Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!clyde.concordia.ca!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!db.toronto.edu!hogg From: hogg@db.toronto.edu (John Hogg) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Hawaii as a launching site Message-ID: <1989Dec21.174304.9072@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> Date: 21 Dec 89 22:43:04 GMT References: Organization: University of Toronto, CSRI Lines: 26 In article shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) writes: >There's no way to get the Shuttle to Hawaii safely and uncorroded. It >would have to be deck cargo on a ship and would be damaged before it >ever arrived, since Hawaii is beyond 747 range. While a number of major problems with Hawaii as a launch site have been pointed out, I think that Mary's a bit harsh on shuttle transportation by ship. Aircraft are regularly carried by specialized vessels (they're called ``aircraft carriers''); launchers right up to Saturn first stages have been moved to KSC by barge; and the SRBs *land* in salt water after each flight. Granting that shuttles are a bit more delicate than these other examples, they still spend most of their lives in the middle of a salt marsh on a seacoast. By comparison, a special Basic Orbiter Aquatic Transporter could give velvet-glove treatment. A simple hangar structure could seal out the spray, and even allow air conditioning and dehumidification. The shuttle wouldn't simply be dumped on the top layer of a container ship's cargo! I'm sure that *somebody* looked into building such an animal. For the present setup, of course, it makes absolutely no sense. Edwards lacks a year-round ice-free harbour. -- John Hogg hogg@csri.utoronto.ca Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto