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From: clj@ksr.com (Chris Jones)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Fuel-line door questions...
Message-ID: <2532@ksr.com>
Date: 8 Mar 91 12:47:29 GMT
References: <1991Feb25.204556.16156@athena.mit.edu> <1991Feb26.112746.11838@pbs.org>  <1991Mar7.171349.14914@dmntor.UUCP> <1991Mar8.003229.8019@umiami.ir.miami.edu>
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Reply-To: clj@ksr.com (Chris Jones)
Organization: Kendall Square Research Corp
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In-reply-to: jdeitch@umiami.ir.miami.edu (Jonathan Deitch)

In article <1991Mar8.003229.8019@umiami.ir.miami.edu>, jdeitch@umiami (Jonathan Deitch) writes:
>In article <1991Mar7.171349.14914@dmntor.UUCP>, bill@dmntor.UUCP (Bill Kyle) writes:

>>>>>				   All they would have to do is send up
>>>>>Columbia or Atlantis to pick up the crew of Discovery.

>>>This whole thread is a (bad) joke, right?  ALL they would have to do is to
>>>launch another shuttle?  It strains credulity to believe NASA could ready and
>>>launch a shuttle in time to rescue another shuttle in distress.
>>>		  It certainly seems simpler to just get the damn doors closed.
>>>
>> Now now don't be harsh, yes your right about getting the doors closed however
>> hypothetically if NASA HAD TOO they could probably manage a rescue with another
>> shuttle. NASA would tempararily suspend many of its redundant safety
>> proceedures and other proceedures that bog down the turn around time. Large organisations
>> rarely are as efficient as they can be until an emergency takes-place.

Given the shuttle processing facilities at the Cape, given the parts
cannabilization that goes on to fly one shuttle at a time, and given the
consumable situation on a shuttle, I stand by my statement.  You might get
"lucky" and have two shuttles nearing flight-readiness at one time (most likely
due to one of them having been delayed so the other catches up), but I still
hold it's extremely unlikely that a second shuttle could be launched in time to
rescue the first, even if you cut every corner in sight.  NASA has plans to
stick extra seats in the mid-deck to accommodate a rescued crew, but I think
that plans like these are predicated on a larger fleet and a shorter
turn-around time.

>Yeah.  Look at how fast the military moved getting all the troops over to the
>middle east - and the military is FAMOUS for its beaurocracy (sp?).  Had the
>flare up in the middle east happened in any way other than an outright invasion
>but made moving troops over there neccessary, I bet we would some serious red
>tape tangles.  All you need is some serious situation and someone will simply
>say "Damn the torpedos - full speed ahead" and get the job done.

I don't see how looking at the military buildup in the middle east tells us
anything useful about rapidly launching a shuttle.  Also, it took *MONTHS* to
get the military over there--this wasn't quite a rapid deployment.
--
Chris Jones    clj@ksr.com    {world,uunet,harvard}!ksr!clj