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kkeenan

Space Shuttle Fans

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Always was sort of disappointed they didn't haul the ET's to orbit and use them for living/lab/storage space, building material and reaction mass. Would have been a big reduction in the number of launches they needed to build the ISS.

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Here's a nice photo looking into the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) for STS-135. This module holds about 20,000 lbs. of supplies, and looks like a very big beer can. It is removed from the Shuttle's Payload Bay, and docked onto one of the hatches of the Space Station, where it is unloaded. This is the final closeout photo. All cargo has been loaded, and, following hatch closure, the MPLM will be headed to the pad next week to be loaded onto Atlantis for her final trip.

When I say "nice", I mean that it's a great photo, and it's good that the loading is done. It's not nice that there will probably never be a spacecraft in my lifetime that will provide the capabilities to our space program that the Shuttle has provided. Oh well, nice while it lasted...

Kevin K.

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Dunno about that; it was the first space truck, and we learned a lot about what to do, and some about what not to do, in building and operating it.

Normally the cost of building something isn't so high that we can't try again soon with an improved design. But even the later shuttle had to be built to (largely) the same specs because of the huge amount of processing that goes on around a shuttle flight.

One big problem is that people aren't very good at using formal records of lessons learned to not make the same mistakes again. It normally takes seeing one's own blood on the overhang to remember that it's there and not bonk your head.

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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