the point?

Let's fix what's wrong on our own planet before going out and fucking up others.

[saturn_656]

raydan raydan:

saturn_656 saturn_656:

$1:

Just go with the planetary probes and that.

Unmanned probes should be a means to an end, the end being human exploration and colonization of other worlds.

If all we're going to do is send robots, and never leave the cradle ourselves, what is the point?

Let's fix what's wrong on our own planet before going out and fucking up others.

Or we acknowledge that one day our planet will be too fucked up to live on, so lets start figuring out where we are going to move.