T
trailrider
Guest
Apparently NASA has decided to reduce the number of seats in the Orion spacecraft from six to four! The ostensible reason is not so much to reduce weight (which it does), but to eliminate having to develop two different configurations, saving money and development time!
Of course this will mean they will need two vehicles attached to the ISS to provide escape capability instead of the one. That will reduce the flexibility of ISS operations.
This, of course, follows elimnating the landfall landing capability. To me this is the result of selecting the Ares I configuration, as well as the failure of both the Bush and Obama administrations AND Congress to properly fund the Constellation Program. IMHO, this bodes ill for the whole U.S. manned space program. It's like being nibbled to death by butterflies. This is what happened to the Shuttle when they switched from the manned flyback booster to the SRB/ET configuration!
Anybody know how to say and write: Ad LEO! Ad Luna! Ad Ares! Ad Astra!...in Mandarin Chinese!? :?
Of course this will mean they will need two vehicles attached to the ISS to provide escape capability instead of the one. That will reduce the flexibility of ISS operations.
This, of course, follows elimnating the landfall landing capability. To me this is the result of selecting the Ares I configuration, as well as the failure of both the Bush and Obama administrations AND Congress to properly fund the Constellation Program. IMHO, this bodes ill for the whole U.S. manned space program. It's like being nibbled to death by butterflies. This is what happened to the Shuttle when they switched from the manned flyback booster to the SRB/ET configuration!
Anybody know how to say and write: Ad LEO! Ad Luna! Ad Ares! Ad Astra!...in Mandarin Chinese!? :?