At 11:23 PM 02/08/2003 +0800, you wrote:
Bob > > Since they already do "space walks" maybe a "walk" around the plane > > before coming home ? Sidney > Bob, I believe NASA has already established that this mission was neither > equipped nor trained for a space walk. They have said many times that, > even if they did find a problem with the wing or with the tiles, they > would have no mechanical recourse by which to address it. The best thing > they might have done was alter its reentry orientation to shield the > damage with the rest of the craft long enough to get it through the most > dangerous part of reentry. And that was, at best, a gamble with sorry > odds. mebbe next time IF they did a walk and found a few loose tiles, rather than risk certain doom when they become aware of an impending disaster, they could leave the damned thing where it is and wait for another one to come pick them up! beats the heck out of taking such a big gamble .. write it off in space and survive rather than writing it off across texas. wild speculation brought to you by karl.
No.. if NASA left the shuttle in orbit, it's eventually come back down anyway. Remember the MIR?
