You are at netAirspace : Forum : The Combustion Chamber - Off-Topics : General Off-Topics

Putting this here because apparently no polls can be created in Space or Civil Aviation.

As we all know, the Space Shuttle program is scheduled for mandatory retirement in 2010. Only a few more flights are planned, and some people feel the space capability of the US will be vastly degraded without the Shuttle program.

What's your opinion? Do you think more funding or a mandate will come along after someone has a realization there will be a problem after the retirement of the Shuttle fleet, or do you think it'll happen as planned?

Vote and discuss.

I'd like to see it extended to some degree, obviously for the various types of scientific technology it continues to enable, but also for the local economy...the main fuel tank is built her in NOLA.

What I really hope is that we follow through on plans to go back to the moon...looks like we could even use some of the technology from the shuttle program to accomplish that.

It'll get extended.

I wish we could extend it, but we won't. I think we've lost the drive. IMHO, the Orion program is somewhat of a regression instead of advancement. Some where along the way we forgot that space travel was a truly dangerous adventure worthy of our best efforts and endeavours

I think it will extend, and I hope it does. Until we have a new proven and reliable way into space, I don't think we CAN let the program retire.

As much as I'd like to see the manifest extend out to completely cover the gap, it is now certain that there will be a gap, and Ares/Orion is also far behind schedule (longer than is being let on my their managers publicly).

Now, the prospects of extension are getting to the critical point where it will get to be cost-prohibitive to undo what has already begun (Subcontractors contracts have not been renewed, workers have already began to loose their jobs, the final External Tanks and Solid Rocket Boosters under the current manifest are either under construction or are complete, with the tooling to either be destroyed or stored thereafter (most ET tooling will be retained and re-purposed for the Ares rockets which means that extension would further delay Ares/Orion).

Shuttle wise, the orbiters can only make so many flights before they have to have what is equal to a D check for an airplane. The current manifest will exhaust the available flights for all three (Discovery will even need a waiver to make one flight more than what is certified).

Also, the money that is used to fund the Shuttle program will fund Ares/Orion and an extension of the Shuttle program would mean that Ares/Orion would slip almost day for day, thence extending rather than closing the gap unless additional funds were allocated. If the Shuttle program were to be extended, it is almost certain that the return to the Moon would be pushed back to after 2020 instead of 2018-2020 as is currently projected.

As it stands, here is the final Shuttle manifest:

STS-127 - Endeavour - JEM-EF - July 2009
STS-128 - Discovery - MPLM - August 2009
STS-129 - Atlantis - ELC-1&2 - November 2009
STS-130 - Endeavour - Node 3 - February 2010
STS-131 - Discovery - MPLM - March 2010
STS-132 - Atlantis - MRM-1 - May 2010
STS-133 - Endeavour - MPLM & ELC-4 - July 2010
STS-134 - Discovery - AMS & ELC-3 - September 2010

da man wrote:Now, the prospects of extension are getting to the critical point where it will get to be cost-prohibitive to undo what has already begun (Subcontractors contracts have not been renewed, workers have already began to loose their jobs, the final External Tanks and Solid Rocket Boosters under the current manifest are either under construction or are complete, with the tooling to either be destroyed or stored thereafter (most ET tooling will be retained and re-purposed for the Ares rockets which means that extension would further delay Ares/Orion).

So we're almost at the point of no return, I guess.

Just over one year to the scheduled end of the program and 8 flights are on the calendar. That's pretty aggressive, I think that's probably the highest density of planned flights in the history of the program.

We couldn't convert to DTV as originally scheduled and the Shuttle is astronomically (hehe) more complex.

KC-X will be resolved before they retire the Shuttles.