ISS pressures on the shuttle program

[bobblebob]

Now Endeavour is down safely seems the right time to bring this up. Was listen to the mission briefing yesterday and something (think it was Wayne Hale) said i found slightly worrying. One of the media asked the question "why do you continue to fly when you know the ET has form issues?".<br /><br />Wayne answered it very well stating that space travel is dangerous and its about reducing these risks, but he also said that they have to think about the completion of the ISS and their international partners who have invested in the space station.<br /><br />There are others thread in here that have discussed why the shuttle is still flying with known design flaws, and my opinion is we should fly, but at the same time work on the know flaws to minimise risk. However i dont think the ISS completion should be taken into consideration when deciding whether to fly or not. Wayne seemed to suggest that this was a reason they fly with known foam issues, as completion of the station both for Nasa and its partners is important.<br /><br />Lets say the ISS didnt exist or there wasnt a rush to finish it before the shuttle retires. Would they ground the shuttle until the foam issues are more understood and a better solution is found? Is the ISS almost forcing their hand and influencing their decision to fly?

 

[docm]

<font color="yellow">Is the ISS almost forcing their hand and influencing their decision to fly?</font><br /><br />Short answer; IMO yes. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[gpurcell]

IMO, without ISS the shuttle program would have ended after Columbia. So, yes, ISS does influence their decision to fly.<br /><br />In fact, I think that, barring another major accident, they will also fly out the ET tank production run to finish ISS completion even if it means going into FY11 or possible even FY12.

 

[jimfromnsf]

"Lets say the ISS didnt exist or there wasnt a rush to finish it before the shuttle retires. Would they ground the shuttle until the foam issues are more understood and a better solution is found?"<br /><br />Other than the HST repair mission, there are no other payloads for the shuttle. Spacelab and Spacehab* were decontinued. ELV's took up the remaining payloads (and rightfully so)<br /><br />* the second RDM mission was iffy

 

[radarredux]

Clearly ISS is the source for pressure for flying the Shuttle.<br /><br />Only the shuttle can fly up the remaining components of ISS, and there isn't a lot of room for schedule slip to complete ISS before the Shuttle is retired in 2010. And (according to recent reports), every planned shuttle mission to ISS (with the exception of an optional supply mission at the end) is needed in order to leave ISS in a useful and supportable state after the Shuttle is retired.<br /><br /> /> <i><font color="yellow">Is the ISS almost forcing their hand and influencing their decision to fly?</font>/i><br /><br />Yes.</i>

 

[hansolo0]

Maybe a side effect of the Iss and shuttle phase-out is that now the private sector will be gunning to take over - resupply efforts, whereas if there were no Iss....? Who knows!?<br /><br /><br /><br />