As much as I'd love to see the fleet stay in operation, the simple fact is there is nothing for them to once station assembly is finished. Once that's done, all three will be retired, probably in 2010 or 2011.
NASA has the goal of returning to the moon and going to Mars. The role of the shuttles in all this was the build the space station, which is being used to ready us for long duration flights away from low Earth orbit. Their job will be done when the station is finished.
And if it helps, they won't end up in museums, I'm sure. They'll retire to various spaceflight centers in the US. Most envision them going to Kennedy in Florida, Johnson in Houston and either Palmdale in California or Marshall in Alabama.
There's no one wanting to fly them, as they won't be of much use (if any) once the space station is complete in 2010.
And Congress wasn't really the 'ultimate' cause of the accidents. Challenger was caused by NASA managers wanting to rush their flights to make the program pay for itself. Columbia was caused by that 'don't worry about it/it'll be fine' attitude amongst managers. Congress is stingy but they didn't cause it accidents.
btw, are there private companies wanting to keep the shuttles flying under their own financing, or would our ignorant and too money tight congresspeople shove the fleet into museums?
dont they know they were ultimate causes of the two disasters?
They didn't have these views until STS-121, the second post-Columbia mission. They put them in place as a post-Columbia safety measure for debris detection.
hate to see this end..
roseforvendetta 11 months ago
Are those pieces of paper coming off the reaction jet covers?
bwd81977 1 year ago
I would ride on that booster
RA9ODE 1 year ago
Cool Video! That must be some ride I would like to experience it!
400exNick 2 years ago
As much as I'd love to see the fleet stay in operation, the simple fact is there is nothing for them to once station assembly is finished. Once that's done, all three will be retired, probably in 2010 or 2011.
NASA has the goal of returning to the moon and going to Mars. The role of the shuttles in all this was the build the space station, which is being used to ready us for long duration flights away from low Earth orbit. Their job will be done when the station is finished.
nathanmoeller 3 years ago
well i hope the fleet gets to fly 30 more years.
or restart the venturestar single stage to orbit shuttle project as replacement fleet.
nakazatoGTR 3 years ago
And if it helps, they won't end up in museums, I'm sure. They'll retire to various spaceflight centers in the US. Most envision them going to Kennedy in Florida, Johnson in Houston and either Palmdale in California or Marshall in Alabama.
nathanmoeller 3 years ago
There's no one wanting to fly them, as they won't be of much use (if any) once the space station is complete in 2010.
And Congress wasn't really the 'ultimate' cause of the accidents. Challenger was caused by NASA managers wanting to rush their flights to make the program pay for itself. Columbia was caused by that 'don't worry about it/it'll be fine' attitude amongst managers. Congress is stingy but they didn't cause it accidents.
nathanmoeller 3 years ago
thanks for the enlightenment sir.
btw, are there private companies wanting to keep the shuttles flying under their own financing, or would our ignorant and too money tight congresspeople shove the fleet into museums?
dont they know they were ultimate causes of the two disasters?
nakazatoGTR 3 years ago
They didn't have these views until STS-121, the second post-Columbia mission. They put them in place as a post-Columbia safety measure for debris detection.
nathanmoeller 3 years ago