[Boatanchors] Space Shuttle (OT, kinda)

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

I concur.  While it is probably correct to say that at least the Challenger 
failure wouldn't have occurred with vertical staging, vertically staged 
rockets have certainly had their share of failures.  I will, however, insist on 
changing the final first paragraph sentence to "Hindsight always claims to 
be 20/20".  It is almost always impossible to prove.  Which is why a perhaps 
more common term for it is "Sunday Morning Quarterbacking".

My take on the matter is that vertically staged rockets couldn't have been 
sold in the 70's.  And the primary mistake that affected the all-weather 
reliability of the system was in not assembling the SRB's as one piece near the 
launch site.  For which we have only politics to thank.  I can't currently 
recall the name of the person responsible but I'm sure a little digging 
would turn it up.

In a message dated 7/11/2011 7:56:17 PM Central Daylight Time, 
jfor at quik.com writes: 
> Maybe. But you don't know what other failure modes that might have 
> caused.
> Hindsight is always 20/20.
> 
> -John
> 
> ===============
> 
> 
> >The original designs for the Shuttle had the Spacecraft on -top- of the
> >stack.  That -alone- would have prevented -both- of the disasters.
> >73  Gary  N9ZSV
> >
> >On 7/10/2011 9:43 PM, J. Forster wrote:
> >>I spent two plus years working on a payload, only to see it blown up
> >>after
> >>BECO due to a staging failure. I saw the problem, told my late boss, but
> >>it went off anyway.
> >>
> >>And that was not the only time, either.
> >>
> >>-John
> >>
> >>
> >>>  I think it was incompetant management, rather than faulty
> >>>>design,
> >>>>that caused those terrible events.
> >>
> 

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
MVPA 9480