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From: mcgeer%ucbkim%Berkeley@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: Chicago Tribune Article (long flame)
Message-ID: <145@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Jul-84 04:03:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.145
Posted: Thu Jul 19 04:03:45 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Jul-84 03:59:19 EDT
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From:  Rick McGeer (on an h19-u) <mcgeer%ucbkim@Berkeley>

	Damn right you're being unfair.  Remember the flap in the late
fifties and early sixties when NASA did have a series of tests and did have
busted launches?  There was a howl from the public and the Congress that
could be heard from Moscow.  Given that, and the Mondale/Proxmire bills in
the seventies to kill NASA, it's not surprising that NASA feels that it
can't test and can't have any failures -- the lawyers in Congress, who don't
understand engineering design and don't want to, would cut funds in a minute
if, say, an orbiter blew up on the pad.

	Also, isn't it always the case that prototypes are more expensive
than the production version?

				Rick.