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Don't forget that after the cancellation of the earlier Space Station (the ISS came much later) the "Shuttle" had no place to shuttle things to. Even after dec

by dublin 6y ago

Don't forget that after the cancellation of the earlier Space Station (the ISS came much later) the "Shuttle" had no place to shuttle things to. Even after decades, the Shuttle never came even remotely close to its cost, reuse, and turnaround time targets. On top of that, two of them blew up, accounting for 14 deaths, a figure that is 100% of all actual in-flight spaceflight deaths. By any rational measure, the Shuttle cannot be considered anything other than a failure.

lostlogin 6y ago
> 100% of all actual in-flight spaceflight deaths. How do you measure this? The USSR had deaths, including hitting the ground because parachutes didn’t open with Soyuz 1 and from faulty equipment causing asphyxiation during flight on Soyuz 11. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_11 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_11 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_1 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_1
- skissane 6y ago
  I assume GP is talking about US space programs only. That the Space Shuttle was the only US space program with in-flight fatalities is significant. That the USSR had fatalities in its own programs as well seems less relevant. It makes sense to compare US programs to US programs. Comparing US to USSR programs makes less sense.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > That the Space Shuttle was the only US space program with in-flight fatalities is significant. It seems less significant and more of an artificial and meaningless distinction to avoid avoid space programs with launchpad fatalities in space vehicles and make the Shuttle falsely unique. The Shuttle also accounts for the vast majority of US manned space flights (only a few less total missions than Russia Soyuz.)
- dTal 6y ago
  Technically Soyuz 1's fatality wasn't "in-flight"; the cosmonaut survived all the way to Earth.
david38 6y ago
Shuttle is responsible for 100% of American launched in-flight space flight deaths. Ha! Shuttle is also responsible for 100% of American launched flights after a certain point. That’s like saying ICE cars are responsible for 100% of car deaths after the model T and before modern electric cars. Also, you appear to have forgotten Russian casualties and ground rocket deaths.

by dublin 6y ago

lostlogin 6y ago

> 100% of all actual in-flight spaceflight deaths. How do you measure this? The USSR had deaths, including hitting the ground because parachutes didn’t open with Soyuz 1 and from faulty equipment causing asphyxiation during flight on Soyuz 11. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_11 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_11 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_1 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_1

skissane 6y ago
I assume GP is talking about US space programs only. That the Space Shuttle was the only US space program with in-flight fatalities is significant. That the USSR had fatalities in its own programs as well seems less relevant. It makes sense to compare US programs to US programs. Comparing US to USSR programs makes less sense.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > That the Space Shuttle was the only US space program with in-flight fatalities is significant. It seems less significant and more of an artificial and meaningless distinction to avoid avoid space programs with launchpad fatalities in space vehicles and make the Shuttle falsely unique. The Shuttle also accounts for the vast majority of US manned space flights (only a few less total missions than Russia Soyuz.)
dTal 6y ago
Technically Soyuz 1's fatality wasn't "in-flight"; the cosmonaut survived all the way to Earth.

david38 6y ago

Shuttle is responsible for 100% of American launched in-flight space flight deaths. Ha! Shuttle is also responsible for 100% of American launched flights after a certain point. That’s like saying ICE cars are responsible for 100% of car deaths after the model T and before modern electric cars. Also, you appear to have forgotten Russian casualties and ground rocket deaths.