Space Forum / Shuttle / April 2008

Remember the Mercury heat shield cushion?  Would that work any better than
the balloons planned for Orion?  Might even be lighter.  From memory, the
heat shield is replaced on Orion after each flight anyway; so it might as
well serve a dual purpose.

anyone there????

By Tom Foreman
CNN Washington Bureau
4/26/2008
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One issue the presidential candidates are not saying

Since the shuttle, NASA has continued some research and has done some
improvements to the re-usable shields for the shuttle. (carbon/carbon,
traditional tiles, blankets).
Since Apollo, has there been any research on ablative shields ?  Have they

NASA says the life of an orbiter APU is rather short (still only in
the neighborhood of 75 hours, if I recall correctly).
Some research in this forum suggests that the APU flames seen on the
STS-123 landing may have been caused by overheated ammonia in the APU

The planned STS-125 Atlantis mission to Hubble includes a potential
STS-400 rescue mission with Endeavour.  Would NASA attempt to save
Atlantis through a remote controlled landing using the RCO cable?
It was my understanding that the RCO cable is stored on ISS, and thus

Which is the difference between Thrust Oscilation and the Pogo effect?
thnks

After they decided to ATO, Houston made calls indicating first "limits
to enable" then later "limits to inhibit"...
What exactly did they mean by this?

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=4556582430279254650 Watch the vid.
PEPCON disaster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEPCON_disaster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_2
Surely, they'll be more accurate (parachute guidance?) than even the Gemini
vehicles, which would allow a landing at Cape Canaveral.  There are also
rumours that the land-landing system will be removed if the weight keeps

Price for an LEO launch of the Falcon Heavy (29+ tonne payload) is just
$94.5 million - Delta IV Heavy is currently $250 million + with a smaller
payload.
http://www.spacex.com/falcon9_heavy.php  also quotes a price for "TLI

When the shuttle undocks from PMA2, springs push it off from PMA2.
(according to NASA TV commentator).
Unless the docking collar happens to be at the centre of gravity/mass of
the shuttle, wouldn't that push put the shuttle into a slow rotation ?

http://www.spacex.com/falcon9.php Includes a "Data Sheet", but still no
Payload Users Guide.
Payload has gone up to 11, 290kg from 9,900kg.
Still no dimensions or weights for the Dragon though. {|-\

In the CEV pad configuration illustrated here, how will the crew enter
the crew module?
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/transition/home/index.html
JTM