Space shuttle disaster recovery Dreams not nightmares
Space shuttle disaster recovery: Dreams, not nightmares By Thomas Blow Recently, an independent board investigating the loss of the Columbia recommended a comprehensive prelaunch inspection of each shuttles heat shield. The board also called on the US space agency to enlist the US militarys satellites to photograph each shuttle flight in orbit (see http://www. ... However, the recommendations appear to do nothing to increase the options available to shuttle crews after an accident has occurred. ... It also discounts the potential for inflight accidents, such as from further launch-phase events, collision with space “junk” (see http://spacedaily. ... The shuttle mission is classified as a peacetime mission, and is run by a peacetime agency. But if shuttle crews face the same level of danger as soldiers, then, might it not be true that shuttle crews need the same level of support for accident contingency plans? So, it is discouraging to anyone holding this view that the preliminary recommendations discussed contained no new options to deal with shuttle crew recovery, in the event of shuttle tile damage. ... On every mission, a space walk-around (an on-orbit inspection that would discover damaged tiles) before initiating the return to Earth.