Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: New Shuttle computers
Message-ID: <1991Mar13.172355.22087@zoo.toronto.edu>
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1991 17:23:55 GMT
References: <9103112033.AA09943@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov> <1991Mar13.084501@aten.cca.rok.com>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

In article <1991Mar13.084501@aten.cca.rok.com> MLC%GVA.DECNET@CONSRT.ROK.COM writes:
>the Soviets are using the same booster to launch current manned flights
>as they used for Gagarin's first flight.  They have much the same concerns
>for safety, upgrades as we do.   Inertia for using what works is very strong,
>and not just in the space program.

I think you're confusing continued use of the same basic design with
upgrading its innards.  Yes, the A booster is still in use.  In fact, it
goes further:  ignoring some variations in upper stages, the launcher
used for Soyuz today is the same one that launched Sputnik 1.  It's the
only mass-produced launcher on Earth.

However, the Soviets have upgraded their spacecraft repeatedly, and
presumably (although there is little information available) have done
the same for the launcher.

Contrast this to the US, which regularly throws out old basic designs
in favor of a clean sheet of paper, but then balks at doing minor
upgrades during their operational lifetime.
-- 
"But this *is* the simplified version   | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
for the general public."     -S. Harris |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry