he was asked what thoughts were going through his mind before blastoff. He said that the main thought that kept repeating itself was that the whole thing had been designed and built by the lowest bidder.
While I have my opinions regarding the shuttle, I was never involved with any of the launch vehicles other than the fitting of payloads to be placed into orbit as well as certain devices as part of the tracking and controls systems and the communications systems. On the shuttle, my involvement was with the RMS, Canadarm, as well as the ones on the space station, not the arm itself but their controls. While I have my opinions, it isn't fair for me to criticise or comment on what scientists and engineers did or did not do on other parts of the system.
The one thing I like to remind people of, is that the shuttle is a twenty-five year old system approaching the end of its service life. At the time it was conceived and the design laid down, it was the built with the best cost-effective technology available at that time. Subsequent developments have led amateurs using hindsight to second guess the scientists and engineers of that time. As I said the shuttle was built with the best available technology of its time. Man is just entering upon the frontier of space and space exploration.
As with any new frontier accidents happen, miscalculations are made and people die. Does this mean we should stay safe on the ground and not take any calculated risks??? Do you think NASA is playing with peoples lives needlessly??? Do you have any idea of what the costs would be if the shuttle [b]did not[/b] launch on schedule??? The projects that would be delayed or put on hold indefinitely??? Just remember that man has only been able to lift his fat ass off the ground with any degree of regularity and control for 103 years. When the first man, Neil Armstrong, made that [b]"giant leap for mankind"[/b] the history of heavier than air flight was only 66 years old. Since then the penguin brains have been holding development back, for a whole host of reasons, all of which amount to keeping man earthbound. Like it or not, man's future is in space and the stars. Try to imagine what it would have been like if after Columbus's voyages, all exploration had been halted because a few ships had sunk.
Man, for whatever reason, was made as a curious animal. He [b]has[/b] to explore. It's the nature of the beast. One day man's presense on this little blue marble, floating in space, is going to become overcrowded. It won't happen in my lifetime and perhaps not even in the lifetimes of my great great grandchildren but it will happen and man will be forced to expand outwards. Right now, with the knowledge provided by current technology, we know, with the exception of Earth, that our solar system is an inhospitable environment. Also there is the threat of collision with some other space item that could decimate the earth; when , where or what nobody knows but we may very well be forced into leaving the earth. A space object wouldn't even have to colide with the Earth. If it were large enough and passed in sufficient proximity, it could pull a large part of Earth's atmosphere away into space, leaving us to flounder around like fish out of water.
Many of the things we take as science fiction today may very well be real five hundred years from now. Read some of the science fiction of the past. Much of it is pure escapist nonsense but it is surprising the number of things that have come to pass. Think of electric lights, telephones radios and television, just for openers. When my grandfather was born, Queen Victoria was on the throne of England and none of these inventions were around. In his lifetime he not only saw these become adopted and wide spread but he was alive when the Wright brothers made it into the air and watched as Armstrong and Aldrin took man's first steps on the moon. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether or not to believe in the progress of technology ir not. Essentially they have to decide whether they are men who are curious and explore or chickens that sit on the ground pecking at things and remaining flightless or even worse, are dodos and will become extinct.
[b]Dawg[/b] ]:)
