Space Shuttle Return to Flight - Pt. 3

[shuttle_rtf]

911 on RTF has been implemented by NASA. CIAB reccomendations have been met.

 

[shuttle_rtf]

Everything for a go for launch is for the FRR. (Flight Readiness Review).

 

[najab]

><i>CIAB reccomendations have been met.</i><p>That's the first important thing we needed to hear.</p>

 

[shuttle_rtf]

Everyone patting each other on the back. Really hoping for a transcript as the audio cut out more often than not. A lot of the questions and answers were mumbled!!<br /><br />341 and 343 elements (imagary) now being noted in more detail.<br /><br />Didn't hear an absolute and clear answer till they said NASA has met the reccomendations.

 

[shuttle_rtf]

Ground based cameras to stay on future launches. Aircraft filming for debris will be likely to stop after the first two launches, due to the cost of leasing the planes.<br /><br />No mention of STS-300s being stopped after the first two launches, but could be down to camera related questions.

 

[franson_space]

I'm amazed the absolute lack of interest in this on here. Don't people realise that their stupid Mars bases and telescopes and search for life etc.etc. is all relevant to getting the shuttle back up?

 

[bobw]

Thanks for the link to the live audio. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[shuttle_rtf]

Dionne -<br /><br /> This site is not specific to Space Shuttles. It covers everything (and then some) on the mandate the site SDC covers - so it's not going to have all the posters coming on to this thread and seeing what is going on with the Stafford-Covey situation.

 

[henryhallam]

<font color="yellow"><br />I'm amazed the absolute lack of interest in this on here.</font><br />Not sure about everyone else but I am following the RTF thread with great interest, I'm just not in a position to add any new information!

 

[shuttle_rtf]

Good point Henry <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Page views speaks for interest and the ratio of posts to views shows a lot of people simply read what's going on.

 

[mrmorris]

<font color="yellow">"Don't people realise that their stupid Mars bases and telescopes and search for life etc.etc. is all relevant to getting the shuttle back up?"</font><br /><br />Actually -- the only quantifiable relationship between the goals you mention and the Shuttle is that until the Shuttle program ends, NASA won't have enough money to do them. Granted -- the sooner the Shuttle is back up, the sooner NASA can make those 28 flights and end the program, so RTF ASAP would be great.

 

[franson_space]

Ok, then how many people have read that abstract on your news page? Why is there more page views on some robot on Mars on here?

 

[franson_space]

But Mr Morris, say if Stafford-Covey said there was a major problem and the Shuttle owuld be delayed some more, then that holds everything up?

 

[shuttle_rtf]

2204 - but it's only an opening couple of lines before I write a full story - given I want to wait for the transcript so as to be totally sure there's no mis-representations.<br /><br />Again, we're specific to STS (with a few things on top, like CEV etc.) We are not SDC, never will be, don't compete with (as if we'd come close, not) and I don't want to see people coming over from our site having a go on here about so-called lack of interest in the Shuttles. <br /><br />Without this thread, and the likes of SG and NajaB etc. I doubt I'd of been motivated to get the NSF site up as fast as we did. So leave this argument out of here and especially this thread.<br /><br />Thanks.

 

[franson_space]

Sorry <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> Just think Americans don't give a &%$#@! about their own spacecraft anymore.

 

[mrmorris]

<font color="yellow">"... then that holds everything up? "</font><br /><br />Dunno what that 'what if' has to do with the price of rice in China. Essentially there are the following scenarios (from best case to worst)<br /><br />- Shuttle flies 28 flights before 2010 deadline -- completes ISS, retires.<br />- Shuttle flys less than 28 flights before 2010 -- completing whatever is determined to be the 'essential' portions of the ISS, then retires.<br />- Shuttle does not complete ISS by any definition before 2010 deadline, but deadline is extended to allow more flights to complete it.<br />- Shuttle does not complete ISS by any definition before 2010 deadline. Shuttle is retired nonetheless. ISS is completed by other means (unlikely) or completion is written off.<br />- Something *really bad* happens that ends the shuttle program early. <br /><br />Whatever happens, the shuttle only helps the goals you mentioned by exiting stage left.

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">Don't people realise that their stupid Mars bases and telescopes and search for life etc.etc. is all relevant to getting the shuttle back up?</font>/i><br /><br />I disagree. Everything you mentioned will be launched on something other than the shuttle (the only possible exception is a single service trip to Hubble). Only the ISS depends on the shuttle (and nothing depends on the ISS), and the shuttle and ISS costs are delaying the development of just about everything else.</i>

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">say if Stafford-Covey said there was a major problem and the Shuttle owuld be delayed some more, then that holds everything up?</font>/i><br /><br />Space Shuttle operations costs are pretty much the same whether there are zero launches or six launches in a year. The definition of "complete" for the ISS is now essentially "whatever we have done when we retire the shuttle by 2010".<br /><br />So unless Griffin shocks everyone by saying that NASA is going to launch X more shuttles (where "X" is much less than 28, say a dozen), and when that is done the shuttle will be retired, then "when" the shuttle resumes flying pretty much meaningless with respect to all the other NASA activities.</i>

 

[franson_space]

ok thank you guys. I'm going to miss the Shuttle when it retires. It has a lot of fans in the UK.

 

[shuttle_rtf]

Yeah, it does seem to have a lot of coverage on the TV news - might help that we're not paying for it too <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <br /><br />Remember, Dionne, it's the Orbiters that's absolutely sure to retire.

 

[mrmorris]

<font color="yellow">"I'm going to miss the Shuttle when it retires. It has a lot of fans in the UK."</font><br /><br />I think you, as with Shuttle_RTF and others that read my posts think that I'm very anti-Shuttle. That's not really the case. I seem to have my best luck with analogies -- so let's try this one.<br /><br />To me, the shuttle is like having a 1971 VW van as 'the family car'. It's been with us for <b>years</b>. It's served us well and we've made lots of great memories together. However, now it's getting old... the tires are bald... there's no airbags... and we've had two accidents in it that have killed people we love. While we patched the old bus back up -- there's no escaping the fact that it's aging and there's no way to fix all the things that are wrong with it. In addition -- the van is *still* under the most awful car lease you can imagine and is costing the family so much we can't afford another vehicle and even making the house payments is a struggle.<br /><br />I will miss the shuttle when it's gone. However, that's not the same thing as thinking that it's "A Bad Thing" that it is going. Besides -- I really have my eyes on the current model 2-door sedans. It won't carry as much as the old bus did, but <b>man</b> can those suckers move!

 

[racer7]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Why is there more page views on some robot on Mars on here?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />This is the third RTF thread. It was only created about a week ago. The rover threads were created back in April. The Cassini thread was created back in February. RTF is definitely getting more views each day.

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">ust think Americans don't give a &%$#@! about their own spacecraft anymore.</font>/i><br /><br />Here is a quote from NASA's administrator a year before he became administrator:<br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>It is beyond reason to believe that ISS can help to fulfill any objective, or set of objectives, for space exploration that would be worth the $60 B remaining to be invested in the program.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=12151<br /><br />The books "<i>Lost in Space : The Fall of NASA and the Dream of a New Space Age</i>" and "<i>New Moon Rising</i>" and several of the testimonies at the Moon2Mars commission also illustrated a lot of the frustrations with NASA over the last three decades.<br /><br />As someone once pointed out in on this site: Americans only pay attention when something new happens. Everyone remembers Apollo 11; not so many people remember Apollo 12 (remember how in the movie Apollo 13 the major networks had stopped live broadcasts of transmissions from Apollo 13 (at least until the accident)).<br /><br />For the Space-o-philes, I think most are looking for a "peace with dignity" solution to the Shuttle and ISS. That is, a graceful and planned retirement of the shuttle (picture the firehoses spraying water in high arches over the last shuttle like when a pilot/plane retire, champaign toasts, teary goodbyes) and an ISS that at least has a few people doing fulltime science.</i>

 

[grooble]

What science has been done on ISS ?

 

[SpaceKiwi]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Just think Americans don't give a &%$#@! about their own spacecraft anymore.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />You could make a fairly reasonable argument that the American public has never especially cared about Shuttle, or the US Space Program in general. Certainly, as an election issue or for finding votes in the House and Senate, the Space Program has always been very much a barely tolerated 'extravagance' in people's eyes. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><font size="2" color="#ff0000">Who is this superhero?  Henry, the mild-mannered janitor ... could be!</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></em></p><p><font size="5">Bring Back The Black!</font></p> </div>