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From: bheil@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Brian Heil)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Skeptical Shuttle Enquirer
Message-ID: <5399@ns-mx.uiowa.edu>
Date: 9 Apr 91 17:42:22 GMT
References: <910@idacrd.UUCP>
Sender: news@ns-mx.uiowa.edu
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From article <910@idacrd.UUCP>, by mac@idacrd.UUCP (Robert McGwier):
> If you were a truly cynical person, and you were extremely worried about the
> manned space budgets during these times, and if you needed a GOLDEN opportunity
> to demonstrate why man needs to be launching satellites (HEY!  James Pike
> says so, it must be true now), and you knew you could rig the release clamp
> so that it released but the spring mechanism could be fouled and that it
> would be trivial for a spacewalker to fix it and OH BY THE WAY we just planned
> many hours of space walks . . . .   I hate to be such a cynic and a skeptic
> but it is just too much like a choreographed melodrama for me.
> 
> Bob
> 
> -- 
> ____________________________________________________________________________
>     My opinions are my own no matter	|	Robert W. McGwier, N4HY
>     who I work for! ;-)			|	CCR, AMSAT, etc.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was thinking this same thought... GRO has handholds, PFR sockets etc., all
make for real easy EVA repair *.  But the Great Observatories all are designed
for easy on orbit repair, in fact 10-15 years ago all satellites to be launched
from the shuttle were to be this way.  Remember Solar Max?  It had all the 
replacable modules and wonder of wonders it failed and had to be repaired by 
a shuttle crew.

On the other hand, All the many hours of spacewalk sims and training are 
pretty standard for a shuttle mission.  As much as we'd like to think space
flights on the shuttle and interplanetary probes are run of the mill type stuff
any more, things can go wrong.  Take Magellan, it cocked up pretty good for a
while there... but there was contingency software on board for just such a 
problem.  99% of any space flight is in the planning.  You HAVE to ask what can
go wrong and how do you fix it?  With the shuttle and some EVAers right there
at launch, why not plan for manned repair if something should go wrong?

* I think this is true, it is for HST and GRO.

It does make you wonder if the Public Affairs Office is up to something doesn't
it :)

--
Brian Heil                           )              University of Iowa
bheil@scout-po.biz.uiowa.edu         (      College of Business Administration
bheil@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu           )        Computing Services Organization
                      AMIGA   There is no substitute!