NASA grounds shuttle fleet

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by bikerchic

Because you are the "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA", King of the world, nuff said

I love Canadians.

[skcin]

Originally Posted by GardenStateGirlie

NASA Pessimistic About Solving Debris Woes

SPACE CENTER, Houston - NASA may never be able to prevent threatening chunks of insulation foam from breaking off the shuttle's fuel tank during launch, the agency's chief said Thursday, a day after future flights were ordered grounded because of the problem during Discovery's liftoff.

"We are trying to get it down to the level that cannot damage the orbiter," NASA administrator Michael Griffin told NBC's "Today."

"We will never be able to get the amount of debris shed by the tank down to zero," he said.

HELLO?!?! Why not? You're NASA, for God's sake! If not you, then who?




BTW,Marissa - was it you who loves the movie Spacecamp? I really need to watch that cool-as-hell flick again. I'm serious.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by skcin

HELLO?!?! Why not? You're NASA, for God's sake! If not you, then who?

....

That was what I was saying earlier that my friend said - it must only shed a significant amount.

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by skcin

HELLO?!?! Why not? You're NASA, for God's sake! If not you, then who?




BTW,Marissa - was it you who loves the movie Spacecamp? I really need to watch that cool-as-hell flick again. I'm serious.

I thought the same thing when I read that.

Word. That's totally me I haven't seen it in a looong time but I totally need to find it and watch it again -- it's been too long.

[Mokona]

I think even NASA's beyond saving this thing now. They need to put the shuttles in the Smithsonian and start working on more advanced satellites to send to the planets and maybe even someday, if the budget cutbacks aren't too severe, work on creating the space plane I've heard about.

Anyhow, this is too funny:

BTW,Marissa - was it you who loves the movie Spacecamp? I really need to watch that cool-as-hell flick again. I'm serious.

I have this movie on DVD and have watched it about 10 times in the last week - LOL. My husband laughs at me because it's incredibly unrealistic, but I like it anyway! "I'm sorry, Katherine's not in right now, but if you'd like to leave your name and number at the tone, she'd be glad to get back to you." One of the best lines!

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by Mokona

I think even NASA's beyond saving this thing now. They need to put the shuttles in the Smithsonian and start working on more advanced satellites to send to the planets and maybe even someday, if the budget cutbacks aren't too severe, work on creating the space plane I've heard about.

Anyhow, this is too funny:

I have this movie on DVD and have watched it about 10 times in the last week - LOL. My husband laughs at me because it's incredibly unrealistic, but I like it anyway! "I'm sorry, Katherine's not in right now, but if you'd like to leave your name and number at the tone, she'd be glad to get back to you." One of the best lines!

Even if they were to create a space plane, they'd still have to face the issue of shielding the shuttle. Whether that's looking towards other materials to shield it or other means to keep the foam from falling off, they're going to have the same problem.

"Russia could send up to three Soyuz rockets to the ISS between now and February if an evacuation of the ISS crew becomes necessary due to problems with Discovery, Russian officials said."

What's so different about their technology than ours? It seems they don't have nearly as many problems when it comes to shielding their rockets (which i'm sure have much of the same parts as a shuttle).

Oh, and although incredibly unrealistic, I just like the whole premise behind Space Camp. It was one of my favorite childhood films.

[Mokona]

Hmm, I learned quite a bit by Googling the difference between Apollo's heat shield technology and the shuttle's. It seems Apollo had a huge budget back in the day and had non-reusable capsules with ablative heat shields, which vaporized upon re-entry. (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/834596/posts) The shuttle was designed to be a cheaper (because of budget cutbacks), reusable spacecraft that could transport a lot of cargo. Soyuz uses similar technology to Apollo's and isn't reusable, which is why they don't have as many heat shield problems and haven't lost a crew since 1971. But according to this article, Russia is currently cash-strapped, which makes sense:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6124756/

One of the ideas behind the space plane program is a possible use of similar Apollo capsule technology, but this article explains that the program's image would be changed since it would be like the president driving a Volkswagon instead of a limo:

http://www.space.com/spacenews/archi...ch_031703.html

One of the biggest concerns is money, and people don't know if the American public would be open to spending billions on creating a new program. Back in the days of Apollo, Americans were excited about going to the moon and there was a lot more support for exploring space than there is today. So that is one reason why the shuttle program continues to be used instead of focusing on a new creation.

After reading all of this, I have no idea what the answer is and how we'll even be able to create a new program. I can see why Americans don't want to pour billions into space anymore when there are so many problems down here. But then again, Bush has plans for us to return to the moon and even on to Mars. I know there's been talk of privatization of the space program and maybe that's the answer?

[GODDESS6]

i am just scared for them period, the astronauts~ it was my senior yr & they had us watching challenger in '86 when it exploded~ then when this last shuttle endeavor was the name right?, disintegrated in 2003, we had just gotten our new computer, & i remember the sales manager, going to this site & showing us where you could listen to some of the last transmissions back to earth~ it was sad & astonishing~ NASA keeps acting like whatever damage the shuttle has suffered is no big deal, at least that is what i get from the news reports here~ i pray that they have a very safe return ~ may god bless them!!! ~

[GardenStateGirlie]

So much for this grounding of the fleet....

Another Shuttle Could Launch Soon

SPACE CENTER, Houston - NASA Chief Michael Griffin said Friday he hasn't given up on launching another space shuttle later this year, despite suspending flights until the space agency can stop foam insulation from snapping off and threatening the spacecraft. He said he has set up a "tiger team" to try to solve the problem as quickly as possible. "We don't expect this to be a long drawn-out affair," he said by telephone from Washington in a briefing with reporters in Houston.