Hans Mark was really a curious man. I think he was under influence of von Braun and had a little too much love for manned spaceflight. Some decisions he made at Ames (he was the center director from 1969 - 77), NRO and later as NASA deputy administrator were controversials. I often wonder why the Pioneer probe program was dropped after Pioneer-Venus ?
Quote from: Archibald on 08/09/2017 11:51 amHans Mark was really a curious man. I think he was under influence of von Braun and had a little too much love for manned spaceflight. Some decisions he made at Ames (he was the center director from 1969 - 77), NRO and later as NASA deputy administrator were controversials. I often wonder why the Pioneer probe program was dropped after Pioneer-Venus ?He only seems curious to you because you obviously disagree with some of the decisions he made.
1-Nice article, by the way. Interesting as usual. 2-Can't wait for part 3 - bringing spent KH-9s down to Earth. 3-Should give some limited hindsight about how hard it would have been to bring Hubble to Earth (as was more or less planned before STS-107).
Hans Mark was really a curious man. I think he was under influence of von Braun and had a little too much love for manned spaceflight. Some decisions he made at Ames (he was the center director from 1969 - 77), NRO and later as NASA deputy administrator were controversials.
The reason is that they were going to shut down the C-130 recovery squadron in Hawaii.
QuoteThe reason is that they were going to shut down the C-130 recovery squadron in Hawaii.Why would it be shut down ? Seems as if somebody decided - enough capsules, the KH-11 can do both KH-8 and KH-9 jobs without any expensive C-130 recovery squadron.
Quote from: Archibald on 08/10/2017 07:20 amQuoteThe reason is that they were going to shut down the C-130 recovery squadron in Hawaii.Why would it be shut down ? Seems as if somebody decided - enough capsules, the KH-11 can do both KH-8 and KH-9 jobs without any expensive C-130 recovery squadron. It was expensive. They had something like 10 C-130s, 6 helicopters, and over 500 personnel. And they had a high state of operational readiness, which meant that the had a high budget (for spare parts and stuff).<snip>
They had something like 10 C-130s, 6 helicopters
Quote from: Blackstar on 08/10/2017 03:59 pmQuote from: Archibald on 08/10/2017 07:20 amQuoteThe reason is that they were going to shut down the C-130 recovery squadron in Hawaii.Why would it be shut down ? Seems as if somebody decided - enough capsules, the KH-11 can do both KH-8 and KH-9 jobs without any expensive C-130 recovery squadron. It was expensive. They had something like 10 C-130s, 6 helicopters, and over 500 personnel. And they had a high state of operational readiness, which meant that the had a high budget (for spare parts and stuff).<snip>Did the recovery squadron have a "cover" mission?