NASA: the Blanche Dubois of space agencies
NASA is starting to show signs of faded beauty dementia.
The word idiots comes readily to the mind. This story makes me mad.
Questions abound: What else but pure hubris or naked stupidity can explain why career nerds get to gamble with the lives of more astronauts? Is some sick higher-up bucking for Columbia II: The Sequel? And does NASA really have to keeping building shuttles that can't withstand being grazed by a chunk of foam?
posted by Patrick at 11:40 AM
4 Comments:
Your last question was my first. What the heck are they doing for the foam to be coming off in the first place ... and didn't they expect that the shuttles might come in contact with things considerably denser than foam ... no one thought of this before?
1:11 PM
I know. It's very weird. You see this MASSIVE spacecraft sitting atop a thunderous tower of flames, climbing upward at terrifying speed....and yet critical parts of it are as fragile as a balsa wood toy.
I'm thinking the covert rationale for the shuttle missions *has* to be military. What else could it be? Tinkering around the space station for fun? Chess with the cosmonauts? Yet more nice photos for National Geographic? What?
2:21 PM
Actually it's a matter of cost...the original 1979 design of spaceshuttle "Dixie" was supposed to be made entirely out of styrofoam. It was reportedly incredibly comfortable inside, but the whole re-entry thing was problematic.
9:07 AM
But boy could that thing hold a good cup of coffee.
2:38 PM
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