Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!pacbell.com!decwrl!ogicse!unicorn!n8035388 From: n8035388@unicorn.wwu.edu (Worth Henry A) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Shuttle scrubbed again (and a NEW Soviet Shuttle?) Message-ID: <1990Sep18.220947.29179@unicorn.wwu.edu> Date: 18 Sep 90 22:09:47 GMT References: <1990Sep17.224055.1343@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Reply-To: n8035388@unicorn.WWU.EDU (Worth Henry A) Organization: Western Washington Univ, Bellingham, WA Lines: 44 In article arnaud@schizo.schizo.imposter.samsung.com (Alain Arnaud) writes: > > > What's happening at NASA. I am starting to beleive some of > their critics that say that the agency should be closed. Their > credibility has really gone down, specially after the latest > scrub. They tell us that the leak was a seal problem, that it > was fixed, and here we go again, another scrub. > > They should not cry wolf, too many times. > > I vote, to replace NASA with the ESA (European Space Agency). > Let's launch our payloads on Ariannes and Shuttles from Guyanna. > At least, ESA is capable of properly resolving and fixing problems > in a timely manner. > > My vote is with the WSA. ;-) To be fair, the ESA is not yet dealing with manned flight and is young enough to not yet be as afflicted by bureaucratic harding of the arteries as NASA. I'm not familiar with the ESA's organization -- has it been structured to avoid micro-management by every member's government and to discourage the formation of a cronic bureaucracy? If not, it will soon be as problem ridden as NASA. :-( I have not yet seen any knowledgable responses as to post-Challanger changes in the leak sensing system and/or scrub criteia. I fear that between the stricter post-Challanger criteria and the inevitable deteriation of shuttle systems from disuse and old age -- that NASA may be entering one of those no-win situations where the shuttles breakdown faster than they can be repaired. :-( On a unrelated note (or is it?), recently -- while ensnared in one of Seattle's many non-rush-hour grid-locks -- I caught the very tail-end of an NPR(?) interview of a Soviet space official. The official seemed to be stating that the Buran-class shuttles are all but scapped and (yes, old news -- but the interesting part follows) that they are proceeding with the development of a NEW shuttle system. Anyone in Netland have a confirmation and details as to what my traffic crazied mind thinks it heard? This may have been related to the recent visit, to the USA, by some Soviets seeking more joint space projects.