Last Roll Out of a Space Shuttle

[cbelt3]

Paul-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Ac...e_accident

Go Fever wasn't the issue, it was physical engineering and 'it's gonna be OK' human nature. You're thinking the Challenger disaster. THAT was 100% "Go Fever"

[djroga22]

And today the MPCV (shuttle replacement) made a stop in Austin Texas...what a physical difference in size ( Shuttle to MPCV without launch vehicle) and scope.

[Paul F.]

cbelt3 wrote:
Paul-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Ac...e_accident

Go Fever wasn't the issue, it was physical engineering and 'it's gonna be OK' human nature. You're thinking the Challenger disaster. THAT was 100% "Go Fever"

Yup... gotcha..
Was thinking Challenger because it was one of the early missions without a painted tank.

Side mounting the orbiter was always an iffy piece of engineering... (debris issues aside, staging separation is a WHOLE lot safer putting the orbiter on TOP of the ET/SRB stack rather than on the side).

[Jimmypoo]

Some low level debate (because nobody wants to be the WRONG one) about whether that 800lbs of
white paint served as a thin film skin that kept the foam in place - especially the previous CFC formula
that was better than the current for tackiness and adhesion under dynamic loads.

[Paul F.]

More pointedly, Congress refused to allocate any funding to STUDY ways to minimize foam shedding... and NASA wasn't too keen on the idea anyway, because, as Cbelt alluded to; "it's never been a problem before.... why go looking for problems?".
That, of course, was before Columbia.

[OWC Jamie]

the white paint was (originally) also supposed to be a UV inhibitor/insulation protector for the lengthy storage outside ?


but it was one of several ways to make the tank weigh less - including structural redesigns and materials compositions

[Racer X]

years ago, maybe mid 90s, I heard the figure of $10K per pound to put something into orbit. Do you REALLY need to launch 800 pounds of paint? 8 million plus the cost of the paint. I have also heard the last time I asked my space buddies that its more like $25K these days. So in the 15-25 million range?

Every day's delay on the pad is another million (maybe more now)