http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/08/space-shuttle-final.html
The Space Shuttle is going to be scrapped in 2010. About freaking time. Maybe they will replace it with the vastly cheaper Saturn V rocket, at least for old times sake.
For all us science types
It's not far off from the Saturn V...
NASA will be retiring the Shuttle fleet with the Constellation program taking over. Constellation is a two part program: the Ares launch vehicles (which reminds me a lot of the Saturn Vs), and the Orion Crew Vehicle (OCV). The OCV is touted as being: "Veteran Shape, State-of-the Art Technology... Orion will be similar in shape to the Apollo spacecraft, but significantly larger."
I can't find any reference to how the Orion module will land, other than a statement about its parachutes. Sounds like this one will be a plop-in-the-ocean instead of a runway lander like the shuttle. Kind of a bummer; hearing/feeling the double sonic boom as the shuttle comes in for a landing is amazing. I live about 90 minutes away from KSC, and you can see the curtains blow in and out if you leave a window open when the booms occur.
Makes me wonder what they'll do with the shuttle landing runway at KSC... 15,000 ft. long and 300 ft. wide - about as wide as the length of a football field:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Kennedy+Space+Center&ie=UTF8&ll=28.615192,-80.690718&spn=0.052366,0.10952&t=h&z=14 .
Full details on Constellation are at: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html.
~ Glenn
Outdated Model vs Useful Invention
The shuttle isn't rubbish; it just never progressed. NASA never took the opportunity to move forward with the concept and improve on it over nearly three decades. For what it could have been it was a good idea. For what we use it for, mainly ferrying supplies and parts to the space station, it is a waste of money and effort. The Shuttles spend more time being reworked between missions than on actual missions.
Of course, with how paranoid Americans are nowadays, the entire focus of NASA will soon shift safety instead of going into space. In fact, a study will probably come out that states that space travel is dangerous and should not be attempted. Besides, people don't care about space anymore, except for a few of us nerds. That was one reason why we stopped going to the moon and NASA moved on to different projects back in the mid-70s. (sorry about the little rant, had to get that off my chest)
With that said, something akin to the Saturn V system is much cheaper, more reliable (less maintenance), and can be used for a greater variety of missions. The Russians figured this out a while ago and have been using rockets/crew modules for space station work. Instead of reusable launch vehicles, they need to focus on multi-purpose crew modules that can be fitted to various rockets, which is turn could be used for anything from resupplying the space station to landing astronauts on the Moon or Mars.
Rich C. : Novice baby wrangler and cat herder.
http://one-sahd-dude.blogspot.com/
http://good-eats-fan.blogspot.com/
Point Counter Point
I agree that the Shuttle isn't garbage - or wasn't in 1980 - and that it didn't progress, but, I disagree in that the Shuttle's as they are now are garbage. The flaw, oh who am I kidding, one of the flaws, was that they couldn't be updated.
Not to mention they huge cost of operating the damn things limmited, to my mind, the point of NASA, sapce exploration.
Props to the NASA folks who came up with all the stuff for Apollo. Good ideas never go out of style.
Say any of you guys read "Uncovering Soviet Disasters," or "Red Star in Orbit," by James Oberg? Facinating stuff about the Soviet space program.
Be Seeing You.
PS
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html
The NASA website includes all the info abouthow Constilation will land. They are going to use Earh Orbit Rendezvious and Lunar Orbit Rendezvious. It isn't all the differnt for Apollo.
Be Seeing You.
Been saying this all over teh interwebs
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Sadly, NASA in it's infinite ineptitude, is going with the Ares project which is based on existing shuttle hardware. Because we all know how successful that has been.
-Will
gamingwithbaby.com | all your diapers are belong to us
my flickr
Guess I'm lucky
I'm fortunate in that I live with this stuff in my backyard. I've got a lot of friends and colleagues that work with and for the NASA machine. The smart ones work for contractors, the stupid ones work for NASA. The smart ones are quick to point out, and agree with, all the criticisms of the STS, the bureaucracy of a government ran space agency. The stupid ones tout the line.
Werner von Braun (aside from that oft forgotten footnote around here that he was indeed a Nazi) was very much against the STS and everything it stood for. The orbiter is nothing more than a flying U-Haul. NASA has wasted countless billions (yes, billions) on the STS, and as a result, we'll be lucky, in our lifetimes, to see man once again on the moon.
Last week's episode of "Penn & Teller's: Bullshit!" got it right, even if the visit to the USSRC was complete bullshit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Ro
Next trip up to the USSRC I'll get y'all some shots of the new crew module mock-up.
-Will
gamingwithbaby.com | all your diapers are belong to us
my flickr
Joined: 2007-11-12
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