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The shuttle did something nobody had done before and was viewed as a genuine step forward in human capability. It was also over 50 years ago and had to rely on

The shuttle did something nobody had done before and was viewed as a genuine step forward in human capability. It was also over 50 years ago and had to rely on technology of the time - uncrewed tests were much harder to perform. This wasn't a particularly ground breaking vehicle in terms of capability and was taking paying tourists...

wkat4242 3y ago
It also wasn't built with parts from camper world and cheap Xbox controller knockoffs. NASA actually had a strong focus on safety. They just went about it the wrong way, calculating safety ratings backwards. Considering the pressure vessel of this sub was only meant to handle 1300m as per another article, the way it survived 50 dives at 4000m is pretty amazing though.
- pdxandi 3y ago
  Do you have a link to that other article by chance?
- stickfigure 3y ago
  > this sub was only meant to handle 1300m There seems to be a lot of confusion around this, let me try to clear it up. The 1300m limit of the glass number comes from an interview with the "whistleblower" in 2018. That would mean it refers to the Cyclops 1 vehicle they had then. A couple years later they built the Cyclops 2, which has the 5" thick hull, titanium bells, and first dove in 2021. That's the ill-fated Titan. If you pay close attention to the videos floating around you'll notice two visibly distinct subs - one with a large transparent dome in front (v1) and one with the titanium bell and tiny porthole (v2). EDIT: This video (taken from a commenter on this page) includes film of the previous sub, playing next to the guy talking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mSq6ibKKXQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mSq6ibKKXQ
  - efraim 3y ago
    The report by the whistleblower David Lochridge is specifically about Cyclops 2, also called Titan, and the quality control of the carbon fiber cylinder. It also mentions the viewport only being certified to 1300 meters. Some of it can be read in the lawsuit that came from Oceangate firing David. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.262471/gov.uscourts.wawd.262471.7.0.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.26...
akira2501 3y ago
> The shuttle did something nobody had done before Put spy satellites into orbit and then later retrieve them? That's not to be critical, but we could have done much of the scientific and space station work with a different platform and likely had a much lower mission failure rate. The design of the shuttle wasn't solely about this criteria, though.
actionfromafar 3y ago
Interestingly, the first Soviet shuttle flight was uncrewed.

wkat4242 3y ago

It also wasn't built with parts from camper world and cheap Xbox controller knockoffs. NASA actually had a strong focus on safety. They just went about it the wrong way, calculating safety ratings backwards. Considering the pressure vessel of this sub was only meant to handle 1300m as per another article, the way it survived 50 dives at 4000m is pretty amazing though.

pdxandi 3y ago
Do you have a link to that other article by chance?
stickfigure 3y ago
> this sub was only meant to handle 1300m There seems to be a lot of confusion around this, let me try to clear it up. The 1300m limit of the glass number comes from an interview with the "whistleblower" in 2018. That would mean it refers to the Cyclops 1 vehicle they had then. A couple years later they built the Cyclops 2, which has the 5" thick hull, titanium bells, and first dove in 2021. That's the ill-fated Titan. If you pay close attention to the videos floating around you'll notice two visibly distinct subs - one with a large transparent dome in front (v1) and one with the titanium bell and tiny porthole (v2). EDIT: This video (taken from a commenter on this page) includes film of the previous sub, playing next to the guy talking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mSq6ibKKXQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mSq6ibKKXQ
- efraim 3y ago
  The report by the whistleblower David Lochridge is specifically about Cyclops 2, also called Titan, and the quality control of the carbon fiber cylinder. It also mentions the viewport only being certified to 1300 meters. Some of it can be read in the lawsuit that came from Oceangate firing David. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.262471/gov.uscourts.wawd.262471.7.0.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.26...

akira2501 3y ago

> The shuttle did something nobody had done before Put spy satellites into orbit and then later retrieve them? That's not to be critical, but we could have done much of the scientific and space station work with a different platform and likely had a much lower mission failure rate. The design of the shuttle wasn't solely about this criteria, though.

actionfromafar 3y ago

Interestingly, the first Soviet shuttle flight was uncrewed.