On Mon, 10 Feb 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> ...One doesn't want anything more on these things than what's needed
> to get to orbit and come back safely.
In particular, at such time as one actually has this problem :-), one
should resist adding (as standard equipment) stuff that might sometimes be
useful in orbit. Remember the example of the C-5, which spends a lot of
time officially not-mission-ready because it has all sorts of extra
gadgets for specialized purposes... which all have to be functioning
before it is officially flight-ready, even though a lot of them seldom or
never get used.
One of the mistakes that was made on the shuttle was that it was never
really treated as a *shuttlecraft*, something that just goes up and down.
It has a lot of extra gear for use as a mini-space-station. If that gear
exists at all, it should be part of the cargo, not the vehicle.
Henry Spencer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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