Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!nrl-cmf!cmcl2!phri!cooper!dasys1!tbetz
From: tbetz@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Betz)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Discovery's launch: Am I imagining things?
Summary: We all saw it... blame Nixon and Congress!
Message-ID: <6740@dasys1.UUCP>
Date: 30 Sep 88 09:59:57 GMT
References: <1104@cfa237.cfa250.harvard.edu>
Reply-To: tbetz@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Betz)
Organization: Zen Community of New York
Lines: 32

Quoth mcdowell@cfa250.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell) in <1104@cfa237.cfa250.harvard.edu>:
|
|HOORAY! Discovery's in orbit at last. Phew.
|
|BUT....  At about 80 to 90 seconds into the flight, I and several
|friends independently thought we saw flame coming out of the right hand
|(no, right on the TV screen, so I guess that must mean its really the
|"left hand") SRB at the case-to-nozzle joint (where the cylindrical
|booster starts to flare toward the bottom). Did anyone else see this?
|The commentators didnt mention it. I hope I'm wrong.
|
|
|Jonathan McDowell

Yup, I saw it too. It's the ghost of Nixon's Congress coming back to haunt
us.  
 
"That reuseable liquid-fueled air-launcher is too expensive... why don't you 
just use solid-fueled rockets?  Hell, it's good enough for our ICBMs... it
should be good enough for NASA!"
 
So long as we keep using this bargain-basement design, we're going to have the
same risk, no matter how much NASA tries to gloss over it.

And the worst thing about is that it's Nixon's fault.


-- 
 "If I found the truth I would tell you and you    |Tom Betz 
  would have me shot." --  Carlos Fuentes  --      |ZCNY, Yonkers, NY 10701-2509
Those who purchase a little safety at the price of |UUCP: tbetz@dasys1.UUCP or
liberty will soon have neither liberty nor safety. | ...!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!tbetz