NASA: Space shuttle cracking finally understood

NASA: Space shuttle cracking finally understood

news.yahoo.com

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA finally knows what caused the cracking in space shuttle Discovery's fuel tank, a potentially dangerous problem that likely existed on the previous flight, managers said Tuesday.

Discovery's final voyage has been on hold since the beginning of November. If the remaining repair work goes well, the shuttle could fly to the International Space Station as early as Feb. 24.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I did a short search and did not see anything on the cracking situation. I am glad they finally figured out what is going on and NASA is going to get the bird a flying again. I will be sad to see the shuttle go. She might be expensive, but man what a work horse.
I will be looking forward to the next launch.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by liejunkie01


Isn't this the mission that Giffords husband is the mission commander on? I wonder if he will still fly it?

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

Goood question. I just went to Nasa's website and didn't see anything on whether he is flying or not.

reply to post by liejunkie01


Let's hope they cancel these last two flights. I had difficulty finding the total number of flights, but according to finally going to Wikipedia, I found a list of 132 flights over the 29 years. At another place I found a statistical chart that shows that the shuttle is due for another failure. Currently, the actual failure rate is 2 out of 132. Would you get in that crate for those odds? Would you get in your car or fly commerciall for those odds?

Spread over 29 years, the losses do not seem so bad, but suppose they were all done within a year's time? That would be one flight every 2.8 days. That would mean that we would have had two failures within that year and the stats indicate another is due.

The shuttle never has been safe. It has been a cover for its real replacement that nobody wants to think about, talk about or admit to being evenly remotely possible. I speak of the triangles and related vehicles.

Originally posted by Aliensun
reply to post by liejunkie01

 

Let's hope they cancel these last two flights. I had difficulty finding the total number of flights, but according to finally going to Wikipedia, I found a list of 132 flights over the 29 years. At another place I found a statistical chart that shows that the shuttle is due for another failure. Currently, the actual failure rate is 2 out of 132. Would you get in that crate for those odds? Would you get in your car or fly commerciall for those odds?

Spread over 29 years, the losses do not seem so bad, but suppose they were all done within a year's time? That would be one flight every 2.8 days. That would mean that we would have had two failures within that year and the stats indicate another is due.

The shuttle never has been safe. It has been a cover for its real replacement that nobody wants to think about, talk about or admit to being evenly remotely possible. I speak of the triangles and related vehicles.

edit on 12-1-2011 by Aliensun because: (no reason given)

wiki.answers.com...

"In the USA there are about 40000 deaths in car crashes every year (see www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov...). That suggests that if you drive the average amount for 50 years (reasonable assumption), your chances of dying in a car are roughly 1 in 100."


Read more: wiki.answers.com...
Looks like the odds of dying in a car wreck are not much better.
I would fly in a heartbeat.

The space shuttle was always a white elephant . Nasa will do anything to stay in the public eye, especially when it needs more money from the people of the US. Time for you guys stateside to stand up and demand to know what NASA is really doing with your hard earned dollar . Don't ya think ?

reply to post by gandalphthegrey


I beg to differ, in it's hey day the shuttle was a symbol of our national pride. The space shuttle is the most complicated machine built on earth. There are going to be problems when you have millions of parts. It is a money pit, like the old Pinto or Elcamino, but at least we had something to show for the overinflated budget. Now there will be no shuttle, but the same amount of waste. I would rather have it flying for a little pride, then to rely on the Russians.

Originally posted by liejunkie01
reply to post by gandalphthegrey

 

I beg to differ, in it's hey day the shuttle was a symbol of our national pride. The space shuttle is the most complicated machine built on earth. There are going to be problems when you have millions of parts. It is a money pit, like the old Pinto or Elcamino, but at least we had something to show for the overinflated budget. Now there will be no shuttle, but the same amount of waste. I would rather have it flying for a little pride, then to rely on the Russians.

You hit the nail on the head , you have absolutely nothing to show for all the money poured into the shuttle program . Wake up and smell the roses , my friend

reply to post by gandalphthegrey


Unfortunately it is 8 degrees outside and the roses are not doing so well.