Did NASA hire the 3 Stooges to work on the Shuttle?

[askold]

"The shuttle Discovery's robot arm is undergoing ultrasound inspections after a weekend mishap in which a moveable access bucket bumped into the arm during work to clean up broken glass. <b>Two small indentations were found </b>underneath the arm's insulation blankets and NASA wants to make sure the underlying structure wasn't damaged."<br /><br />"At the same time, engineers are assessing tile damage to the shuttle Endeavour's body flap <b>caused by equipment that slipped off a tray</b> used by workers inspecting the ship's rudder/speed brake."<br /><br />Hey, careful! That stuff costs billions of dollars.

 

[mattblack]

I damaged something with my forklift truck the other day at work; the first time in 4 years. According to my boss, I do it everyday. I'm only suprised things like this don't happen more often. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>One Percent of Federal Funding For Space: America <strong><em><u>CAN</u></em></strong> Afford it!!  LEO is a <strong><em>Prison</em></strong> -- It's time for a <em><strong>JAILBREAK</strong></em>!!</p> </div>

 

[spayss]

At least the three Stooges were funny. As a taxpayer I describe the Shuttle program more as a joke. Not a funny joke but a pathetic one.<br /><br />The worse fear has come true. They did have another flight after Columbia and the result? Keep the farce extended even longer.

 

[jamie_young]

Is was important not to give up after Columbia. As a nation, giving up is the wrong ideal to have. The shuttles are great value for money, unless you have a cheaper option in your garage?

 

[mattblack]

>>The shuttles are great value for money<<<br /><br />Well... Depends who you talk to. Will we ever see a vehicle as versatile (in LEO) as the Shuttle after it's gone? Unlikely. I just hope the Shuttle will have a successful wind-down and twilight of it's career. Although there may be spectacular days still ahead, it's best days may be behind it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>One Percent of Federal Funding For Space: America <strong><em><u>CAN</u></em></strong> Afford it!!  LEO is a <strong><em>Prison</em></strong> -- It's time for a <em><strong>JAILBREAK</strong></em>!!</p> </div>

 

[danwoodard]

The accidents are unfortunate but result mainly from the lack of any flight experience with the Orbiter TPS (thermal protection system) before it was designed into the system. This has resulted in a system that is expensive, tedious, and difficult to maintain. As a physician, I have to tell you that similar accidents happen in medicine every day; they are just never reported. At least with the shuttle every error is reported. Many of the shuttle maintenance tasks are extremely difficult, i.e. working overhead on the delicate tiles or polishing the windshields by hand for hours. <br /><br />Ideally we would have progressed to a reusable shuttle replacement with a more durable TPS years ago, but the shuttle replacements were cancelled and the CEV will go back to the Apollo approach, simple but not inexpensive.

 

[lbiderman]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>At least the three Stooges were funny. As a taxpayer I describe the Shuttle program more as a joke. Not a funny joke but a pathetic one. <br /><br />The worse fear has come true. They did have another flight after Columbia and the result? Keep the farce extended even longer. [/qoute]<br />Hummmm, I suppose you are not a manned spaceflight fan..... But anyway, the Shuttle gave us a lot of new technology that will be used in the CEV, and allowed us to have a LOT of people at space at the same time working in science. Let's not forget about that.</p></blockquote>