SPACE CENTER, Houston Jul 28, 2005 - In a numbing setback sure to set off a national debate over the future of the space program, NASA has grounded all future shuttle flights because of a large chunk of foam that broke off Discovery's fuel tank in hauntingly similar fashion to Columbia's doomed mission.
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Will the NASA leadership please report to the Department of Duh.
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"Call it luck or whatever, it didn't harm the orbiter," Parsons said. If the foam had broken away earlier in flight when the atmosphere is thicker, increasing the acceleration and likelihood of impact it could have caused catastrophic damage to Discovery.
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Luck???!!!! You're putting 7 lives and a $15 billion spacecraft at risk and you're relying on luck? I don't do iffy repairs on a $5000 dollar car and send it out, praying for luck it doesn't break. What the fuck are you people thinking?
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"We think that would have been really bad, so it's not acceptable," said Parsons' deputy, Wayne Hale.
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Ya think, Dickface?
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The loss of such a large chunk of debris, a vexing problem NASA thought had been fixed, shattered the euphoria from Tuesday's shuttle launch, the first in 2 1/2 years. The redesign of the fuel tank was the focal point of the space agency's $1 billion-plus effort to make the 20-year-old space shuttles safer to fly following the 2003 Columbia tragedy. [my emphases]
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If we lose another shuttle and crew, I want all the NASA managers rounded up, tried for murder, and sent to jail. Fucking engineers. This spacecraft was designed 35 years ago and has been flying for 20, and you myopic motherfuckers still don't know how it works. Maybe it's time to get the guys in ties and pocket protectors out of the Agency and put a guy up there who actually knows how shit works in the real world, not just on paper. Me, for instance. And I'll do the job for a third of what you're paying the current asshole.
Update;
Rereading this, it reminds me of an engineer story from when I worked for Ford. We had a bunch of NYPD window vans (Econoline 250s) that would mysteriously burst into flames (about a dozen of 'em). Well, we weren't allowed to look at them until the 'big guys' from Dearborn got there. They looked and looked, wondering what could be causing the fires. They checked the fuel system, all the lubricants, everything flammable. After a week, they're still scratching their heads. Meanwhile, the NYPD has a thousand vans that are effectively 'grounded'.
The other Motorsport guy and I ask to look things over. 'Fine, if you must,' they say. We look over the wrecks and then call the 105th Precinct up the street to bring down an 'uncharred' version. We run it up, drive it around (there's another story in that too, heh), and then let it sit and idle in the yard. About 15 minutes later, we see smoke coming from under the thing. Approaching with a fire extinguisher, we shut it off and jack it up where it sits.
Seems the NYPD had Ford undercoat the damn things. What Ford didn't plan on is the cops letting them sit and idle all fucking day. Summer for A/C, winter for heat. The catalytic converter (in the exhaust) got really hot when idling for so long, melted the undercoating above it, causing it to drip on the converter. Enough undecoating and heat and you gots a fire. It took us another week and 4 demonstrations to convince the 'big guys' this was the problem. 'It doesn't happen on the Crown Victorias,' was their answer.
The difference between engineers and mechanics. Mechanics gotta work on the shit the engineers design. If an engineer's calculations say something can't happen, they refuse to believe it can, regarless of what their eyes tell them.
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