The shuttle has become the costliest, most dangerous transport system ever built

[shiner]

Comparing Apollo which had no fatalities during missions and the shuttle technically even one fatality makes it "infinitely" more.

Ummmm

 

[qliveur]

Comparing Apollo which had no fatalities during missions and the shuttle technically even one fatality makes it "infinitely" more.

You're comparing 15 manned missions to 132, which is ridiculous, but whatever.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

News Flash: Space travel is dangerous. And, I'd go in a heartbeat.

 

[qliveur]

So would I.

Hell, I'd be thrilled just to ride on the Vomit Comet.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

So would I.

Hell, I'd be thrilled just to ride on the Vomit Comet.

Damn straight. Gettin' off planet ain't for the weak.

 

[techs]

Ummmm

I pointed out that I was excluding what happened on the ground, not during a mission but during a test of the capsule.

But you can compare it to all the US manned missions before the shuttle. I think there were what, about 35?

 

[Locut0s]

We have never gained a thing for all the money we have shot into space. Worst investment in the history of the world.

Yeah nothing accept... umm... global communication, GPS, TV, weather forecasting, military intelligence, knowledge about the solar-system and the universe at large and much more!

I agree the space shuttle has largely been a waste of money, as is the ISS. But we have gained a LOT from out total investment into space based technologies in total!

 

[DrPizza]

We have gained very little for all the manned space flights. One of the worst investments in the history of the world.

Fixed for accuracy. Non-manned space flights have led to a hell of a lot more innovations & many practical uses. And, as far as "saving mankind," we have the technology today to do a hell of a lot more useful things in space that would aid us in that endeavor.

 

[erikistired]

Clearly by some statistics is was safer and by some quite dangerous.
Since the shuttle went such great distances each flight if you judge fatalities by miles it was pretty good. If you judge it by number of flights, it was a death trap. If you judge it by number of people it carried, death trap.
So, by some valid reasoning it was pretty dangerous. Heck, next to Apollo,if you only count the flights and not the ground test accident the Shuttle was infinitely more dangerous.

If you compare it to disposable, one use launch vehichles it still has a terrible record.

how is 130 out of 132 successful a death trap? perhaps you live in a parallel universe where only 2 flights were successful.

also, you misspelled coolest in the title.

 

[techs]

how is 130 out of 132 successful a death trap? perhaps you live in a parallel universe where only 2 flights were successful.

also, you misspelled coolest in the title.

What the....oh, I get it.

I don't remember if it was in the article but they were shooting for something like one life threatening event every 5000 launches.
And like the story says, they had planned on 50 launches a year. If they had made that number at 2 failures every 132 launches, all the shuttles would have gone boom within 10 years.

 

[DrPizza]

how is 130 out of 132 successful a death trap? perhaps you live in a parallel universe where only 2 flights were successful.

also, you misspelled coolest in the title.

Would you get into a car if someone told you up front that it has a 1 in 66 change of blowing you to smithereens each time you drove it?? It's not "1 out of 66 times, you get a flat tire." It's 1 out of 66 times, YOU DIE.

 

[techs]

Would you get into a car if someone told you up front that it has a 1 in 66 change of blowing you to smithereens each time you drove it?? It's not "1 out of 66 times, you get a flat tire." It's 1 out of 66 times, YOU DIE.

Damn those are worse odds than a date with Charlie Sheen.

 

[Jeff7]

Religion has nothing to do with this, but of course you are just a troll that has to bring it up. I TOLD YOU THAT ONLY THE TROLLS BRING UP RELIGION IN EVERY THREAD.

Technically, you bring up religion in every single thread you post in, thanks to your sig.

 

[Eli]

We have never gained a thing for all the money we have shot into space. Worst investment in the history of the world.

You can't be serious.....

 

[BUTCH1]

Would you get into a car if someone told you up front that it has a 1 in 66 change of blowing you to smithereens each time you drove it?? It's not "1 out of 66 times, you get a flat tire." It's 1 out of 66 times, YOU DIE.

The Challenger disaster was totally preventable, the maker of the SRB's even told NASA, do not risk a launch in such a cold environment, we are already having problems with O-ring gas blow by and the cold conditions that existed at the cape that morning will exasperate the blow-by and could be very dangerous. The high-profile mission (it was a first civilian on board, a teacher from NH) was already delayed several times, reportedly NASA told the maker of the SRB's to sigh off on the launch or be prepared to lose the contract so they did. I'm with you though, manned flight is mostly a waste of $$, there is nothing a robot could not do on mars that men need to go there, to send men would cost staggering amounts of $$ AND you hope no major system fails over a 1-2 year period so they get home safe, crappy idea IMO..

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I pointed out that I was excluding what happened on the ground, not during a mission but during a test of the capsule.

But you can compare it to all the US manned missions before the shuttle. I think there were what, about 35?

I love how you trivialized the lives of three men in order to support your point.

 

[disappoint]

What is NASA's budget like 2% GDP? Guess what % of GDP the Pentagon's budget is. No go on guess. Of course no one's going to mess with the military industrial complex or anything. After all it's money well spent keeping you safe by finding WMD to building other nations while ignoring this one and finding out about India and Pakistan's nucular buildup before it happened.....oh wait...

 

[disappoint]

Would you get into a car if someone told you up front that it has a 1 in 66 change of blowing you to smithereens each time you drove it?? It's not "1 out of 66 times, you get a flat tire." It's 1 out of 66 times, YOU DIE.

That depends. Does the car go into OUTER FUCKING SPACE?

 

[Fear No Evil]

As long as they don't cancel the Stargate program we are OK. The shuttle is just a diversion to keep us ignorant of the truth of interstellar travel.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

That depends. Does the car go into OUTER FUCKING SPACE?

Well played.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

The various NASA programs are worth the huge expense if only for the increased interest in science and mathematics for young kids.

 

[CycloWizard]

What is NASA's budget like 2% GDP? Guess what % of GDP the Pentagon's budget is. No go on guess. Of course no one's going to mess with the military industrial complex or anything. After all it's money well spent keeping you safe by finding WMD to building other nations while ignoring this one and finding out about India and Pakistan's nucular buildup before it happened.....oh wait...

Is national defense a legitimate use of government funds? How about space exploration?

 

[0roo0roo]

hey we almost got the soviets to copy us

 

[Brainonska511]

Comparing Apollo which had no fatalities during missions and the shuttle technically even one fatality makes it "infinitely" more.

No fatalities during the mission, but what about the fire on the ground during a training portion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_204 Lots of safety redesigns after that incident.

Edit:
Didn't see whole thread. Shiner beat me to it...

 

[senseamp]

LOL, it's Nixons' fault.

What a joke.

As if Nixon didn't fvck up a lot of stuff in this country.