Re: Paper on early space programs

From: Henry Spencer (henry_at_spsystems.net)
Date: 02/03/05 

Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 21:18:41 GMT

In article <1104rrhmfp81dad@corp.supernews.com>,
Pat Flannery <flanner@daktel.com> wrote:
>Wasn't the general consensus that after Apollo 13, NASA was aware of the
>fact that given enough missions they were going to lose a crew, and it
>was better to go out on a high note than that way...so that they weren't
>completely heartbroken when it ended?

Some of the upper management certainly felt that way. Not everyone agreed
that such a risk-averse attitude was appropriate.

>What ever became of the planned shuttle Aft Cargo Container that was
>supposed to go on the back end of the ET? That could have been converted
>into a docking/airlock assembly for a ET-derived station.

People did notice that possibility. It would let you pre-install a bunch
of useful hardware that would have made the conversion rather easier.

The Aft Cargo Carrier did have some problems -- the sonic environment was
described as "extreme", and the thermal one wasn't fun either -- but I
think what killed it was a combination of no customers and post-Challenger
reluctance to mess with the basic shuttle hardware. You really only
*needed* the ACC if you just had to launch something that wouldn't fit in
the cargo bay, like a really big telescope mirror or heatshield, and
nobody had such a payload. And after Challenger, there was a stronger
appreciation of how thin the margins are during shuttle ascent, and nobody
wanted to make changes to things that seemed to work. 

-- 
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend."    |   Henry Spencer
                                -- George Herbert       | henry@spsystems.net

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