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From: jim@pnet01.cts.COM (Jim Bowery)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: E'Prime and news about Thiokol
Message-ID: <8903091638.AA05474@crash.cts.com>
Date: 9 Mar 89 16:20:56 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: mordor!rutgers!pnet01.cts.com!jim@angband.s1.gov
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 30

Bob Pendleton writes:
> ... What do you mean by "MX booster segment?"
> The MX is a 3 stage booster, none of the stages are segmented.

The configuration table I gave was incorrect.  Bob is correct that the
MX is a 3 stage configuration.

E'Prime (after talking directly to a company representative) is
using the first 2 stages of the MX configuration exactly as currently
manufactured.  The third stage will be contract/mission specific.

The strap-ons will be the same as the first stage.

I'm curious as to how E'Prime gets away with saying that out of 17 test
flights none have failed when Bob claims that the MX booster produced by
Thiokol has killed several people.  Were the ground tests a disaster followed
up by a streak of good luck?  What sort of quality controls were imposed by
Thiokol on the flight-bound boosters to make them so reliable?  What
additional safety measures were imposed by the Air Force?  Since a decent 
solid rocket inspection system costs a small fraction of a launch (only about
$2million amortized over many launches) I would guess E'Prime could afford
to put all Thiokol's boosters through their own inspections.
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