what do you think of the space shuttle fleet en,dis,atlant?

Answer 1

I think they're beautiful machines & would give anything to see one being launched!

Answer 2

I totally disagree that the shuttles are outdated. They are absolutely amazing vehicles that have many unappreciated capabilities. And they have continuously been upgraded over the years with the latest computers, engines and thermal protection. The idea that we have better rocket engines now is NOT TRUE. That is why it is not any cheaper to go the space today, because a brand new rocket engine is NO BETTER than one made in 1970. The only problem is that the are big and therefore extremely expensive.

However, they have the ability to go up and come down while subjecting the passengers and cargo to no more than 3 Gs. The Russian Soyuz cannot do that and there are many experiments that cannot ride on Soyuz for that reason. The shuttles can bring large cargo back from orbit. It could even bring back the Hubble Telescope if they wanted to. No other space vehicle, past, existing or proposed can do that. The shuttles land at an airport, on the same runway every time. They land under full control and do not drift down on a parachute like a Soyuz to end up who knows where in a thousand square mile area where they have to wait for a recovery team to pick them up. And they have that robotic arm to grab things. The combination of the arm and cargo bay basically makes a shuttle into a space dock whenever it is in orbit. The crew grabs a satellite, holds it in the cargo bay and works on it there, and releases it back into space.

The new Orion vehicle will have none of these capabilities. It will be small, no cargo bay, no robot arm, high G flight and land by parachute. And it won't even be cheap. It will be slightly cheaper because it is smaller, but not any cheaper per pound than the Shuttle.

Answer 3

The remaining space shuttles are hopelessly obsolete and need to be replaced. The design is, what, thirty years old? We're way overdue for a second generation shuttle.

I find it darkly amusing that the shuttle was sold to us as a cheap way of getting stuff into orbit, since it was reusable. In the early days, they were saying it would cost five million dollars per launch. A cost of 500 million per launch would be more accurate.

Did I mention that the shuttle fleet is hopelessly outdated and needs to be replaced?

Answer 4

Old and out of date.

The very design for those shuttles was based on saving as much money as possible and cutting as many corners as they could.
NASA's original designs were nothing like the final shuttles

I mean, all that protects you from burning up on re-entry are a few lousy tiles.

I'd like to go into space but not until the find a better design than those rust buckets.

Answer 5

there OK for short flights like launching satellites or for supply runs to the ISS. But for major repairs and long flights, there unequipped and out dated.

Answer 6

Seeing as how most of the work was done 40 years ago, they are dinosaurs.

Answer 7

Eh?