I was thinking of that too, perhaps deaths per person space mile or deaths
per ton (launch and re-entry) would be better units. But then do you have to
apply weighting to account for the fact that launch/re-entry are so much
more dangerous than orbit? The shuttles haven't only been launched often,
they also stayed up a long time compared to gemini/mercury. I forget how
long the later Apollo missions lasted. 10 Days? Comparable to average
shhuttle missions.
And then the fact that Apollo's problems were unrelated to launch/re-entry.
More long duration flights may have caused more issues there. Basically it's
not enough to build a vehicle that succeeds in reaching orbit and returning
safely, you need to keep the vehicle intact in between those events.
In any case, no matter how you slice it, the shuttle fleet has a better
safety record than previous vehicles combined, IMO.
Sander
> I was just musing about your thinking problem......
>
> Shouldn't you use miles flown instead of missions flown? Or perhaps
> pound/miles flown or miles flown/number of viewers.
>
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