- #1
Rach3
Depending on the weather in Florida, possibly tomorrow (Saturday), otherwise next Tuesday:
(That's 3:49 PM EST or 20:49 GMT.)
As to questions of safety, or of whether the awful management of NASA has improved at all since Columbia (or for that matter, Richard Feynman and the Challenger committee), I find the following two quotes taken together, err, illuminating:
New York TimesCAPE CANAVERAL, June 30 — The space shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts are to roar into orbit on Saturday afternoon on what NASA managers call "a rather pedestrian mission" that nevertheless has a great deal riding on it.
Liftoff is scheduled for 3:49...
(That's 3:49 PM EST or 20:49 GMT.)
As to questions of safety, or of whether the awful management of NASA has improved at all since Columbia (or for that matter, Richard Feynman and the Challenger committee), I find the following two quotes taken together, err, illuminating:
On Friday, Mr. Griffin defended that decision, contrasting the open discussion with the process that led up to the Columbia disaster, in which managers were found to have squelched dissent. This month's preflight review was a healthy exchange of ideas and decision-making about difficult issues, he said, adding, "What you're seeing is a good process."
(both from page 2 of the NYT article)During NASA's preflight review this month, some leading engineers argued against launching the current mission until areas of the fuel tank that still shed small amounts of foam could be redesigned.
But Mr. Griffin, the head of the space agency, overruled the engineers, saying he did not agree with their assertion that a foam incident was "probable" over the life of the program and that the result would be "catastrophic."