All failures can be prevented, right? Thus, all failures can have a damning blame. The number of failures is extremely important. It shows where NASA priorities are.
Let's make a pool. Gives ride ride a whole new meaning. Shuttles for Sale Nasa cuts price for space shuttles (UKPA) – 1 day ago Nasa has slashed the asking price for its soon-to-be-redundant space shuttles from 42 million dollars (£25.8 million) to 28.8 million dollars (£17.7 million). The shuttles are for sale once they stop flying, supposedly this autumn. When Nasa put out the call to museums, schools and others in December 2008, seeking buyers, about 20 expressed interest. Nasa spokesman Mike Curie expects more interest, especially with the discount. "We're confident that we'll get other takers," Mr Curie said. Discovery is already promised to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. Atlantis and Endeavour are up for grabs. It's possible that Enterprise, a shuttle prototype that never made it to space, also will be available. Enterprise currently is at the Smithsonian. Mr Curie said no decisions will be made before summer. The new lower price is based on Nasa's estimate of the cost for transporting a shuttle from Kennedy Space Centre to a major US airport, and for displaying it indoors in a climate-controlled building. The travel cost may vary based on location. Nasa moved up the delivery date to the latter half of 2011, instead of 2012. Potential customers have until February 19 to put in a request. As for the space shuttle main engines, those are now free. Nasa advertised them for 400,000 to 800,000 US dollars each in December 2008, but no one expressed interest. So now the engines are available, along with other shuttle artefacts, for the cost of transportation and handling. Assembly will be required, however.
side note, since there arent many shuttle threads ill put this here, i saw on youtube and read about it even in 1985 that the astronauts didnt die at first from the explosion. the capsule they were in was explosion proof and you can see on video on youtube the capsule flying away from explosion still intact and they were probably still alive screaming as they saw the ocean coming closer and closer. people say they died when hitting the ocean in the capsule but im not to sure. wouldnt it make since, since airforce planes have ejection shoots that the shuttle would also? that would mean they could have ejected themselves (another rumor i read) before the ocean and lived. but why would reagan hide this info? maybe to put fear in other countries about flying in space? maybe to hinder the space program? who knows. all i know is you can see on video the capsule still intact so maybe they were still alive. just goto youtube type in shuttle explosion
If they don't put one of those retired Shuttles at JSC i'll be pretty annoyed. I still believe pride if nothing else will cause them to squeeze a few more years out of the shuttles until the next gen is ready. There is also some strong opposition internally to depending on the Russians while we wait for the next gen spacecraft. IMHO they will pull a 'Hubble' and continue using the current fleet -- despite having already put in place an end date. Does anyone actually think we are going to abandon the ISS in 2016 ? Nasa is constantly fudging their end dates then succumbing to internal, government, or public pressure to keep a program running.
To a certain point I agree with this. Every great transportation advancement prior to spaceflight has come about lots of loss of life. So far NASA has avoided that but I think for us to actually pioneer space the risks will have to be greater. Consider how many people died trying to master flight, or even sailing across oceans. I think if we as a civilization are serious about moving out into space and settling other worlds risks like that are going to need to be taken.
They were alive. No doubt about it. They had activated their Personal Egress Air Packs after the explosion, which is impossible to do other than manually. Were they conscious the entire time? Hard to say - would depend on if the cabin maintained pressure or not. I thought this was common knowledge now?
Not yet, Donny. Not ever, I hope. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GOAEIMx39-w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
