[jimfr]

This would not be the first time wood was used to construct a space craft. The Russians used wood for their heat shields. Wood is a good heat insulator and requires a great amount of energy to vaporize - converting kinetic energy to heat energy. The vapor would then be pushed away from the spacecraft before burning.

[dfwgator]

"Ahh, you can't beat wood!"

[Cold Heart]

Don’t forget the oakum

[dfwgator]

[ProtectOurFreedom]

...the aluminum used in satellites has been found to break apart when a satellite returns to Earth, creating hundreds or thousands of tiny alumina particles that wind up floating in the upper atmosphere for many years, possibly posing an environmental problem.

Tiny Alumina Particles in the upper atmosphere!

[lee martell]

I get stared at when I tell people that my first ship duty in the Navy was aboard a wooden ship. Some think I’m joking.
I was on a Minesweeper called The Illusive.
It was about 77 feet in length.
Small, right?

I made the mistake of referring to The Illusive as a ‘Boat’ during a conversation with the Captain.
Boy O Boy, didn’t he chew me out. Even threatened to send me to Captain’s Mast. Their version of a Court for serious offenses.

[blueplum]

Spotted Space Owls rule !

[rdcbn1]

Gonna be tough to get over the out gassing problems with wood in the space environment.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Question to our space scientists and program-planners. Why can’t we capture dead satellites (depending on their size) and return them to earth? They would be worth a fortune for both museums/governments to have for public display, as well as for a few wealthy people who want to own something that actually flew/worked in outer space.

I have 4 small pieces of wire or insulation from all 4 space shuttles of the 1980’s - Endeavour - shuttle orbiter payload bay liner; Spacelab - wiring; Atlantis - Payload bay liner; Columbia - Payload bay liner; Discovery - wire.

Add to this a Tektite from Thailand and a tiny piece of a meteorite, signed photographs and cards from US and Soviet astronauts, my grandchildren will have something very unique that came from or was flown in outer-space. To me, as a kid raised during the birth of the US space program in the 1950’s (with relatives who worked on the Vanguard Project and Coca Beach operations), I would have loved to have had something from space on my bookcase.

Also, by capturing dead satellites and returning then to earth, we would be cleaning up the “environment”. It’s a Win-Win situation for everyone.

[Nachoman]

The increase in space junk and related materials slowly shade us from the sun, thus reversing global warming.

We’re saved!