Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!fozzie!stanley From: stanley@phoenix.com (John Stanley) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: New (!?!?!?!) Shuttle Computers (and old parts) Message-ID: Date: 13 Mar 91 17:35:45 GMT References: <1991Mar11.004952@helga4.acc.Virginia.EDU> Organization: Mad Scientist Lines: 22 rnm8s@helga4.acc.Virginia.EDU (Rory Neil Mcleod) writes: Newton: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. > Bureacracy tends to slow the rate at which changes are made, > but, the STS is a huge system, what may seem like a little > change to one system may have a major impact someplace else. > The checks and balances are there for a reason. News story: The introduction of high capacity hard disks in the latest shuttle mission has had a strange reaction. STS-99 has run out of maneuvering thruster fuel and is now spinning. It seems that the force applied to spin the disks has followed Newton's laws, and the shuttle is now also spinning - the opposite direction. Since the programs on the disks are required for landing, they cannot be spun down until after landing, and the shuttle cannot land until the disks are spun down. The shuttle astronauts are taking emergency dancing lessons (mostly the "twist"), but whether this will help will not be known for several hours. Mandatory :-).