Aug 29 2008
Let’s Talk about the Space Shuttle and more
I don’t know how many of you feel about the Space Shuttle. I’ve been working in the space industry for nearly 20 years and my own feelings are not clear cut. I read the blog for Wayne Hale (which you can find in my blogroll) yesterday. Wayne Hale was the manager for the Space Shuttle. I know him and I know he cares deeply for this program, for what he did. He knows the end is inevitable.
The Shuttle program is coming to an end. People are talking about extending it like that’s a viable option. But the people who supported this program and provided eighty kagillion [kagillion is a technical term] tiny custom parts have moved into other business. Some are suppliers that have moved to more viable customers, providing materials that will be in demand for the long haul. Or they’re retiring. After all, the Shuttle’s been around for more than twenty years. Or they’ve already become part of the exploration effort.
The decision can’t be undone.
Truthfully, I’m not as fond of the Shuttle as Wayne is. Since my focus has been safety, it’s hard for me to look at it without seeing as a collection of things that can go wrong, some of which we didn’t see coming. I see it as a technological achievement that has also killed fourteen astronauts and I, like Wayne, never want that to happen again.
I see it as a mishmash of conflicting requirements, an exceptional engineering feat that was sold as more than a single item can be. Those unrealistic expectations have tarnished it despite the hard work it has done year after year, coming home chipped and worn from the horrendous environments of space and reentry. Yet, battered and limping somewhat from the clever workarounds we need to keep it’s aging systems working effectively and reliably, it can still do what nothing else we have can do: take big loads into orbit and bring them back down safely. And it can protect crews as large as seven going up and down. Building a replacement has been a nontrivial task and we’re not there yet.
No, I’m not as fond of the Shuttle as some. But a lot of good people have devoted decades to her care. And she has done some damn fine work. I know her problems, but I respect her and the job she’s done.
Here’s hoping her last few flights go off without a hitch.
It’s actually easy to be confused. The Shuttle is the first reusable space vehicle anyone has. All the manned spacecraft prior were expendables, in that most of the components were shed along the way and what returned was generally sent to museums or fodder for lessons learned. Even today, the Russians, with one of the most used rockets ever and a very impressive launch record, use expendables, though the salvage bits and pieces from the returned Soyuz capsules.
This comment almost turned into a big Space Shuttle primer when I realized I should probably just post a new blog about it. The Shuttle is different from anything before or since. In fact, I might just talk about it all this week.
My thirteen year old daughter has impressed on me that many people really know very little about the space program and that’s a fault on our part for not talking about it more.
Thanks for your comment, Baron
I am leaving bread crumbs here and there. I thought I’d commented on your ‘About me’ page but it disappeared… unless there’s a lag time for comment posting.
How do they propose to do the upkeep on the Hubble or the Space station if they retire the shuttle program? Or are they planning on scuttling the whole space program? Is this a GWB decision or has it been a long time coming i.e. more than 8 year plan…
Kathleen, another comment worthy of its own blog post. Which I will do after the Baron’s. Or with the Baron’s
The quick and dirty answers are, Hubble will not be serviced after this next mission (though this had always been intended as the last service) and there will be another telescope launching within the next decade.
ISS is stickier. Although the Japanese (H=II Transfer Vehicle)and Europeans (Automated Transfer Vehicle) both have vehicles either in work or launched and Russian’s workhorses, Soyuz and Progress, are still working. Were working on crew and cargo vehicles, too, but the truth is, nothing can do what the Shuttle can do.
In the end, the Shuttle retirement signals the end of “building” the ISS.