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When I was in highschool, many moons ago, I had the opportunity to drive Cross Country with friends. One of the friends had an" Uncle' that was susposed to "chaperon" this Venture. It was 1976, the Uncle invited the Travelers to a BBQ, and he proudly showed us the Vehicle ( A 1965 VW Bus with ALL the finest luxories) that we were susposed to be traveling in. He was proud of this Vehicle. He was 24 and truly a bonafide Hippie, and we didn't want to offend him, but we all had concerns about traveling Great Distance in the Old Vehicle, and it wasn't even 30 years old. ( It just looked it).
Well, Epilogue to the Great Venture:
It turned out that the Naive Highschool Students did indeed have Good Common Sense. Money was saved and a Newer Safer Vehicle was acquired before the Venture. And Uncle Mike was indeed Chaperon, but we limited his Duties to sitting in the Back Seat serenading us with his guitar. ( In many ways we were Chaperon for him).
So here is my Question, My Concern. The Space Shuttle is frigging old- like 30 years old, even with New Paint Job and New Tiles, should we really be using this Vehicle to travel Great Distances ?
10 comments:
So tonight the shuttle shed a Chunk of Something- and now it is not known if the Vehicle is Safe for Re-Entry....
Now all of us Remember back in 2004 what happened when some of the Space Tiles were damaged....Why the hell NASA and the government don't is beyond me...
the Shuttle needs to be retired....period.
There ain't enough Duct Tape.
So I watch CNN late tonight...and learn that NASA is planning to go to the Moon...yeah...right. Well, maybe first they should get better duct tape.
Careful with that liscence plate...
hmm Fred maybe that is what fell off the Shuttle...
NASA operates on two words - "Proven Systems"
That's why developement takes so long.
It's not the travel that does it in, it's pulling back into the driveway that seems to be the problem.
BB: hmmm, I was beginning to think they operated on the OOOOPS system..
OP: OMG that is it....totally ....dead on...
Yeh, but wait, I remember a trip or two that went horribly wrong just trying to get OUT of the driveway.
yup Dada ....
me2....
Today Thursday Sept.21st........
the shuttle snuck into the driveway in the dark of night...
so we wouldn't see things hanging off and any new dinks...
I was actually awake for the landing (3:00 am Seattle time). And yes, I held my breath.
Sadly, as much as I love the space program, the shuttles have definately seen better days. And the heat shield has been problematic from day one. Pity all our money has to go into the pockets of Bush's war profitteers instead of into research, education, and social services (including the fucking VA). Sensible public spending...a girl can dream, can she?
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