Space Forum / Shuttle / October 2005

Ground the Shuttle forever!
As of now the 'Nasa Dream', as envisioned by our
elected leaders, is a grand plan for colonizing Mars.
I would say most people would agree that such a vision is

Does the STS produce what is termed "mach diamonds"i.e. thrust shock waves

When they do retire the shuttle fleet whether sooner or later, what is to
happen to the shuttles at that point? I can't see them all ending up at the
Smithsonian, so have they have plans to place them somewhere? I can imagine
one may stay at Kennedy and one in Houston.

i'm analyzing the disaster of columbia and i want to know approximately the
kind of material used for the spar of space shuttle..
thanks a lot

   Today is Columbus day in America, so I would like to pay tribute to
Columbus  and other great explorers like Lewis and Clark, Neil Armstrong,
Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins and many other explorers who have helped open new
frontiers.  May the exploration continue, regardless of ...

NASA: Shoddy Work Likely Caused Foam Loss
NASA Team Says Inadequate Work Methods Likely Contributed to
Insulation Loss on Discovery Launch
By MARCIA DUNN

I thought it was so cool when I saw the first space shuttle launch when I
was a kid.  And it was really cool as it became so commonplace as to not
even warrant media coverage except when there was a disaster.
Now I see NASA has unveiled its plans for the next moon mission.  Right

Since the "new" space vehicle is based on the Apollo spacecraft, I have to
wonder:
   -Yeah, a crew of three can live quite nicely in it on a 10 day venture
to the moon and back, but what about a 7 month trip to Mars?  I think the

The problem is that though space is darned interesting, nobody seems to have
any new ideas on what warrants spending money on it.
communications sats are pretty well covered now, GPS is just tweaking at an
existing system.

Allard Beutel/Melissa Mathews
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-4769/1272)
Kyle Herring

       I am a huge supporter of NASA, but I am wondering if NASA will
really be able to fly 18 shuttle flights between now and 2010, according to
this article below.  They will have to fly 4 or 5 shuttle flights a year
starting in 2006.  How realistic is this?

Can anyone provide any insights into the thinking behind how China's space
program is operating.
It seems their practice of launching one manned mission every two years is
to continue. The next manned launch is not scheduled until 2007.

I was reading about the loss of yet another of thus  launches with that
launcher, and was wondering if, as mentioned, all launches have to plan for
a crash in unpopulated areas? I mean I understood that the vehicles were
normally destroyed prior to coming to earth to minimise ...

Rocket error dooms ice satellite's launch
BY STEPHEN CLARK, SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Updated: October 8, 2005 @ 5 p.m. EDT
http://spaceflightnow.com/rockot/cryosat/

The Shuttle program is self-limiting.  If luck holds out, so much the
merrier until 2010, but given one more crash and its all over 'cept the
shouting.