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> "...Only Apollo 17 had a long launch delay of 2 hours 40 minutes, Apollo 14 of 40 minutes. Most delays were less than a second..." NASA is out of practice (a

by mikece 4y ago

> "...Only Apollo 17 had a long launch delay of 2 hours 40 minutes, Apollo 14 of 40 minutes. Most delays were less than a second..." NASA is out of practice (and it's not being run by Germans anymore).

melling 4y ago
At what point do we say “you were wrong, project canceled!” We are way past the original timeline and budget. You fail! After 2 decades, time to acknowledge it: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2004/04/08/the-wrong-stuff/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2004/04/08/the-wrong-stuff/
- pfdietz 4y ago
  When the senators behind the program are out of power.
Torkel 4y ago
"NASA is not being run by Germans anymore." Literally laghed out loud on this one and had to explain to coworkers what was so funny :)
belter 4y ago
Now that you mention it, until 2021, the Vice President of Mission Assurance at SpaceX was German... :-)
belter 4y ago
[1] "...The Saturn second stage was built by North American Aviation at its plant at Seal Beach, California, shipped to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, and there tested to ensure that it met contract specifications. Problems developed on this piece of the Saturn effort and Wernher von Braun began intensive investigations. Essentially his engineers completely disassembled and examined every part of every stage delivered by North American to ensure no defects... ...This was an enormously expensive and time-consuming process, grinding the stage's production schedule almost to a standstill and jeopardizing the Presidential timetable. When this happened Webb told von Braun to desist, adding that "We've got to trust American industry." The issue came to a showdown at a meeting where the Marshall rocket team was asked to explain its extreme measures. While doing so, one of the engineers produced a rag and told Webb that "this is what we find in this stuff." The contractors, the Marshall engineers believed, required extensive oversight to ensure they produced the highest quality work. A compromise emerged that was called the 10 percent rule: 10 percent of all funding for NASA was to be spent to ensure in- house expertise and in the process check contractor reliability..." [1] https://history.nasa.gov/Apollomon/Apollo.html https://history.nasa.gov/Apollomon/Apollo.html

by mikece 4y ago

melling 4y ago

At what point do we say “you were wrong, project canceled!” We are way past the original timeline and budget. You fail! After 2 decades, time to acknowledge it: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2004/04/08/the-wrong-stuff/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2004/04/08/the-wrong-stuff/

pfdietz 4y ago
When the senators behind the program are out of power.

Torkel 4y ago

"NASA is not being run by Germans anymore." Literally laghed out loud on this one and had to explain to coworkers what was so funny :)

belter 4y ago

Now that you mention it, until 2021, the Vice President of Mission Assurance at SpaceX was German... :-)

belter 4y ago

[1] "...The Saturn second stage was built by North American Aviation at its plant at Seal Beach, California, shipped to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, and there tested to ensure that it met contract specifications. Problems developed on this piece of the Saturn effort and Wernher von Braun began intensive investigations. Essentially his engineers completely disassembled and examined every part of every stage delivered by North American to ensure no defects... ...This was an enormously expensive and time-consuming process, grinding the stage's production schedule almost to a standstill and jeopardizing the Presidential timetable. When this happened Webb told von Braun to desist, adding that "We've got to trust American industry." The issue came to a showdown at a meeting where the Marshall rocket team was asked to explain its extreme measures. While doing so, one of the engineers produced a rag and told Webb that "this is what we find in this stuff." The contractors, the Marshall engineers believed, required extensive oversight to ensure they produced the highest quality work. A compromise emerged that was called the 10 percent rule: 10 percent of all funding for NASA was to be spent to ensure in- house expertise and in the process check contractor reliability..." [1] https://history.nasa.gov/Apollomon/Apollo.html https://history.nasa.gov/Apollomon/Apollo.html