WW, there have been, from memory, 125 shuttle launches. The mission numbering gets screwed up by "unofficial" Air Force launches, so STS-107 can't be used as a guide to the launch number, just the current mission. Two shuttles have crashed. That makes the odds about one in 62. Not the greatest of odds.
Dittemore is worth listening to as he is the head of the shuttle programme and seems to be a straight shooter. Which means, of course, that he'll never be made head of NASA. The loss of one thermal tile would inevitably mean disaster because of the tiles' function - to prevent 3000deg heat directly onto unprotected outer skin. Go figure.
It may well turn out to be purely coincidental that the insulation foam off the booster hit the same shuttle wing that they had temperature gauge failures in. They obviously didn't think that it had caused any damage at the time, otherwise one of the flight crew would have gone space-walkabout under the orbiter to check, surely.
As Milum has quoted above, this is not just air travel writ higher. Space travel is still balls-to-the-wall "right stuff" material. The routine manner in which it appears to be carried out is much more apparent than real. If'n you're interested in the space programme, then
http://www.space.com/ is good place to keep an eye on.
And in fact, this link:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_next_030201.html appears to have the best breakdown of events on the Columbia disaster that I've seen so far.
It's interesting to note that a Florida senator had this to say (quote from the article above):
It's a tragic day, not only for America, but for the whole world and especially for the families of the astronauts," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who flew aboard Columbia during a 1986 mission as a U.S. congressman from the district that includes the Kennedy Space Center.
"The American people have started to think that flying in space is like getting into a car for a Sunday drive, but it's anything but that. Spaceflight is still a risky business," Nelson said.I agree with him entirely, and that's a worry because he's a politician and I instinctly
disagree with them as a matter of principle, usually.
The point he made about it being a disaster for the whole world is well made. Although I'm a New Zealander living in Britain, I look on the US space programme as belonging to us all, and what affects the space programme affects us all. It's the next great human adventure. I've argued that taxes from all western countries without their own viable space programmes should be sent to NASA to keep them going in the style to which I would like them to become accustomed. I would dearly love to see space travel become a matter of routine and tickets on sale at prices people like me can afford.
But that time isn't yet.
I'm not religious, but I feel they died doing something
they really wanted to do and that in a sense they were doing it for all of us - in spite of being fully aware of the risks. For that alone, they should be remembered ...
- Pfranz
