OV-106 - 7/8/2007 11:32 AMQuotestefan1138 - 7/8/2007 9:25 AMIt seems that there are conflicting reports concerning the molds and tooling for orbiter production. I read somewhere that the molds and tooling is stored, others are saying that they have been destroyed. Does anybody know more? Thanks Stefan Many of the jigs, etc have been stored throughout the years. Very recently they have started to be scrapped from Palmdale. Some equipment to build orbiters and large tooling, jigs that make certain LRU's has bounced from place to place recently landing at MAF. The process is currently in work to scrap that hardware.
stefan1138 - 7/8/2007 9:25 AMIt seems that there are conflicting reports concerning the molds and tooling for orbiter production. I read somewhere that the molds and tooling is stored, others are saying that they have been destroyed. Does anybody know more? Thanks Stefan
Jim - 7/8/2007 11:26 AMFairchild made the vertical stabilizer. Grumman made the wings
sopwithuk - 8/8/2007 2:49 PMThe President can order anything he/she wants right? So I would not be surprised if the new President ordered NASA to continue with the shuttle as I can't see the USA being happy with no access to orbit for years exept with Russian help.
sopwithuk - 8/8/2007 10:49 PMThe President can order anything he/she wants right?
Jim - 7/8/2007 1:29 PMThey were dinosaurs. Douglas was at onetime the largest employer in the US
stockman - 7/8/2007 12:12 PMQuoteApolloLee - 7/8/2007 11:59 AMThe shuttle's time is done, but it is most certainly possible that a new administration will save us from Ares I....be careful what you wish for. "saving" us from Ares I could be as simple as cancelling it all together with nothing but long range studies of what we should do and no hardware to actually do anything with. Don't wish the political types a reason to get rid of this too quickly unless you are sure a better solution will be offered up in its place.
ApolloLee - 7/8/2007 11:59 AMThe shuttle's time is done, but it is most certainly possible that a new administration will save us from Ares I....
Antares - 9/8/2007 9:35 AMAlso, keep in mind Atlantis gets mothballed in '08. Kinda like the PRV for this flight, it's going to get raided for parts for the other orbiters. Bringing it back online after this point is non-trivial. Also, the decision point for STS after FY10 is this December or January. That's the lead time required to build an ET (maybe some other long-leads too). So we'll know in a matter of months what the strategic decision is. Missions may get delayed past the current sunset, but no additional missions will be possible.
stefan1138 - 7/8/2007 9:01 AMOk, maybe the buildings are gone, but wouldn´t it be wise to store the molds, jigs and tooling? I know it is to late know, but what would have happened if let´s say in the nineties there would have been a need for a new orbiter (because of unrepairable damage to one of the others for example)? I think this decision to abandon this hardware was really shortsighted (if it is in fact true that this equipment no longer exists).
Jim - 9/8/2007 2:30 PMNo, new shuttles are still wrong. The business case doesn't support a shuttle RLV. RLV won't be viable for some time to come. And there is not need for a "shuttle" The shuttle paradigm is wrong
Paul Adams - 9/8/2007 2:40 PM1. I would much more happily settle for two flights a year into LEO while developing a next-generation shuttle, and then branching further out to the moon and Mars: put into place an infrastructure that can be built on economically and effectively.2. I fully expect the next manned vehicle after A1 will have wings on it and land on runway to provide “operational economy”.
stefan1138 - 9/8/2007 9:40 AMThanks Antares for your clearification of the tank issue. Do you have a source for this? Thanks Stefan