Astronaut questions shuttle safety in book (CNN/Reuters)

[eppur_se_muova]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/01/17/shuttle.astronaut.reut/index.html

"Questions" is an understatement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Astronaut Mike Mullane has flown on the shuttle three times and would go again in a heartbeat, but in a new memoir he called this ship the most dangerous spacecraft humans have ever ridden.

NASA's bureaucracy helped make it that way, he said, by discouraging questions about safety and other matters. Astronauts deserve some share of responsibility too, Mullane said in a Reuters interview about his book "Riding Rockets," published this month

"It's the most dangerous manned spacecraft ever flown, by anybody," said 60-year-old Mullane, who retired from NASA in 1990. "And I say that because it has no powered-flight escape system ... Basically the bailout system we have on the shuttle is the same bailout system a B-17 bomber pilot had in World War Two."

[Loonman]

1. Ever wonder how far along we'd be

If we didn't waste all that time and money on the shuttle? Thing should have been obsolete in the 90s.

[XNASA]

2. Damn Air Force pilots are always gripin' about something or other.

[spuddonna]

3. Yeah, what a bunch of whiners! Wanting a safety capsule...

(sarcasm off)
I remember reading in Popular Science way back in the early 1970's about the different shuttle systems that were up for bid from all the big aero companies.

I remember a visual chart that showed the sizes of the proposed designs, including at least one that had a heat shielded capsule area for the astronauts. I remember the disbelief on my dad's face when we found out what the chosen shuttle would be. I remember him saying then that he believed someone was deliberately trying to destroy the program because it was an inevitability that there would be a horrible disaster that would stun the nation, and make us question whether the money spent on space exploration was worth it.

I will never understand 1) why we paid for a shuttle design that had no escape capsule/system for our astronauts to begin with and 2)why the NASA astronauts agreed to get in that thing...

[XNASA]

4. It's not a gig for the faint of heart, that's for sure.

I kind of like what Astronaut Dave Wolf had to say when he would sign off from MIR during the Phase I Program. He'd say something like, "Be careful down there. It's awfully low to the ground and somebody could get hurt".

[spuddonna]

7. lol That's awesome...

You're right, they're doing a dangerous job.

But I still don't get why if you're going to spend billions on a shuttle program you choose a design that is inherently dangerous to the most precious cargo you carry...

Astronauts are some of our smartest and bravest Amercians - they deserve better. And I'm guessing based on your XNASA name that you were involved with this great group of scientists? :)

[Ready4Change]

5. I'll second that.

I recall the selection as well. I was younger at the time, so I was largely judging the "candidate" based on how cool they looked. BUt I was also a model rocket builder and knew how some shapes were easier to make fly straight than others. In my youthful opinion they chose the absolute worst of the candidates.

[spuddonna]

8. Yeah, I can't remember how old I was...

...but it was like 7-9 and even I knew "That's a bad idea!"

Sad. And now where are we? Gahhh, don't get me started! I love the space program and my heart hurts when I think about its near-term future...

[Ready4Change]

9. There's hope, but not in NASAs hands anymore.

I was present when Burt Rutan made his announcement (or one of his announcements of) his intent to compete for the X-Prize. He said it in a way that didn't say to me that he wanted to win a prize, but that he had realized it was not just doable, but VERY doable, and he wanted to do it.

It seemed wacky to many at the time. I mentioned it to some friends who scoffed. We are so convinced that space can only be reached by nation spanning industrial corporations that the idea of a small shop in the desert building a viable spacecraft seems ludicrous.

But I've seen Rutan come through on other seemingly impossible things. And sure enough, his SpaceCraftOne got out there.

I'm curious to see how Branson and Virgin do with space tourism. I'm curious if Rutan might be considering orbital flight. I'm certain they've inspired others.

We may are right on the edge of very exciting times. Sadly, NASA may be too big and too encoumbered by bureaucracy to participate. Ah well.

[spuddonna]

10. I have hope that Rutan and these X-Prize companies will be the next gen...

And I totally agree that NASA seems like it's seen its best days behind it. Very sad...

[eppur_se_muova]

6. The design was chosen to save costs.

It looked like Congress wasn't going to fund the original Shuttle design given the high estimated development costs, so von Braun put together a cheaper (by half) 'hybrid' of solid boosters and a gliding shuttle. Earlier designs had called for both stages to be piloted and reusable. I would not be at all surprised if, in the long run, it has turned out to save little, if anything, in costs.