shuttle disaster

[dep]

begin  Keith Antoine's  quote:

| What we are hearing here was that the astronauts were doomed at
| takeoff from possible damage. We are also told that there was
| insufficient fuel for them to rendezvous with the Space Station. We
| are also told that they had insufficient supplies to wait for a
| rescue event, if it had been determined as necessary, which it was
| not. The deck seems as if it was stacked.

one minor point: chaging orbital elements is not as easy as the movies 
would lead us to believe. it is relatively easy to go higher or 
lower, bearing in mind that altitude figures into speed over ground, 
so even connecting with something else in the same orbit is 
nontrivial. but changing direction is tremendously energy intensive 
and is not a practical possibility for the shuttle.

what is surprising is the continued arrogance of nasa in having never 
pondered having to rescue people from a crippled shuttle.
-- 
dep

http://www.linuxandmain.com -- outside the box, barely within
the envelope, and no animated paperclip anywhere.