(Edit: this is an aside and if you want to respond to it, maybe start a new thread. I don't want to derail the current thread.)
Actually, if you stop to think about it. The ORBITER has never in itself failed. It's the stuff that LAUNCHES it that has caused fatalities. The SRB
O-rings killed Challenger, and the damn foam off the main tank killed Columbia.
Actually in Columbia's case, the new "environmentally friendly" foam is what killed Columbia. The stuff that used to stick to the tanks before
they changed it never had that problem. Thank you environmentalists for killing more people!
What still bugs me about that is that is that even with the new substandard foam, we could still safe-proof the tank by the simple expedient of PAINTING IT. I
do NOT understand why they won't just PAINT THE DAMN TANK! Put a nice thick coat of white rubberized latex paint
over the tank like they used to do for the first 3-4 shuttle flights back in 81-82.
Argh... it's this sort of thing that has me so cynical about NASA. You can't do ANYTHING in that damn agency without a freaking committee and study
group. I KNOW. I have friends who work there. It's NOTHING like it was in the 60s. Engineers don't run that damn place, bureaucrats do. And that's
why it's been so EPIC FAIL the last 20-30 years.
Actually, if you stop to think about it. The ORBITER has never in itself failed. It's the stuff that LAUNCHES it that has caused fatalities. The SRB
O-rings killed Challenger, and the damn foam off the main tank killed Columbia.
Actually in Columbia's case, the new "environmentally friendly" foam is what killed Columbia. The stuff that used to stick to the tanks before
they changed it never had that problem. Thank you environmentalists for killing more people!
What still bugs me about that is that is that even with the new substandard foam, we could still safe-proof the tank by the simple expedient of PAINTING IT. I
do NOT understand why they won't just PAINT THE DAMN TANK! Put a nice thick coat of white rubberized latex paint
over the tank like they used to do for the first 3-4 shuttle flights back in 81-82.
Argh... it's this sort of thing that has me so cynical about NASA. You can't do ANYTHING in that damn agency without a freaking committee and study
group. I KNOW. I have friends who work there. It's NOTHING like it was in the 60s. Engineers don't run that damn place, bureaucrats do. And that's
why it's been so EPIC FAIL the last 20-30 years.