NASA weighing risk of adding crew to megarocket's first flight

Yahoo! News ^ | 2/24/17 | Marcia Dunn - AP

[Farmer Dean]

How much room do you think there is on that thing?McCain,Graham,and Schumer must go to the head of the line.

[Cboldt]

-- If there isn't a reason to have people on it, I'm not sure I'd push it. --

That's the calculus in a nutshell. Sometimes "pushing it" is good, other times, not. If the team sees flight one as a "freebie," it takes some pressure off.

No flight is going to be perfectly safe.

[DoughtyOne]

I understood your comments in the first post, but I appreciate the follow-up with additional.

What you said does make sense.

The test pilot comment was a pretty good point too.

[DoughtyOne]

Yes, I agree that none will be perfectly safe.

[tet68]

In a vehicle with a million parts even sending the
first one up empty is no guarantee for the second one.

Nothing is “safe”.

Still, I’d go, but they don’t send geezers into space.

[TonyM]

Fill it full of refugees.

[Truth29]

If you have never seen it, check out “October Sky” for an inspirational movie about rocketry and NASA.

[Cboldt]

-- In a vehicle with a million parts even sending the first one up empty is no guarantee for the second one. --

Yep. Might have a case of beginner's luck.

[SkyDancer]

What crew? Rocket goes straight up, pops a chute and lands. Crew? What crew?

[cyclotic]

October Sky is probably what got him started. Very inspirational story

[Celtic Conservative]

That rminds me of what I used to call the race to the moon: America’s captured German scientists Vs.The Soviet Union’s captured German scientists.

CC

[rfp1234]

I think Charles Manson is still technically alive.

[PAR35]

NASA began to fall apart when the OSI persecuted the former project director of the Saturn V project after his retirement.

Everyone ever associated with the OSI should be stripped of their citizenship and deported.

[Celtic Conservative]

Dr. Von Braun?

CC

[AnotherUnixGeek]

So what they are saying is there are no ballsy astronauts like yesteryear only snowflaknaunts

There were two unmanned Apollo test flights before anyone climbed on top of the Saturn V booster. I'd be very surprised if there weren't several unmanned test flights with this new rocket before they try sending people up.

[PAR35]

Nope.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/03/us/arthur-rudolph-89-developer-of-rocket-in-first-apollo-flight.html

Rocket engines were his specialty. - the A-4 (V-2), a rocket powered car in the 30s, Saturn V....

[5th MEB]

I would go, even if something went FUBAR it would be one hell of an exit.
Probably wouldn’t even feel it.