Endeavour's Launch Once More Delayed 65
schleprock63 writes "NASA has delayed the launch of Endeavour due to inclement weather, mostly lightning. According to NASA, 'Cumulus clouds and lightning violated rules for launching Endeavour because of weather near the Shuttle Landing Facility. The runway would be needed in the unlikely event that Endeavour would have to make an emergency landing back at Kennedy. Endeavour's next launch attempt is 6:51 p.m. EDT Monday. NASA TV coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m.'"
News? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think it's only news when a shuttle launch isn't delayed.
Whatever happened to replacements for the shuttle? (Score:5, Insightful)
Whatever happened to the considerable R&D projects to replace the shuttle with a new model?
your average laptop has considerably more computing power than the first shuttles had, and while the electronics have been updated, the engineering behind the overall superstructure, propulsion, etc are equally dated.
When last I heard, the proposals being considered represented a potential 30% cost reduction, and they were looking for better.
What happened to those?
Building those would create jobs across the board across the entire income and skill spread of the american populace, and it would dramatically reduce the risk of mortality for those we send into space for research and save us money in the future which we will need to balance out the tremendous spending currently underway*
*(yes.. yes.. feel free to giggle or outright guffaw at this last point, but there is still a very slim chance we'll have some fiscally responsible politician elected some time)
Really now... (Score:1, Insightful)
Who's bright idea was it to put the main launch facility in *Florida*. Okay, virtually no snow to worry about, yeah, but in the summer months, it storms, especially on the coastal areas, almost *daily* in the evenings. I'm sure there's a reason why they can't launch it earlier or they would, but this is getting a little ridiculous...
space is wrong place for "latest&greatest" tec (Score:5, Insightful)
The autonomous vehicles, like the Spirit and Opportunity probes on Mars, can use newer technology, and can even give us demonstrations of how the newer tech behaves when exposed to the harsh conditions of outer space. But when human lives are involved, the older, well-understood technology gives the best odds of a successful mission.
Re:News? (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, considering that the Launchpad received multiple lightning strikes, I think it was wise to delay the launch...
After all, anyone who's read Pratchett knows that that's the way gods like to ask you to pay attention