Next shuttle launch on Saturday. I wish them good luck and a safe trip. Not
ORAC: I'm having difficulty interpreting your post. SURELY you are not wishing misfortune to the shuttle crew?!!
The timing of the launch - over a 4-day patriotic holiday with lots of available viewing audience, is about as political as it gets. One can be certain the Public Relations aspects of the launch timing are in no manner accidental. Whether NASA management has bowed to internal or external pressure to 'fit the slot' is not much in question.
This is the time of year when NASA-derived press releases about pending galactic catastrophes and killer asteroids normally fill the news, along with marvelously colorful photos of space objects, real and imagined - because July-August is the fertile period for final negotiations over NASA's budget allocation for the next fiscal year, beginning in October. The public appeal of space projects has dimmed some with bad press and other distractions, even as infighting over dollar amounts increases in intensity. So NASA needs to look like it is doing 16.5 billion $$ worth of something.
The administrator's comment about safety is informative:
Defending the decision (to launch), NASA's administrator, Michael D. Griffin, said that falling foam might pose a danger to the shuttle but not to the crew, because the astronauts could find a haven, if necessary, on the orbiting space station; another shuttle could then be sent to retrieve them. (Mr. Griffin did add, however, that another serious accident could end the shuttle program.)
The shuttle fleet is scheduled to fly 16 more missions to complete work on the half-finished space station and possibly to service the Hubble Space Telescope. The three remaining shuttles — Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour — are scheduled to be retired in 2010.
"If we're going to fly, we need to accept some programmatic risks — not crew risks — and get on with it," Dr. Griffin said.
Bottom line is - space flight always has been and long will be a dangerous undertaking. Even though I view NASA as a bloated fish, swimming mostly in pork juice, I heartily wish the crew the best of good fortune on their flight, and a safe return.