NASA To Retire Atlantis by 2008 238
SirBruce writes "As reported by Space.com, Spaceflight Now, and elsewhere, NASA is now planning to retire the Space Shuttle Atlantis by 2008, after just 5 more flghts. By doing so, they would avoid a costly and time consuming scheduled overhaul, and could still fly the remaining 12 missions (17 total) with Discovery and Endeavour, which are just now completing their ODMPs (orbiter maintenance down period). Atlantis would be kept for spare parts to keep Discovery and Endeavour flying until the shuttle program is shut down in 2010."
Old rule. (Score:4, Insightful)
Um... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Old rule. (Score:5, Insightful)
For every DC-3 or B-52 bomber that's flying 50+ years later, there's a dozen lesser models that never made it that far. One of the success factors for these planes were their elegance -- simple but sufficient components that are easily maintained and replaced.
Unfortunately I don't think the space shuttles fit into this category. We've learned alot from them...but probably more of 'what not to do' than 'lets build 20 more!'.
I think canibalising it for parts is a good short-term move, when the program wraps up though I agree they should find a way to preserve the learnings of the shuttle program. Lets hope its replacement is safer, cheaper, and more effective!
Don't cobble it up for parts. (Score:3, Insightful)
Just make sure all the toxic monopropellants have been thouroughly cleaned out.
Not all news from NASA are bad (Score:3, Insightful)
Two weeks ago, the important Landsat-8 was confirmed [gcn.com] while NASA also saves a lot of money by simply adopting interoperable practices [geospatial-online.com].
Now, if only NASA [google.ca] Worldwind [slashgeo.org] (and Punt [sourceforge.net]) could get more popularity over Google Earth...
NASA is so 1900's... (Score:3, Insightful)
At half a billion a flight (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:ISS in jeopardy? (Score:5, Insightful)
*rolls eyes*
The ISS will never be anything but a useless pork-barrel corporate-welfare project. Something happening to end it would be the best thing that could happen to NASA. Just imagine the billions of dollars NASA has wasted over the last thirty years on the ISS and Space Shuttle co-dependant welfare programs. Look at the huge success they've had with every other program which have been universally starved for funds because of the Shuttle/ISS debacle.
Re:Um... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Consequences. (Score:2, Insightful)
But what about the space program's future? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:So what will they use to launch kids into space (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:They really seem to be winding down manned miss (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not really sure that getting people into space ius really that big of a deal anyway, unless you plan on doing something other than invesigating the effects on humans in LEO. Most of what is done, that isn't just for show, is controlled remotely. I'm a big "Rah! Rah! Manned Space Flight!" kind of guy, but there really is a limit to the value we're getting for our manned space flight dollars. Right now, I think it's money down the tubes, but if we're really going to be ambitious, we need to be a bit more proactive in getting a replacement vehicle up before we lose the in house expertise in manned spaceflight. I mean, lets face it, the only people with orbital spaceflight experience in this hemisphere are the ones currently doing it at JSC. Lose them, and we'll get to start all over in a couple of decades when the next program is finally ready to get off the ground.
A chance for a change. . . (Score:2, Insightful)
Either way, there will still be advances in spacecraft technology even if they don't end up taking us to another planet.
Re:Old rule. (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're planning on buying a car and making it last for 20 years or more, which do you think would be easier (and cheaper) to maintain?
Re:Old rule. (Score:3, Insightful)
History (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Old rule. (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess the differences between air combat and space flight make the numbers deceiving, since the shuttles were supposed to be a work-horse, and expectation they never fully lived up to. I guess the space shuttle is more like the XB-70, a Mach 3 heavy bomber prototype built in the 60's: technologically very impressive, but ultimately the wrong approach.
Whose expectations? The shuttles had an optimistic schedule that was hyped by some political appointees, when in reality they were experimental craft. There was nothing like it that had flown before. We learned a lot from the shuttles about how things really work in space and reusability. Anybody else recall watching the capture of the Hubble? The Shuttle has been a learning vehicle, not just a space vehicle.
When bad things happened in a very dangerous occupation, we got media hysteria and political grandstanding. Look at all the lives and ships lost during normal early American trade. Our ancestors would be unable to understand our timid response to expected losses and even trivial damage in a hostile environment. I wouldn't call the Shuttle the "wrong approach." It was the approach we chose to test first. We could have chosen to try nothing new, and we would have learned nothing new.
Re:And what about the Chinese? (Score:3, Insightful)
Or consider that the Iraq war has eaten up roughly ten years worth of support for a moon base that will serve as a launch platform to Mars and beyond.