To: Bus429
From that, Lu, we can extrapolate that every mission is a test flight, no matter how routine (in the case of the Shuttle) they become.
Unlike an aircraft that has undergone heavy maintenance and had several test flights to verify the work done the Shuttle undergoes heavy maintenance after each flight but the repairs can not be verified until the next flight and then it might be too late.
There are many reasons for this and here are a few:
Quote:
Flight and ground hardware and software are obsolete, and safety upgrades and aging infrastructure repairs have been deferred.
• Budget constraints have impacted personnel and resources required for maintenance and upgrades.
• International Space Station schedules exert significant pressures on the Shuttle Program.
• Certain mechanisms may impede worker anonymity in reporting safety concerns.
• NASA does not have a truly independent safety function with the authority to halt the progress of a critical mission element.
On somewhat of a personal note Judy Resnick was killed in the Challenger accident. She was my niece’s roommate in college.
Engineering mindset. The biggest killer. I worked with a man that was a safety engineer on the Apollo capsule. Because of the high Oxygen environment inside the capsule he strongly recommended that the hatch be designed so that it could be blown off with a shaped charge (Detonation cord). Three Astronauts died before they modified the design.
