Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!decwrl!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!ames!skipper!shafer From: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: NASA: A Can-Do Agency Becomes A Can't Do Bureaucracy Message-ID: Date: 23 Jul 90 17:20:48 GMT References: <8824@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> Sender: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov Organization: NASA Dryden, Edwards, Cal. Lines: 25 In-reply-to: gwalsh@kilroy.jpl.nasa.gov's message of 22 Jul 90 19:23:40 GMT In article <8824@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> gwalsh@kilroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Gerald J. Walsh) writes: >"NASA: What Goes Up -- A Can-Do Agency Becomes A Can't Do Bureaucracy" >(from the Los Angeles Times Opinion Section - Sunday July 22, 1990) >(by Gregg Easterbrook - contributing editor to Newsweek and the Atlantic) >4) [Build a spaceplane]. More than 30 years ago, the Air Force was routinely ^^^^^^^^^ NASA FRC was the RTO >dropping the X-15 spaceplane from a B-52 bomber, flying it to the lower reaches >of orbit and bringing it back for standard landings on runways. The X-15 >program was put together quickly, didn't cost much and never had an accident. Would you care to tell this to Mike Adams' widow? RTO = Responsible Test Organization. We ran all the operation, including safety of flight, flight planning, test conduct, maintainence, etc. The planes lived in our hangar and were "ours", as is the B-52. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all"--Unknown US fighter pilot