Miles flown is indeed not a very good indication of stress on the system but
hours spent in space is. The vehicle is under static stress because of the
pressure difference between inside and out. Systems have to remain
operational for a longer time etc. Fire in the first Apollo design could
have occured at any time during flight, not just takeoff/re-entry.
So maybe miles flown isn't a good measure but time spent certainly is.
Sander
> Miles flown - only if you count the miles that the vehicle is affected
> by thrust and/or drag forces.
>
> Someone on another forum was insisting on "miles flown" as a standard,
> meaning that the shuttles have flown millions (?) of miles. BS. Miles
> are only useful for vehicles that must have continual thrust (wear and
> tear beyond the entropy of just "sitting there") to go those miles.
> Sitting in orbit for 2 weeks is pretty much meaningless for safety
> record.
>
> Just had to get that out of my system.
>
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