As NASA rebounds from the Columbia disaster with the launch of a refurbished Discovery, an old dispute gains new life. The shuttle is slated for retirement in 2010. But is it worth the risk to keep it flying until then?
2006-07-13 05:09:13 · 6 answers · asked by roswell_chick_16 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
It is safER now that another possible failure mode is known and being guarded against. But no space craft is totally safe, and the next one built after the shuttle will have accidents too.
2006-07-13 05:45:13 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Even though a lot of good, solid scientific and technological benefit has come from it, the space shuttle program has never met all of its original goals. Its cost overruns have been enormous! It's not a cost-effective program. I feel that the billions so far consumed by the shuttle program and that will be spent in the future could be better applied to deep space exploration and exploitation.
As for the risks involved -- no one puts a loaded gun to the head of those people who voluntarily fly in the shuttle. Risk is involved everytime we board an airplane, drive a car, or even step out the front door.
2006-07-13 08:14:29 · answer #2 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No.
The shuttle was built as an amalgam of many different purposes and is a lumbering Frankenstein. It's mostly political, because the only way to get the money for it was to have be able to do all sorts of crazy things. The shuttle is a piece of doody, and we need something new. Can we wait until 2010? Okay, maybe. But let's not make the same mistakes again, pleaaaase.
2006-07-13 05:32:07 · answer #3 · answered by The Quicker Picker Upper 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Imagine that a major automobile company produced a car that they called "Space Shuttle." About once during each 25 trips to the grocery store, the car unexpectedly blows up or suddenly catches on fire, killing all its occupants. Nearly every trip, parts that aren't supposed to fall off, do. And sometimes the parts that fall off puncture the tires and cause a blowout at 60 miles per hour.
Now, I don't know about you, but that's not what I'd call a "safe" car. That's a very dangerous car. Driving one of those is about like playing Russian roulette. I sure wouldn't want to ride in one of those contraptions, let alone pay my hard-earned money buying one. If I want to die before my time, I'll smoke cigarettes.
2006-07-13 06:24:46 · answer #4 · answered by David S 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
absolutely YES!!! by flying now we keep our advance in knowledge and exploration of space, get more research done up there that helps us down on the planet with some of the solutions that we can get developed only in space.. and yes, shuttle is as safe as anything can be. You're taking a lot more risk just going out in your car with thousands of other drivers all doing their own thing.
2006-07-13 05:16:07 · answer #5 · answered by Mary 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no. nothing is ever safe. this is strictly my opinion.
the risks associated with the shuttle may be reduced by fixing the known problems, but nothing is ever safe. They can try making something safer, but taking something with 150,000 moving parts, shooting it into outer space, and then having it re-land....just means its an accident waiting to happen, as soon as another one of those 150,000 systems fail.
2006-07-13 09:48:27 · answer #6 · answered by centurion613 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋