Astronauts Confident in Safety of Shuttle Mission

[najab]

Damn! I gotta learn your economy with words. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" />

 

[nacnud]

That sounds like fun :S <br /><br />Thanks

 

[najab]

I forgot to add that the difficulty in flying the RTLS manually isn't the "balance the spaceship on a pillar of flame until exactly the right amount of prop is left" part. That's easy (well, relatively easy). The hard part is pulling out at the bottom. As I said before RLTS is an <i>extreme</i> manouver and the stresses on the vehicle are right on the edges of the tolerance limits.<p>Unlike PPA which happens very high in the atmosphere (20 miles plus), the pullout (there's a proper name for it which I can't remember at the moment) happens in dense air. There is a very fine line between being too conservative (in which case you run out of ground clearance) and too aggressive (in which case the wings break off).<p>shuttle_guy has said in the past that the flight control software for the first few missions had a bug (or is that a feature) which would have snapped the wings off if they had to do an RTLS.</p></p>

 

[drwayne]

"There is a very fine line between being too conservative (in which case you run out of ground clearance) and too aggressive (in which case the wings break off)."<br /><br />I don't know why, but this reminded of the old saying - "Don't run out of air speed, altitude and ideas at the same time"<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[najab]

I'd never heard that one before...it's a keeper! I'm going to pass it on to a pilot friend of mine.

 

[drwayne]

From Here: http://www.wilk4.com/humor/humorm166.htm<br /><br />Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory. <br /><br />If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling the stick back, then they get bigger again. <br /><br />Flying isn't dangerous. Crashing is what's dangerous. <br /><br />The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire. <br /><br />A 'good' landing is one you can walk away from. A 'great' landing is one after which they can use the plane again. <br /><br />The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of survival and vice versa. <br /><br />It's always better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here. <br /><br />The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start sweating. <br /><br />When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided with the sky. <br /><br />Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself. <br /><br />You know you've landed with the wheels up if it takes full power to taxi to the ramp. <br /><br />Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier. <br /><br />Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in clouds. <br /><br />Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of take offs you've made. <br /><br />There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately no one knows what they are. <br /><br />You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experienc <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[shuttle_rtf]

Facinating info guys.<br /><br />So should the fault be with one of the SRBs - rather than the orbitor with three healthy SSMEs - are the options healthier or worse?...<br /><br />Can SRBs be seperated from the stack before their scheduled burn out and seperation? Question provoked by Challenger's ride with the SRB that was to rupture the ET...plus an apparent note of another launch that was according to ITN News, UK: "two seconds away from being catipulted into space by a faulty SRB" ?<br /><br />I'm sure there are a lot of varibles on each potential senario..but here's a few things that I've always wondered about:<br /><br />T-0 A poster on here once noted that Solid Rocket Fuel is notoriously hard to light (and they use mortar rounds to ignite the SRBs at launch?). Is there a fail safe in place should one SRB fail to light..or is that possible given if the other one ignites, it can't be stopped?

 

[nacnud]

From what I've heard if one SRB lights and the other doesn't you've just created the world largest catherine wheel <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" />

 

[drwayne]

"Can SRBs be seperated from the stack before their scheduled burn out and seperation?"<br /><br />No.<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[drwayne]

Do you know what the safe radius is for the sort of catastrophic pad failure being discussed?<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[drwayne]

"however the simulation saids that the orbiter would not survive that option. "<br /><br />Does that fit under the category of:<br /><br />"The operation was a success, the patient died"<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>