Stick a fork in it . . .

[CaptnKirk]

ET Shuttle Tank Program comes to an end.
Final tank delivered, minimal launch support - operations winding down.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2010/0930_ss_et.html

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2010/09/michoud_production_of_space_sh.html

http://space.flatoday.net/2010/10/last-day-on-job-for-nearly-900-united.html

 

[Linflas]

Great. For the first time since I was a 6 year old marveling at Alan Shepard's Mercury launch the US will have no way to launch a man into space.

 

[Brovane]

From what I read they added another shuttle flight before it is retired. Where are they going to get the external fuel tank from? Is there a extra tank?

 

[Pocatello]

The Russian and the Chinese have won the space race (add your countries here), the U.S of A is left in the dust.

 

[Genx87]

The Russian and the Chinese have won the space race (add your countries here), the U.S of A is left in the dust.

Right...................

 

[CaptnKirk]

From what I read they added another shuttle flight before it is retired. Where are they going to get the external fuel tank from? Is there a extra tank?

ET Tank 122 was the one that was damaged during Katrina,
it was repaired and delivered 2 weeks ago.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10-227_External_Tank_To_Be_Shipped.html


There is another 'Wild-Card' - Tank 94 has been a held back for use as an engineering development and evaluation
article, but it may be used as an Emergency Back-Up if it's configured for flight.
It is an older model, one of the last 'Lightweights' before they made the Super Lightweights.
If Congress included it in the NASA Funding Budget, it may be reconfigured.
Only problem is that they have released nearly all the workforce that has any ET experience,
and few will be coming back.
There are less than 600 employees left at MAF, Shuttle Sustain and Orion combined.

http://space.flatoday.net/2010/09/michoud-declares-end-of-external-tank.html

 

[Brovane]

ET Tank 122 was the one that was damaged during Katrina,
it was repaired and delivered 2 weeks ago.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10-227_External_Tank_To_Be_Shipped.html


There is another 'Wild-Card' - Tank 94 has been a held back for use as an engineering development and evaluation
article, but it may be used as an Emergency Back-Up if it's configured for flight.
It is an older model, one of the last 'Lightweights' before they made the Super Lightweights.
If Congress included it in the NASA Funding Budget, it may be reconfigured.
Only problem is that they have released nearly all the workforce that has any ET experience,
and few will be coming back.
There are less than 600 employees left at MAF, Shuttle Sustain and Orion combined.

http://space.flatoday.net/2010/09/michoud-declares-end-of-external-tank.html

From my understanding they where holding one tank back in-case one of the shuttles got damaged going into orbit and couldn't survive re-entry. Reading the press release about the funding from Congress it sounds like they added one more flight beyond the February flight. I was wondering if they would use this but then the last shuttle flight doesn't have backup in-case of tile damage. Of course this wouldn't be the first time that Congress funded something that wasn't possible to make it happen. It is almost like the assume just throwing money at it will make another shuttle flight possible after most of the workers are laid off.

 

[CaptnKirk]

From my understanding they where holding one tank back in-case one of the shuttles got damaged going into orbit and couldn't survive re-entry. Reading the press release about the funding from Congress it sounds like they added one more flight beyond the February flight.
I was wondering if they would use this but then the last shuttle flight doesn't have backup in-case of tile damage.
Of course this wouldn't be the first time that Congress funded something that wasn't possible to make it happen.
It is almost like the assume just throwing money at it will make another shuttle flight possible after most of the workers are laid off.

If they do make the last flight with the 'Spare' tank and have no back-up in case of tile damage,
they do not really need a rescue vehicle as an extra Shuttle.
They would dock to the ISS, and attempt the Shuttle re-entry as a robotic function - unmanned and computer controled.
The Astronauts would ride back down from the ISS using the Soyuz capsule re-entry vehicle.

Orion may just end up as a type of crew escape and return module.

 

[Jhhnn]

Shuttle replacement? Hey! We've got better stuff to spend our money on like spreading Free! Freedom! and Liberty! at gunpoint, and F-22's at $330M apiece to bomb the Terrarists! out of their mud huts...

Why do you hate Uhmerricuh, anyway?

 

[hal2kilo]

ET Tank 122 was the one that was damaged during Katrina,
it was repaired and delivered 2 weeks ago.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10-227_External_Tank_To_Be_Shipped.html


There is another 'Wild-Card' - Tank 94 has been a held back for use as an engineering development and evaluation
article, but it may be used as an Emergency Back-Up if it's configured for flight.
It is an older model, one of the last 'Lightweights' before they made the Super Lightweights.
If Congress included it in the NASA Funding Budget, it may be reconfigured.
Only problem is that they have released nearly all the workforce that has any ET experience,
and few will be coming back.
There are less than 600 employees left at MAF, Shuttle Sustain and Orion combined.

http://space.flatoday.net/2010/09/michoud-declares-end-of-external-tank.html

If I'm not mistaken, they made them super light by acid etching the existing tanks.

It's sad that they've abandoned the SSTO programs and we're just reusing basically old tech (expendables) to move forward.

 

[dmcowen674]

Great. For the first time since I was a 6 year old marveling at Alan Shepard's Mercury launch the US will have no way to launch a man into space.

Another thing we can thank Bush for.

 

[hal2kilo]

Another thing we can thank Bush for.

Not to defend the jerk, but in general sending humans into space, advances the sciences the least and is the most expensive. It will be ages before man can economically explore space unless new forms of energy and propulsion are discovered.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Not to defend the jerk, but in general sending humans into space, advances the sciences the least and is the most expensive. It will be ages before man can economically explore space unless new forms of energy and propulsion are discovered.

Actually Bush did, in fact, cancel the Shuttle Program back in 2006 -
and then he cut the budget for the Orion and Constellation Programs.

Obama's Administration, after a review by the Augustine Commission,
wanted to fund the new propulsion systems and heavy lift options.

The change from the Standard Weight Tank to the Lightweight Tank was accomplished
by a design modification where the internal structural components were machined to
reduce material thickness and eliminate structural redundancies, like extra stiffeners
that were deemed not needed to maintain structural reliability.

Further weight reduction for the Super Lightweight was realized by the use of 2195,
Weldalite, Aluminum-Lithium Alloy, which has an approximate 5% mass reduction.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/pdf/113020main_shuttle_lightweight.pdf

It was NOT by any 'Acid Dip' method for weight reduction, however the use of
Chemical Etching - where an acid dip is used to produce internal structural ribs
and stiffeners by controlled errosion of the material has always been in play,
even for the earlier tank designs.

http://www.ducommun.com/das/orangeCapabilities.aspx

 

[Steeplerot]

A shame, I saw the first Columbia go up as a kid and will never forget watching the Challenger loss about 30 miles south of the KSC in the sky and being stunned as debris came down. For all the bluster about who "won" the cold war the Russkies seemed to have won this aspect.

I am holding out hope for a space elevator so we can get some real hardware up without the expensive escape velocity limitations on weight.

I really hope young people get as excited as my generation did about space. It is the one hope for humanity besides nuking ourselves over archaic man-made religions or some arbitrary borders scrawled across our tiny cradle here out in the middle of nowhere.