Odds of a safe return for the Discovery astronauts


sorabji.com: What are you doing here?: Odds of a safe return for the Discovery astronauts
By Karla on Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - 12:46 pm:

    I have a bad feeling about it. It seems like there's a new problem every day (and those are just the ones we hear about.) I'm a proponent of space exploration, but I think the shuttles are too old to continue to be used, especially since all they seem to do anymore is tote supplies to the space station. I think it's time to reconsider manned space flights in favor of robotics.


By Antigone on Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - 02:39 pm:

    They'll make it fine.


By jack on Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - 07:22 pm:

    no offense, but i think i hope policy makers are capable of understanding deeper technical analysis than "i have a bad feeling"



By V on Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - 09:01 pm:

    Like us all,when I was a kid,I wanted to be a "space man"...but I am so glad I am not on that shuttle right now,,,and it will burn up,BUT,if they get through,make them Saints.I dont see your problem with glue for heat tiles,"dow corning" will stick anything to anything...and it makes real fine plastic boobs.


By wisper on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 11:45 am:

    you want to hear about a safe return?
    Yesterday:
    http://tinyurl.com/a8k9j

    309 people, 0 dead.
    The weather was crazy indeed, the airport is not far from our place.


By patrick on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 05:43 pm:

    its fucking amazing. NPR reported this morning that some of the passengers were rumbling about the chaos, confusion and that some of the chutes didnt work properly.

    in defense of the crew who clearly kicked ass, any passenger who bitches one bit, just keeping saying '309 alive, 0 dead.'


By V on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 06:48 pm:

    ...meanwhile,how are the suttle crew getting on with the heat shield tiles?and when are they due back?...I got back late from the office,and I am too worn out to get through to N.A.S.A. its 11.40 p.m. London time.


By wisper on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 10:27 pm:

    Worse was that they were taking sound clips of people stuck in the airport last night, trying to get flights out since it was all chaos. They're like "I just can't believe this mess. I am fed up I tell you FED UP."

    Boo hoo lady, as a pile of plane is still burning outside. Didn't see you crawling your charred ass over a barbed wire fence and onto a major highway in a hail storm while an airplane explodes behind you.
    Dang.


By patrick on Thursday, August 4, 2005 - 12:21 pm:

    people suck.


By kazu on Thursday, August 4, 2005 - 01:22 pm:

    people do suck


    I think that if a 'sploding airplane were outside while
    I was in an airport, the LAST thing I would be is eager
    to catch my flight.


By Karla on Saturday, August 6, 2005 - 10:11 am:

    Did you read about the two motorists who pulled over and ran into the ravine to help passengers out of the plane? They actually boarded the burning plane to check for stragglers. Amazing. I don't think my instinct for self-preservation would allow me to do that. And those passengers... to walk away from a fiery crash like that? It has got to make one wonder about God, fate, destiny and second chances.
    I hope the shuttle crew has that kind of luck.


By Karla on Saturday, August 6, 2005 - 10:32 am:

    To clarify: I mean the kind of luck that brings them all back alive, not the kind that sends your aircraft crashing into a ravine.