Shuttle to Launch Despite Objections

sam0ht writes "NASA has just named July 1st as the launch date for the space shuttle Discovery, a year after the last shuttle mission. Last July's mission was the first since the break-up of Columbia in 2003, but after foam again broke away from the main tank, the shuttle fleet was grounded. More foam has been removed from the main tank, but NASA staff are divided over whether this is enough to ensure the flight's safety, with some reporting that both the lead engineer and top safety official are against launching again so soon. Managers want to make only one major change at a time, and plan that if damage does occur, the crew would be able to stay in the International Space Station, to which they are delivering supplies, rather than trying to land a damaged shuttle."

Rules of Shuttle Flight

[ettlz]

1. Do not ignore the engineers.
2. Do not ignore the engineers.
3. Do not open the windows.

Ignoring engineers hasn't got the Shuttle very far in the past. From the Challenger Wikipedia article:

[Feynman] was so critical of flaws in NASA's "safety culture" that he threatened to not sign off on the report unless it included his assessment, which appeared as Appendix F. He pointed to the discrepancy between management claiming a 1 in 100,000 chance of serious failure and the engineers claiming 1 in only 100, a risk one thousand times greater.

sweet

[M0b1u5]

Good. About friking time I had a new wallpaper for my 3840 x 1024 desktop.
Each time the shuttle goes to the ISS I get new wallpaper.
That might be just about the best thing to come out of the ISS program. *sigh*

First rule of Shuttle Flight Club

[CrazyJim1]

You do not talk about Shuttle Flight Club.

What O/S does NASA use?

[gravy.jones]

If the next shuttle explodes then just blame it on their O/S.

Re:Chemical rocketry is lame

[maxume]

Having a plan to harvest the awesome flying monkey energy promised to you by everybody who ever answered you with "when monkeys fly out my butt" won't actually cause the monkeys to fly...

Cut out the middle man.........

[Jerim]

.......and just kill the astronauts here on the ground. Why spend billions just to kill them in space?

Re:grow a pair

[Anonymous Coward]

Where has 'acceleration' been 'lately'?

Probably "hiding" between a pair of "apostrophes".

Re:This ain't the NASA of the moonshot

[k_187]

which means the only solution is this: terrorists in space.

Re:Common sense

[Waffle Iron]

Fatality per mile, the shuttle is no doubt kicking cars' ass.

I don't know about that. Most shuttle trips are pretty short: They start at one of the Kennedy Space Center's launch pads, and they disembark just a couple of miles away at the shuttle's runway.

Re:Sounds like Dilbert

[antispam_ben]

Sounds like the people who were in charge when the first shuttle blew up are back at the helm.

No, I don't believe that. It was 23 years ago when the Challenger exploded. The people in charge now are the children of the management 23 year ago.

There's gota be a name for this, perhaps nepodilbertism.

Re:Common sense

[Ohreally_factor]

Comparing them to any kind of car is pretty pointless.

You must be new here. This is slashdot, where car analogies are king.

Re:Common sense

[BaseSequence]

You must be new here. This is slashdot, where car analogies are king.

Actually, car analogies at slashdot are the Cadillac of comparisons.