[VRWC_minion]

I think the larger problem is that the shuttle was operating in 2003 with a 1978 design.

It works for 747 commercial aircraft designed in the 70's, it should work for the space shuttle.

[r9etb]

It works for 747 commercial aircraft designed in the 70's, it should work for the space shuttle.

More to the point, both we and the Russians are perfectly happy to do our unmanned launches using boosters that were originally designed in the '50s and 60s.