indefinite delay
NASA still hasn't figured out what went wrong with the low-fuel gauge in the external tank on the space shuttle. This means that the launch has been delayed indefinitely. If they do find the problem and fix it soon, then after that it will take at least four more days before they are ready to launch again.
Spaceflight Now, Reuters, and the Houston Chronicle have more.
Now, in the past I had predicted that the shuttles would never launch again. Of course, it will only take one launch to prove me wrong, and probably five years without a launch to prove me right. Long odds.
However, the experiences of the last few months lead me to the sneaking suspicion that I may have been correct after all. The shuttle is a bad design, and any modifications that NASA makes to patch up the problems require testing, which turns up further problems, requiring further patches, ad infinitum. The will have these problems as long as they are stuck with this flying kludge.
Technorati Tags: NASA, Space Shuttle, Discovery
1 comment:
Well I for one am hoping you're wrong - having travelled all the way to Florida to watch the launch, only for it to be scrubbed. I will be back there when (or if?) they schedule another launch attempt. Maybe I'll see you there!
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