Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: shuttle escape systems
Message-ID: <1989Oct14.220418.5339@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <538.252A3A3B@mamab.FIDONET.ORG> <34577@srcsip.UUCP> <126311@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: Sat, 14 Oct 89 22:04:18 GMT

In article <126311@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> admiral%m-5@Sun.COM (Michael Limprecht SUN Microsystems Mt. View Ca.) writes:
>Space travel is dangerous. People are going to be killed doing this and it's
>going to happen again. We should do the best we can to put that next time
>far in the future but let's not tie ourselves up trying to protect against
>everything. We'd never leave the ground.

A recent issue of Flight International had an interesting comment on this.
The Europeans are wrestling with the issue of an escape system for their
Hermes spaceplane (which is going to ride up on an Ariane 5, complete with
two big SRBs -- segmented ones at that, sigh).  The interesting part is
that the potential Hermes astronauts are *against* the idea:  they consider
the risks acceptable and would rather see the mass go to something useful.
-- 
A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu