Re: RE: RE: Way OT: Shuttle Columbia breaks up on re-entry

From: andy levy (andylevy@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Feb 04 2003 - 18:59:10 EST


Gabriel A. Couriel wrote:
> there are 3 shuttles (with 1 in mothballs): discovery, atlantis, and
> endeavour. there's also enterprise (but it has never been built beyond a
> glorified glider... but with a cost of $4-5 billion/shuttle... that
> Enterprise is looking really good right now.

Enterprise was never meant for even sub-orbital flight. Consider it a
proof of concept, a dedsign study. It'd probably cost more to upgrade
it to flight-ready than to build one from scratch, plus I think you'd
end up with a LOT of safety questions.

Columbia was the heaviest of the 5 Shuttles. As time went on and
materials got better, they were able to drop weight. I imagine
Enterprise would be even heavier than Columbia if they upgraded it to
flight-readiness.

-- 
-andy

http://home.twcny.rr.com/andylevy/ --- andylevy@yahoo.com -------------------------------------------- modesty, n.: Being comfortable that others will discover your greatness --------------------------------------------



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