America is back in space...NOT!
I have a love hate relationship with the US Space program. Well, many moons ago, I was a young aerospace engineering student hopeful about the continued success of the space program. I dream of the day that space shuttles will be lifting off every week. It was designed to be the workhorse of the space program, to be used in building space stations and perhaps zero gravity factories orbiting the earth. The Air Force was planning to use it for our space defense system.
All those dreams were dashed by the Challenger disaster. The Air Force cancelled the order for 5 space shuttles. Yup, 5! At a price of $3 billion each in 1980's money. Man, a long term job in aerospace will be a sweet one. I envision a nice home and a bimmer. Ahhhh, it's not meant to be.
I did manage to be a test engineer at Rockwell and was a part of the Endeavour project. The sad part was that it was the last order for a shuttle. Soon after delivery, all the extra engineers and technicians were let go. I was one of them. Boohoo.
Last week's delays of the space shuttle launch was a sign that the space program is old and needs to be redesigned or reinvented. Nevertheless, there was a tear in my eye when the shuttle Discovery launched to space last Tuesday. I even felt a lump in my throat as I watched it on AOL's website.
I was not surprised to hear yesterday that the program is again grounded when they found that a piece of the external tank tiles was ripped of after a collision with a fucking bird. It's amazing what birds can do to a spcae program. They should be considered a pest and be irradicated from the face of the earth. They belong in museum where they can do no harm.
There are three more shuttles left. The Endeavour, the Atlantis, and the Discovery. It was calculated that it has so many parts that there is a chance that a disaster will occur every 25 launches. Well, strap a an airplane on a million gallon of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks and a couple of solid rocket booster that can't be turned off once started, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. It's a one way ride. So anybody out there with a better idea of propulsion than the present technology, speak up or forever hold your peace. A giant rubber band is not acceptable as a atleast a million lbs. of thrust is required to get the shuttle in orbit in one piece. The rubber band is simple but not sophisticated enough for a space program.
I have a love hate relationship with the US Space program. Well, many moons ago, I was a young aerospace engineering student hopeful about the continued success of the space program. I dream of the day that space shuttles will be lifting off every week. It was designed to be the workhorse of the space program, to be used in building space stations and perhaps zero gravity factories orbiting the earth. The Air Force was planning to use it for our space defense system.
All those dreams were dashed by the Challenger disaster. The Air Force cancelled the order for 5 space shuttles. Yup, 5! At a price of $3 billion each in 1980's money. Man, a long term job in aerospace will be a sweet one. I envision a nice home and a bimmer. Ahhhh, it's not meant to be.
I did manage to be a test engineer at Rockwell and was a part of the Endeavour project. The sad part was that it was the last order for a shuttle. Soon after delivery, all the extra engineers and technicians were let go. I was one of them. Boohoo.
Last week's delays of the space shuttle launch was a sign that the space program is old and needs to be redesigned or reinvented. Nevertheless, there was a tear in my eye when the shuttle Discovery launched to space last Tuesday. I even felt a lump in my throat as I watched it on AOL's website.
I was not surprised to hear yesterday that the program is again grounded when they found that a piece of the external tank tiles was ripped of after a collision with a fucking bird. It's amazing what birds can do to a spcae program. They should be considered a pest and be irradicated from the face of the earth. They belong in museum where they can do no harm.
There are three more shuttles left. The Endeavour, the Atlantis, and the Discovery. It was calculated that it has so many parts that there is a chance that a disaster will occur every 25 launches. Well, strap a an airplane on a million gallon of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks and a couple of solid rocket booster that can't be turned off once started, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. It's a one way ride. So anybody out there with a better idea of propulsion than the present technology, speak up or forever hold your peace. A giant rubber band is not acceptable as a atleast a million lbs. of thrust is required to get the shuttle in orbit in one piece. The rubber band is simple but not sophisticated enough for a space program.
