The Space Shuttle, and Life Beyond the Infinite
I awoke at 8:00 am this morning to a phone call from my brother telling me about the shuttle. I sighed and went downstairs and watched CNN for 40 minutes, until I could take no more. Tragedies like this are wearing me out. Now I’m wondering: when the Challenger exploded, if I recall correctly, the investigation took months, and the next flight wasn’t for a couple years. This time, though, that can’t happen. Why? Because there are people working on the space station who will need to be returned to Earth sometime soon. How will we feel when that shuttle is set to land? I don’t want to know, and I hate that this has happened again.
I will defer to William Gibson’s thoughts about what happened this morning.
February 1st, 2003 at 11:34
There’s a Soyuz craft attached to the space station, to be used in case of emergency. However, the re-entry would be hard on bodies that have been in micro-g for so long. I think it hits something like 5 g’s coming down, whereas the shuttle never goes above 1.5. I heard today that Story Musgrave stood for re-entry on his last mission.
February 2nd, 2003 at 18:41
I think I’d still rather ride an STS craft down than a Soyuz, but remember the old splash down type capsules came in at around 15 g’s.
February 2nd, 2003 at 21:10
Don’t the Soyuz spacecraft come down on land? Ouch.
February 2nd, 2003 at 23:31
Yes, I think it lands on land, so to speak.
February 3rd, 2003 at 22:48
Sometimes risks are what make life worth living, and every now and then those risks catch up with you. If I could be in space I would, even with the thought that I might not make it back.