ShuttleWatch: making something out of nothing
The Latest:
This won't come as any surprise to the Shuttle-haters in our midst, but those pesky ECO problems that scotched Atlantis's launch are nothing new. In fact, NASA officials are admitting they've likely NEVER worked correctly. Of course, that didn't stop a Florida congressman from introducing legislation to keep shuttles flying past their 2010 retirement.
The Details:
Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for space operations, says the ECO problems have "been hanging like a cloud over us for the last two years." But in emails obtained by Aviation Week & Space Technology, Wayne Hale, shuttle program manager, says "It seems to me likely that we have been flying the entire history of the shuttle program with a false sense of security and that we never had reliable protection from a [catastrophic] liquid hydrogen low-level engine cutoff." This means that swapping in another shuttle for Atlantis's mission is no longer an option.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. David Weldon (R-FL), "whose district is home to thousands of space workers," thinks keeping our spit-and-bailing-wire shuttle fleet in operation past 2010 (the date mandated by Pres. Bush to ground 'em for good) is better than lettin' them Russkies and Celestials git the jump on us with manned spaceflight.
For Your Cocktail Party:
- Atlantis's co-pilot is Navy Cdr. Alan G. Poindexter. That's all I got.
