Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dev8.mdcbbs.com!rivero
From: rivero@dev8.mdcbbs.com
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: MANY QUESTIONS (Shuttle cabin survival)ex
Message-ID: <1991Mar28.144033.1@dev8.mdcbbs.com>
Date: 28 Mar 91 14:40:33 GMT
References: <8097@crash.cts.com> <940@igor.Rational.COM> <1991Mar23.094700.14237@cimage.com> <953@igor.Rational.COM>
Organization: McDonnell Douglas M&E, Cypress CA
Lines: 36
Nntp-Posting-Host: dev8
Nntp-Posting-User: rivero

In article <953@igor.Rational.COM>, wab@rutabaga.Rational.COM (Bill Baker) writes:
> In article <1991Mar23.094700.14237@cimage.com> gregc@dgsi.UUCP (Greg Cronau/10000) writes:
>>In article <940@igor.Rational.COM> wab@eclipse.Rational.COM (Bill Baker) writes:
>>>I'm sure that on the first shuttle launch Truly was thinking to
>>>himself, "The hell with the ejection seats.  If the shit hits the fan,
>>>I'm shutting down the computers and putting this baby down by the seat
>>>of my pants."  So instead of thinking of the crew cabin as a
>>
>>I've got 2 little problems with this:
>>1.) If Truly was on the first shuttle mission, he was hiding somewhere in
>>the equipment bay. The first mission was Young/Crippen.
> 
> I post two long pieces on the shuttle survival system and almost the only response
> is, "It wasn't Truly it was Crippen."  Alright, it was Crippen!  Jeez....
> 
>>2.) If you shut down the computers, then you had better eject, because you
>>are flying a *rock* at that point! Without the computers, there's no way
>>to get the signals from the pilots controls to the control surfaces!
>>
>>gregc@cimage.com
> 
> Same thing.  If it makes the nitpickers happy, substitute the word "overriding" for
> the phrase "shutting down."  The intent was perfectly clear.  For God's sake, I
> hope the future of the net isn't typical of this useless pedantery.
> 
> I still say that NASA is shooting itself in the foot with no real crew survival
> system.  Their rationale, and this applies to a lot of other shuttle


Okay guys. The Shuttle is the most wonderful flying machine ever built, but it
is NOT, and never was intended to be a commercial transport, no matter what the
PR guys said. I knew a member of the Challenger crew. They knew they took a
risk when they
stepped aboard. YPOU know you take a risk when you fly commercial. Acceptance
of that risk is the price you pay for doing what you do. We could save many
more lives working on airline safety than criticizing the shuttle.