The suspicion that an incident during the ascent of Columbia contributed to its demise during re-entry leads to a few things that a successful private space transportation system must address. (NASA should also address these things, but I won't hold my breath.)
1. The vehicle must be simple enough to fix "in the field", or at least jury-rig something that will get them to safety. 2. The crew should have the ability to get out and do a visual and tactile inspection. 3. The crew should have the tools and parts to do simple repairs (such as patching/replacing thermal tiles). 4. There should always be another vehicle ready for (and capable of) a rescue mission. STS-107 had none of these. How practical is it for a future space transport system to have these capabilities? How practical is it to not have these capabilities? Dave -- David Masten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
