Re: Griffin admits shuttle and ISS a mistake


John Doe wrote:
> Bob Haller wrote:
> >
> > The first move to fixing a problem is admitting you have it:)
> >
> > I have hopes this might lead to a early ending of the shuttle!
>
> Article at:
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050928/1a_bottomstrip28.art.htm
>
>
> I am not impressed at all with this Griffin fellow. Shuttle and Station
> have greatly advanaced human space flight caopabilities. The real
> mistake was not updating the shuttle and building new/improved versions
> in the early 1990s.
>
> Shuttle isn't an answer to everything. But it is a dammned useful tool.
> So is ISS.
>
> For Griffin to state so categorically that it *AND THE ISS* were a
> mistake is a very important statement. Doesn't bode well for a shuttle
> return to flight and any more assembly of the station.

I love how the media tends to interpret words and release the most
sensationalist interpretation of those words. Heaven forbid Americans
drew their own conclusions from an interview. Part of why I hate how
after the Presidential Debates we jump to the talking heads and all I
hear for the next weeks, are the same damn reactions, from the same
damn 20 people until they are canon.

I digress there...anyway, Griffin's exact words? The shuttle is "deeply
flawed", that is nothing new there that those that know the bird best
don't know. "It was a design which was extremely aggressive and just
barely possible." It's simply something no NASA administrator has ever
so bluntly stated.

As for ISS, "Had the decision been mine, we would not have built the
space station we're building in the orbit we're building it in."

That has been a big issue for years. Bringing the Russians in resulted
in this problem, and I don't see what was gained out of it accept the
support of the Clinton White House.

>
> Big question now is when the ISS partners will want to see the end of an
> automatic "american crewmen" in every crew.

I was reading legislation to allow NASA to buy Soyuz seats is going
through Congress. If that fails then Bill McArthur on the upcoming
Expedition 12 will be the last to ride for a while.

.

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