Friday, August 12, 2005
Discovery: A NASA Success Story!
As just about anyone following the news will know by now, the space shuttle Discovery (OV-103) touched down safely at Edwards Air Force Base last Tuesday, after experiencing and repairing problems experienced after some insulating foam fell off one of its External Tanks.
Sure, I could rail about how the actions taken are what should have been done for Columbia when it was damaged two years ago. But at this point that's the kind of second-guessing that can only hurt. Yes, absolutely, NASA should have had the foresight to fix the problem in space, or find some other way to bring our astronauts home safely. But -- and I say this with no intended insensitivity to the families of the Columbia crew -- that's in the past, and it now appears that the lessons of that day have been learned, so it's time to move on.
Warmest congratulations to all concerned. You earned it.
Actually, it can hardly be considered surprising that the shuttle had a problem, and it has little or nothing to do with any fault of NASA's. The craft is nearly twenty-one years old! It was the third shuttle to join the fleet, following Enterprise (OV-101; it never flew an actual mission) and the aforementioned Columbia (OV-102). It's also flown more missions than any other shuttle in the fleet, including the Return To Flight mission following the Challenger explosion (this, for those not aware, was the Return To Flight after the Columbia breakup).
In short, it's old. And the other two surviving shuttles, Atlantis (OV-104) and Endeavor (OV-105), aren't much better off.
So, from a logical and practical viewpoint, it's about time for NASA to start bringing out some new shuttles. And from what I've been seeing this week, they're getting ready to do just exactly that, mothballing the current fleet by 2010 and bringing out new vehicles shortly thereafter.
Don't take my word for it. Check out the sfgate.com article for yourself.
Mind you, these are still in the planning stages, and won't be going up for another three to nine years. I'm still absorbing all the information about what these things will be capable of, but with a focus on safety and practicality rather than resuability it should allow NASA to operate much more manageably for quite some time.
And who knows? With this nice turn of events, the technology might even be available within my lifetime to allow someone like me -- health problems and all -- to go into space, or possibly even as far as the moon.
Hey... it could happen.
Sure, I could rail about how the actions taken are what should have been done for Columbia when it was damaged two years ago. But at this point that's the kind of second-guessing that can only hurt. Yes, absolutely, NASA should have had the foresight to fix the problem in space, or find some other way to bring our astronauts home safely. But -- and I say this with no intended insensitivity to the families of the Columbia crew -- that's in the past, and it now appears that the lessons of that day have been learned, so it's time to move on.
Warmest congratulations to all concerned. You earned it.
Actually, it can hardly be considered surprising that the shuttle had a problem, and it has little or nothing to do with any fault of NASA's. The craft is nearly twenty-one years old! It was the third shuttle to join the fleet, following Enterprise (OV-101; it never flew an actual mission) and the aforementioned Columbia (OV-102). It's also flown more missions than any other shuttle in the fleet, including the Return To Flight mission following the Challenger explosion (this, for those not aware, was the Return To Flight after the Columbia breakup).
In short, it's old. And the other two surviving shuttles, Atlantis (OV-104) and Endeavor (OV-105), aren't much better off.
So, from a logical and practical viewpoint, it's about time for NASA to start bringing out some new shuttles. And from what I've been seeing this week, they're getting ready to do just exactly that, mothballing the current fleet by 2010 and bringing out new vehicles shortly thereafter.
Don't take my word for it. Check out the sfgate.com article for yourself.
Mind you, these are still in the planning stages, and won't be going up for another three to nine years. I'm still absorbing all the information about what these things will be capable of, but with a focus on safety and practicality rather than resuability it should allow NASA to operate much more manageably for quite some time.
And who knows? With this nice turn of events, the technology might even be available within my lifetime to allow someone like me -- health problems and all -- to go into space, or possibly even as far as the moon.
Hey... it could happen.
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Interesting post. I too am glad to see them looking to the next wave of crafts to keep everything safe and moving forward. Great job.
Tracy -- did you actually read the whole story? (Your "mothball" remark suggests that you might not have.)
And did you notice the level of ingenuity and good sense -- not luck -- that went into bringing them back?
And did you notice the level of ingenuity and good sense -- not luck -- that went into bringing them back?
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