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Posted on 09/28/2005 12:37:01 PM PDT by tricky_k_1972
Shuttle And Station Were Mistakes: Griffin
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The US space agency NASA lost its way when it focused on the space shuttle and Space Station, NASA chief Michael Griffin has told the USA Today daily in a story published Wednesday.
"It is now commonly accepted that was not the right path," Griffin said. "We are now trying to change the path while doing as little damage as we can."
Asked whether the shuttle had been a mistake, Griffin told the daily: "My opinion is that it was. It was a design which was extremely aggressive and just barely possible."
Asked whether the space station had been a mistake, he said: "Had the decision been mine, we would not have built the space station we're building in the orbit we're building it in."
Griffin announced September 19 that the United States will send four astronauts to the moon in 2018 in a major return to its pioneering manned missions into space.
Whoa ! 2018 ?? Wouldn't want to rush into anything there, chief....
2018 ???
2018 ???
Can you imagine what the politics of picking who the first one to walk on the moon of that mission will be?
Um, I'm seeing triple.
John Glenn
:-)
Crap, sorry, I checked and came up with nothing.
The search function is hit or miss a lot of the time.
But path to where?
After Apollo we should have kept going to the moon? Why?
This fellow's comments will be a downer for those who worked in and take pride in the programs for the past two decades.
Didn't we figure out how to get to the moon 35 years ago or so?
Maybe by 2050 we can launch a satellite that orbits the earth and goes "ping". :-)
I was at Kennedy Space Center on a tour a few weeks ago, according to the bus drive, 6,500 people currently work on the shuttle program.
A day late and a shuttle or two short, I'd say.
A day late and a shuttle or two short, I'd say.
Please remove. duplicat posting, thank you.
Only if he gets back in the Senate and obstructs president hillary's impeachment trial. :-)
Only if he gets back in the Senate and obstructs president hillary's impeachment trial. :-)
Much was learned from shuttle, still will be learned as we complete the space station. Much of that technology and know how will end up in the new exploration rockets and vehicles.
It was a mistake but no one knew it at the time. We should never have abandoned the Saturn V's. But cheap access to space was the hope. A "Space Truck" that would fly many missions a year was what was expected. It just didnt happen. But we must not abandon the space station as we abandoned Apollo and Skylab. Permanant human presence in space teaches us many lessons that will be very useful in missions to come that reach beyond orbit. Shuttle is in her last phase. The new vehicles will rise and take us where no one has gone before once again. New places on the moon we could never dream of visiting before. And we will learn how to go beyond the lunar surface in time.
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