At 07:58 AM 2/2/03 -0600, Robert Seeberger wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronn! Blankenship" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 1:19 AM Subject: Re: Wild Shuttle Speculation> > When people have said "_Columbia_ was too heavy to dock with the ISS", I > believe that what they meant was that it doesn't carry enough fuel during > liftoff to put it into an orbit with a high enough altitude and a high > enough inclination to reach ISS. While that is all true and I agree with you completely, I also note an interesting factoid. Columbia was the heaviest of the shuttle fleet. I suppose the later shuttles were built with weight savings Columbia missed out on.
As one of the NASA spokesmen mentioned during yesterday afternoon's press conference, because it was the first it originally carried a significant amount of additional instrumentation (though that equipment had since been removed, so it was not available to provide any additional information on yesterday's accident). It is logical to assume, as you said, that there may have been other differences in the later members of the fleet which made them lighter. (Again, any books I have that might have some actual figures aren't handy right now and I would have to search for them . . . )
-- Ronn! :)
Almighty Ruler of the all,
Whose Power extends to great and small,
Who guides the stars with steadfast law,
Whose least creation fills with awe,
O grant thy mercy and thy grace,
To those who venture into space.
(Robert A. Heinlein's added verse to the Navy Hymn)
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