Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!hsdndev!rice!eunomia.rice.edu!bro
From: bro@eunomia.rice.edu (Douglas Monk)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Shuttle Status for 12/04/90 (Forwarded)
Message-ID: <1990Dec5.202933.12153@rice.edu>
Date: 5 Dec 90 20:29:33 GMT
References: <1990Dec4.232339.3111@news.arc.nasa.gov> <18158@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Sender: news@rice.edu (News)
Organization: Rice University, Houston
Lines: 20

In article <18158@hydra.gatech.EDU> gs26@prism.gatech.EDU (Glenn R. Stone) writes:
#Silly question: why separate the 'chutes from the boosters?  I would think
#you would want the 'chutes back as well as the boosters, to either re-use
#or dispose of properly....  just leaving the 'chutes out there is a potential
#environmental impact, no?  Anyone have a clue into the matter?

I think they *do* recover the 'chutes. I recall seeing support vessels 
recovering the jettisoned 'chutes at the same time the boosters are being
recovered. (Though this could have been only during some non-routine or
testing period in which they were particularly interested in recovering
the 'chutes for some reason.)

As to why they are jettisoned: the boosters stick up out of the water
vertically. If the 'chutes were still attached, they could possibly
drag the boosters or perhaps overturn it (at which point I believe they
would sink). Some booster(s) has(have) been lost due to sinking, I think.

Doug Monk (bro@rice.edu)

Disclaimer: These views are mine, not necessarily my organization's.


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