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Wasn't a poor safety record whut killed the shuttle. It was the cost, and anticipation of degraded safety, in the future. Even though more astronauts died, bec

Wasn't a poor safety record whut killed the shuttle. It was the cost, and anticipation of degraded safety, in the future. Even though more astronauts died, because of the two shuttle accidents, than any other NASA disaster, the safety record was absolutely amazing, when we consider everything that was going on. The code seems damn good code.

bpodgursky 2y ago
2/100 catastrophic failures (deaths of entire crew) is not a good record even by the standards of spaceflight.
- Sohcahtoa82 2y ago
  For what it's worth, were any of those catastrophic failures caused by bad code?
  - bpodgursky 2y ago
    Did the amount of time spent on code formatting incur an opportunity cost for more impactful engineering safety investments?
    - yreg 2y ago
      Probably not.
    - whalesalad 2y ago
      the issues are pretty well documented and are all human failures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disas... the challenger disaster is noteworthy as a tragic incident because many individuals tried to stop the launch knowing this (ahem, hardware) issue was present. to many people, it was not a surprise when it happened.
    - ajford 2y ago
      Given that the engineering safety folks are more than likely not the ones writing the code, I doubt it.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- dessimus 2y ago
  But in neither case was it due to a code failure that put the shuttle into an unrecoverable state, but rather one the falls into materials and/or mechanical engineering.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
andix 2y ago
The space shuttle became obsolete technology after all those years. Would've needed a redesign.
- Alupis 2y ago
  > The space shuttle became obsolete technology after all those years. Would've needed a redesign. Are people aware of how old the technology is that's currently putting objects and people into space? No, the space shuttle was not obsolete. It was expensive... very expensive. To this day, we still don't have a replacement for it's capabilities though.
  - echelon 2y ago
    Dream Chaser wants to fill those shoes. - https://www.sierraspace.com/dream-chaser-spaceplane/ https://www.sierraspace.com/dream-chaser-spaceplane/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Chaser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Chaser - https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/a-new-space-plane-gets-ready-for-launch-from-florida/3325548/ https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/a-new-space-plane-gets-r... - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVIXI09-AYw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVIXI09-AYw - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q8tGVUnoZg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q8tGVUnoZg
    - mrguyorama 2y ago
      Meanwhile the X37 is just silently doing everything the Air Force wanted the shuttle to do and probably way better since it doesn't need to meet anyone's long term goals of space exploration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37
  - adrianN 2y ago
    What so bad about old technology? Siemens is still selling point mechanisms based on designs that are almost as old as electric motors themselves. They work just fine.
lmm 2y ago
> Even though more astronauts died, because of the two shuttle accidents, than any other NASA disaster, the safety record was absolutely amazing, when we consider everything that was going on. That's "the operation was successful but the patient died" logic. Killing over 1% of your riders is not a good safety record! No ifs, no buts.

bpodgursky 2y ago

2/100 catastrophic failures (deaths of entire crew) is not a good record even by the standards of spaceflight.

Sohcahtoa82 2y ago
For what it's worth, were any of those catastrophic failures caused by bad code?
- bpodgursky 2y ago
  Did the amount of time spent on code formatting incur an opportunity cost for more impactful engineering safety investments?
  - yreg 2y ago
    Probably not.
  - whalesalad 2y ago
    the issues are pretty well documented and are all human failures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disas... the challenger disaster is noteworthy as a tragic incident because many individuals tried to stop the launch knowing this (ahem, hardware) issue was present. to many people, it was not a surprise when it happened.
  - ajford 2y ago
    Given that the engineering safety folks are more than likely not the ones writing the code, I doubt it.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
dessimus 2y ago
But in neither case was it due to a code failure that put the shuttle into an unrecoverable state, but rather one the falls into materials and/or mechanical engineering.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

andix 2y ago

The space shuttle became obsolete technology after all those years. Would've needed a redesign.

Alupis 2y ago
> The space shuttle became obsolete technology after all those years. Would've needed a redesign. Are people aware of how old the technology is that's currently putting objects and people into space? No, the space shuttle was not obsolete. It was expensive... very expensive. To this day, we still don't have a replacement for it's capabilities though.
- echelon 2y ago
  Dream Chaser wants to fill those shoes. - https://www.sierraspace.com/dream-chaser-spaceplane/ https://www.sierraspace.com/dream-chaser-spaceplane/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Chaser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Chaser - https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/a-new-space-plane-gets-ready-for-launch-from-florida/3325548/ https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/a-new-space-plane-gets-r... - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVIXI09-AYw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVIXI09-AYw - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q8tGVUnoZg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q8tGVUnoZg
  - mrguyorama 2y ago
    Meanwhile the X37 is just silently doing everything the Air Force wanted the shuttle to do and probably way better since it doesn't need to meet anyone's long term goals of space exploration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37
- adrianN 2y ago
  What so bad about old technology? Siemens is still selling point mechanisms based on designs that are almost as old as electric motors themselves. They work just fine.

lmm 2y ago

> Even though more astronauts died, because of the two shuttle accidents, than any other NASA disaster, the safety record was absolutely amazing, when we consider everything that was going on. That's "the operation was successful but the patient died" logic. Killing over 1% of your riders is not a good safety record! No ifs, no buts.