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Author
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Topic: Hey! How Come....??
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Duke Of URL
Member Posts: 1316
From: Syracuse, NY
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-20-2005 11:32 PM
   
I know the shuttle will be "retired" in 2010, but why don't we give it to someone so they can use it? |
Rizz
Member Posts: 1208
From: Upcountry, Maui, Hawaii
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 09-21-2005 12:21 AM
Use it for what? |
Duke Of URL
Member Posts: 1316
From: Syracuse, NY
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-21-2005 07:36 AM
I dunno...a bird bath? |
John K. Rochester
Member Posts: 1292
From: Rochester, NY, USA
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 09-21-2005 08:39 AM
I've got a big enough yard!! |
DavidH
Member Posts: 1217
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 09-21-2005 08:50 AM
If you mean using it as a spacecraft, then no one else has the necessary infrastructure. By the time they could build their own VAB and Complex 39 and crawlers and training simulators and Michoud and etc., the actual cost of the spacecraft probably wouldn't be much of a savings.------------------
http://allthese worlds.hatbag.net/space.php
"America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow." - Commander Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 Mission, 11 December 1972 |
Duke Of URL
Member Posts: 1316
From: Syracuse, NY
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-21-2005 09:13 AM
Never thought of that. I figured maybe the ESA. |
WSTFphoto
Member Posts: 70
From: Las Cruces, NM, USA
Registered: May 2005
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posted 09-21-2005 10:03 AM
In addition to the infrastructure that DavidH mentioned, there are only a finite number of system spares for the Shuttle. SSMEs and RCS thrusters are on a fixed rotation for refurbishment, for example. The hypergolic propellants required for the shuttle require specialized tools, materials, and techniques to be safely handled and they’re not the kind of thing one would find at the corner market. |
DavidH
Member Posts: 1217
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 09-21-2005 10:49 AM
The hypergolics would be a huge issue, the SSMEs potentially less so. That would be the one advantage (in this unworkable scenario) to going with Shuttle-derived vehicles for the Vision -- materials like the SRBs and SSMEs will continue to be produced and serviced, so theoretically an agreement could be worked out for whoever inherited the STS system.------------------
http://allthese worlds.hatbag.net/space.php
"America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow." - Commander Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 Mission, 11 December 1972 |
lunarrv15
Member Posts: 1355
From: Cincinnati, Ohio, Hamilton
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 09-21-2005 10:56 AM
quote:
I know the shuttle will be "retired" in 2010, but why don't we give it to someone so they can use it?
it has depth for a swimming pool. Convert the cabin into his her pool house
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spaceman1953
Member Posts: 953
From: South Bend, IN
Registered: Apr 2002
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posted 09-23-2005 06:00 PM
I got room too. They can land at my local airport and a 747 with one on its back can land there too. Then we can tow it the rest of the way to the farm just around the corner from John Glenn High School in Walkerton. |
Kevmac
Member Posts: 267
From: College Station, TX
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 09-23-2005 10:00 PM
Ok. But seriously folks, are there any formal plans for the orbiters when retired? Have any of the space museums claimed them? I imagine we've learned from the Saturn rockets that they can't be put on display outside. Where will they go?
KM |
Matt T
Member Posts: 1368
From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2001
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posted 09-24-2005 04:57 AM
The Smithsonian, the Smithsonian, the Smithsonian and the Smithsonian respectively (and in that order).No doubt they'll arrange loans, most likely back to NASA centres I would guess. Cheers,
Matt ------------------
www.spaceracemuseum.com |
Duke Of URL
Member Posts: 1316
From: Syracuse, NY
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-24-2005 07:20 AM
I think I was overly optimistic in thinking a country (or an organization such as the ESA) could use the Shuttle.I know there are huge costs involved with support facilities, but the craft has been developed and built and that has to be a big chunk 'o' change. Too bad these things are heading for mothballs and museums. I figured they'd be good for another 5-10 years of flight. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 09-24-2005 08:33 AM
Well, they will be flying (in theory and planning) for the next five years until 2010.On the subject of where they are going, Kennedy Space Center is already planning on receiving one for display. From the collectSPACE article Shuttle Experience to launch tourists: quote:
When the Space Shuttle program concludes, the visitor complex has envisioned a home for one of the orbiters. Visitors will be able to interact with the real vehicle and browse artifacts. Placed in the context of a processing facility environment, the Space Shuttle Orbiter Exhibit will be designed to capture the imagination of the public in much the same way as the Saturn V rocket does today at the Apollo/Saturn V Center.
[This message has been edited by Robert Pearlman (edited September 24, 2005).] |
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