> The first two shuttles were only designed around a crew of 2 where this design made more sense. Only the first I think, unless you're count Enterprise (which

> The first two shuttles were only designed around a crew of 2 where this design made more sense. Only the first I think, unless you're count Enterprise (which couldn't go to space.) Challenger (the second orbit-capable shuttle) never flew with less than four crew. Incidentally, the ejection seats of questionable worth in Columbia weren't without NASA precedent; the Gemini program also used ejection seats which similarly had a pretty narrow window of usefulness at best. One of my favorite pictures ever is this shot of the Gemini capsule with both hatches open, giving a pretty clear view of how the seats would have worked: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Armstrong_and_Scott_with_Hatches_Open_-_GPN-2000-001413.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Armstron...