NASA Readies Discovery Shuttle For Final Flight

gabbo529 writes "After 38 trips, 352 days in orbit and more than 5,600 trips around the Earth, the space shuttle Discovery is preparing for its final launch. Since its creation, it has flown to orbit more than any other craft. It has set a number of precedents including first craft to feature a female shuttle pilot and female shuttle commander (Eileen Collins), the first African American spacewalker (Bernard Harris) and the first sitting member of congress to fly in space (Jake Garn). In its final foray into space, the Discovery will set another precedent when it flies the first humanoid robot to fly in space, Robonaut2."

goddammitsomuch

[YrWrstNtmr]

Park one or more of these puppies in orbit, next to the ISS. No, it isn't useful *now*. But it may be in 10/15 yrs. No, the internal systems will not last. Batteries will die quickly, etc. Here are 3 large pressure capsules, all ready for future use.

But once these are on the ground, that's it. They will never rise again. We needed to think of this a decade ago, it's far too late now.

Goddammit....these vehicles would be perfect for future orbital ops.

Re:goddammitsomuch

[h4rr4r]

Just how exactly do you think it would stay in orbit next to the ISS with no fuel for station keeping? Or did you think delivering that would be free?

How are they perfect for orbital operations?

They are old, they waste lots of space on stuff not needed on orbit and they are not safe re-entry craft.

Re:Can I have it now you are finished with it?

[Frangible]

That's just not true.

Orion: 1.5bn per flight, $50bn spent on development before cancellation.
Shuttle: 450m per flight, 1.5bn per shuttle to build
Soyuz seats: $45 million each
SpaceX Dragon: $300-$400m (est.) per flight

For the amount we wasted on the ostensibly "cheaper" Orion program, with disposable components similar to the Apollo program, we could've built *11* new shuttles. The Shuttle also is far more capable, able to transfer a tremendous amount of cargo (the Orion / Soyuz fit in the cargo bay...) and hold nearly twice the number of astronauts for rescue missions.

The SpaceX Dragon isn't significantly cheaper than the shuttle, and is again, far less capable than the Shuttle, and is still an unproven design. (the SpaceShipOne/SpaceShipTwo are just X-15 / X-20 ripoffs and can only get 10% of the altitude needed to reach the ISS, they don't even count)

The Soyuz seats are probably the most cost-effective and time-tested design, but the Soyuz holds three people max, and in the past, two of those have always been cosmonauts.

The Russians developed a pretty nice shuttle of their own -- the Buran -- though the end of the Soviet Union doomed it.

I'm sorry it doesn't have a warp drive, subspace communicator, artificial gravity, or "inertial dampening" (whatever that is)... but the space shuttle is the most advanced spacecraft ever developed, and a very economical one at that. And we let it die. The canceled Orion program was a failure that was uneconomical, and the amount of money we blew on that could've gotten a lot more shuttle flights, or a great many Soyuz seats.

I hope we maintain good ties to Russia, because as of this June, the only way an American is getting into space -- or to the ISS -- is if they let us. Ironically, it will be on a rocket originally intended to deliver a nuclear warhead as an ICBM to us.