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From: ems@amdahl.UUCP (ems)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: Long Term Implications of Challenger Accident
Message-ID: <2735@amdahl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Feb-86 20:54:40 EST
Article-I.D.: amdahl.2735
Posted: Mon Feb  3 20:54:40 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 5-Feb-86 01:41:35 EST
References: <726@astrovax.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Circle C Shellfish Ranch, Shores-of-the-Pacific, Ca
Lines: 32
Summary: The shuttle already has been the starting point.

In article <726@astrovax.UUCP>, elt@astrovax.UUCP (Ed Turner) writes:
> (...)                         For example, one might reasonably conclude
> that
(...)
> 2)  reasonably short cycle time and inexpensive reusability is fundamentally
>     incompatible with high reliability with current technology,

Please prove this.  I see it as a non-sequiter.
> 
> 3)  for many routine space missions, the cost in complexity and required
>     reliability of manned missions is not worth the much touted gain in
>     flexibility and on site intelligence, and thus
>
Maybe.  But perhaps there are economies of scale to be considered.
Putting a few 'routine tasks' in the cargo bay when you are sending
up a manned mission anyway is quite justified.  I am sure there are
others.  (Though I do wish I could see a Saturn V go up !!)

> 4)  the Shuttle Program (like the Apollo Program before it), despite
>     its breath-taking level of technical prowess, will turn out to be a
>     dead end and not the true starting point for elaborate future space
>     activities (manned and unmanned).
>
I am sorry, you are 1) wrong. and 2) Too late.  The shuttle has
already been the 'true starting point'.  It has proven the concept.
Everything that follows will owe a debt to the shuttle program.  Just
as the 747 owes a debt to the Wright brothers.

-- 
E. Michael Smith  ...!{hplabs,ihnp4,amd,nsc}!amdahl!ems

This is the obligatory disclaimer of everything.