'97 Report Advised In-Flight Fix

Newsday ^ | 02/03/2003 (for editions of 02/04/2003) | Mark Harrington

[GeneD]

A committee of top space experts advised NASA six years ago to install equipment to detect and repair damage like that suspected of downing Columbia Saturday -- but the agency did not act on the advice.

The recommendation, part of a report presented to NASA in 1997 that studied the impact of debris and meteoroids during space flight, is among a mound of studies that have expressed concern over risks at the budget-plagued shuttle program in recent years....

The National Academies' report chillingly notes that recommended detection and repair capability "could be very useful because many of the orbiter's potential failure modes caused by meteoroid or debris impact ... could become critical during re-entry.”

A NASA spokesman did not return calls Monday....

[Tax Government]

The shuttle launches are the "bread and circus" of the American empire -- something to keep the masses distracted and placid. Astronauts are the charriot drivers of our age, loved, admired, etc.

Sure, it's entertaining. But look how fragile the system is and how dangerous. Let's do something useful and innovative, like developing a hypersonic airplane capable of piggyback-launching a robust, reusable orbital vehicle.

[willieroe]

The report referenced in the Newsday.com article can be read in its entirity here.

[First_Salute]

What the Space Shuttle needs is a "li'l buddy." A tethered camera which can be manuvered by a small jet-pack, to move around the outside of the entire vehicle and provide inspection.

[newgeezer]

Let's do something useful and innovative,

unmanned.

So much more can be accomplished on the same (or smaller) budget. The manned space program had its time and place. Let go of it.

[John W]

"...something to keep the masses distracted and placid"

Only one problem with your assertion-unless someone dies,people in general don't pay much attention to the space program anymore.Haven't in years.

[Redbob]

Let's do something REALLY useful like save the billions of dollars spent on "space exploration!"
The Cold War is over! We don't need to score any more points on the Russians!