6 thoughts on “Quote Of The Week”

  1. “When the Shuttle has a delay, it is a vital contribution to manned spaceflight.”

    It’s vital to the continued “employment” of a lot of people…

  2. Congratulations on the win!

    I am hoping for a Germany verse Netherlands final. I wonder if any German plated cars in the Netherlands would get inverted this time around – a small recompense for your grandfather’s bike… 🙂

  3. I’m dreading said final, Germany is our Angstgegner. Victory over Germany would be sweeter, defeat more bitter. I’d prefer Spain, but it’s probably going to be Germany. Last time we won a large tournament (European Championships in ’88, in Germany) there were banners in the crowd reading “Granny, I found your bike!”. In any event both countries are mentioned respectfully in our national anthem…

  4. Somewhat OT, coworker sent me this from the BBC:

    Nasa space shuttle firm to cut 1,000 jobs

    It includes the reported wisdom of Keith Cowing:

    But with so many scientists, technicians and aerospace experts looking for work, Mr Cowling said the prospect of them getting work at private companies that launch satellites were slim.

    “The whole idea behind private sector companies is that they can do it cheaper and with a lot more automation than the space shuttle programme used,” he said.

    I guess Cowing hasn’t noticed that by the addition of the “private sector companies”; there are now more companies providing aerospace employment. Potential for growth in the industry is better than it was during consolidation.

  5. NASA and ULA use thousands of people to prepare Shuttles for launch. Private companies can’t afford to do that unless they’re operating on a cost-plus contract. Those that operate on the profit motive have to keep their costs low to remain competitive. Labor is one of the biggest costs any company has so they will attempt to do the job with the lowest number of employees possible. For example, SpaceX just recently crossed the 1000 employee threshold. By way of comparison, the Denver Post reports that Lockheed-Martin employs 600 to 650 people working on the Orion project.

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