Note that a crew escape system, what the article treats as an absolute minimum for a manned vehicle, doesn't exist on the space shuttle for budgetary reasons. T

Note that a crew escape system, what the article treats as an absolute minimum for a manned vehicle, doesn't exist on the space shuttle for budgetary reasons. The space shuttle has many, many abort modes[1], but absolutely nothing can be done while the solid boosters are firing, since you can't shut them off or detach them from the stack. Maciej Cegłowski (pinboard.in) complains at length about this in an essay[2] about the space shuttle. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_abort_modes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_abort_modes [2]: http://www.idlewords.com/2005/08/a_rocket_to_nowhere.htm http://www.idlewords.com/2005/08/a_rocket_to_nowhere.htm