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The Shuttle was expensive, but its abilities are still unmatched. No other spacecraft has ever been able to launch a half dozen people into orbit, capture a sat

The Shuttle was expensive, but its abilities are still unmatched. No other spacecraft has ever been able to launch a half dozen people into orbit, capture a satellite, and return it to earth for repairs. That kind of world leading, "best at any cost" mentality is what made the US so technologically dominant globally from the 1950s until recently. Falcon Heavy is definitely more efficient for getting things into orbit, but it still feels frustrating knowing that regardless of cost, we can't actually do the things we used to be able to.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
orbital-decay 8y ago
> No other spacecraft has ever been able to launch a half dozen people into orbit, capture a satellite, and return it to earth for repairs. The problem is that almost everything Space Shuttle could do, could have been done more effectively by a classic modular spacecraft and a large rocket. Even more, Space Shuttle was fairly limited and inflexible in its capabilities due to its complex in-orbit thermodynamics, monolithic design and available delta-v. Jack of all trades, master of none. Don't get me wrong, the Shuttle was a great engineering achievement and a great pride point for any American. But it's also a huge waste of resources, which resulted from enormously inflated requirements, particularly military ones. Buran was the same. It's better not to repeat such mistakes. > That kind of world leading, "best at any cost" mentality is what made the US so technologically dominant globally from the 1950s until recently. And left it without modular space stations, in this particular case. (and many more)
Areading314 8y ago
It's abilities at killing astronauts are unmatched too... I don't see why people still think positively of the shuttle program after all the lives that were lost. It's like people fawning over how great the Titanic was.
- gpm 8y ago
  The shuttle failed at a number of rather important things, that one, price, refurbishment time, etc. It still managed to do some pretty spectacular things no one else had ever done. I think that's worth something. I think the people who gave their lives thought that was worth something. I think they would rather the program be remembered for its triumphs than its failures.
sonnyblarney 8y ago
"The average age the night we had splashdown (Apollo 11) was 28. When Space Shuttle Atlantis left Earth on May 11, 2009, the average NASA civil servant's age was 47." [1] There were risk takers, now they are protecting their ability to pay for 2 kids to go to Ivy League. Who can blame them? [1] https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a4288/4318625/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a4288/4318625/

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

orbital-decay 8y ago

> No other spacecraft has ever been able to launch a half dozen people into orbit, capture a satellite, and return it to earth for repairs. The problem is that almost everything Space Shuttle could do, could have been done more effectively by a classic modular spacecraft and a large rocket. Even more, Space Shuttle was fairly limited and inflexible in its capabilities due to its complex in-orbit thermodynamics, monolithic design and available delta-v. Jack of all trades, master of none. Don't get me wrong, the Shuttle was a great engineering achievement and a great pride point for any American. But it's also a huge waste of resources, which resulted from enormously inflated requirements, particularly military ones. Buran was the same. It's better not to repeat such mistakes. > That kind of world leading, "best at any cost" mentality is what made the US so technologically dominant globally from the 1950s until recently. And left it without modular space stations, in this particular case. (and many more)

Areading314 8y ago

It's abilities at killing astronauts are unmatched too... I don't see why people still think positively of the shuttle program after all the lives that were lost. It's like people fawning over how great the Titanic was.

gpm 8y ago
The shuttle failed at a number of rather important things, that one, price, refurbishment time, etc. It still managed to do some pretty spectacular things no one else had ever done. I think that's worth something. I think the people who gave their lives thought that was worth something. I think they would rather the program be remembered for its triumphs than its failures.

sonnyblarney 8y ago

"The average age the night we had splashdown (Apollo 11) was 28. When Space Shuttle Atlantis left Earth on May 11, 2009, the average NASA civil servant's age was 47." [1] There were risk takers, now they are protecting their ability to pay for 2 kids to go to Ivy League. Who can blame them? [1] https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a4288/4318625/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a4288/4318625/