And forgot Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser, as well.
Also forgot Orbital Science’s Taurus II
So did Orbital.. it’s “Antares” now. 🙂
Or as I like to call it: the best Russian/European technology NASA’s money can buy.
While discussing shuttle, he implies that getting to orbit problem is technological and public funding issues. It may have been the case in 70ies while STS was designed, but it certainly is not the case now.
It’s a pure economics problem.
Nice video. But to say that “the Shuttle never failed” is slightly off. The shuttle was a system that included the solids and tank. I never thought of the shuttle as just the orbiter. The system did fail. Twice.
And if you want to really get persnickety, if a piece of flying foam could take out a shuttle, then one might think the shuttle was poorly designed.
But I agree with his basic message: that the next space program will not come from NASA but from private companies and I agree that that is a very good thing.
We’ll never know but it would be interesting to know what NASA would have finally come up with had funding not been cut. Back then the agency wasn’t quite as sclerotic as it is now.
Forgot Boeing. CST-100
And forgot Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser, as well.
Also forgot Orbital Science’s Taurus II
So did Orbital.. it’s “Antares” now. 🙂
Or as I like to call it: the best Russian/European technology NASA’s money can buy.
While discussing shuttle, he implies that getting to orbit problem is technological and public funding issues. It may have been the case in 70ies while STS was designed, but it certainly is not the case now.
It’s a pure economics problem.
Nice video. But to say that “the Shuttle never failed” is slightly off. The shuttle was a system that included the solids and tank. I never thought of the shuttle as just the orbiter. The system did fail. Twice.
And if you want to really get persnickety, if a piece of flying foam could take out a shuttle, then one might think the shuttle was poorly designed.
But I agree with his basic message: that the next space program will not come from NASA but from private companies and I agree that that is a very good thing.
We’ll never know but it would be interesting to know what NASA would have finally come up with had funding not been cut. Back then the agency wasn’t quite as sclerotic as it is now.