[extropy-chat] good space shuttle article

[BillK]

On 8/3/05, spike wrote:
> 
> I don't wish to be a prophet of gloom, but I would consider
> it reasonably likely that the space shuttle will fly no more
> forever.
> 

This is wonderful news!  At last they have decided to scrap the
multi-billion dollar, thirty wasted year disaster that is the Shuttle.
And they are going back to designs from the 60s.

Now, I wonder what NASA is going to find for the thousands of ground
staff, subcontractors and bureaucracy to do?

>From <http://www.bobpark.org/>

Friday, July 29, 2005
1. SHUTTLE: THE SPACE SHUTTLE DOESN'T WORK.  IT NEVER DID WORK.
Why is everyone afraid to say so? The real problem isn't foam falling
off the fuel tank. The shuttle was sold to Congress as a way to launch
things into space more cheaply. On the contrary, it's the most
expensive way to reach space ever conceived. The problems we're facing
now result from the refusal to acknowledge that reality. Initially,
anything that went into space, including commercial and military
satellites, was required to be launched from the shuttle. With the
total cost of the shuttle program at about $150B, the average
cost/flight is about $1.3B. The shuttle was strangling space
development before the Challenger disaster. Then it was declared to be
a science laboratory, but no field of science has been affected in any
way by research that has been conducted on the shuttle or space
station. The last scheduled research mission was the final flight of
Columbia in 2003. The shuttle's only mission now is to supply the ISS.

BillK