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July 29, 2005 Two and a half years after the space shuttle Columbia disaster, the powers that be have seen fit to send up a new mission that is supposed to extend the shuttle franchise further. Space exploration is very, very complicated and very expensive. So the current mission is very important, but is also very revealing in how Washington works and does not work out. This trip is expected to last twelve days. It has been reported that some tiles again were seen falling away from the craft. This is not good. If the tiles were not designed to fall off in the first place and as heat shields they should continue to protect the main space module throughout the duration of the mission meaning this is worrisome. If you are driving a car, if any part, even a hub cap, falls off you have a lot to worry about because this is a dangerous condition. The car (or, here, the shuttle) is falling apart. While all I have known a hub cap to do is cause a dent or a ding, it can do worse things such as puncture a tire or crack a windshield in a worse case scenario, but since a car is already on terra firma and can hopefully brake this is not as bad as a shuttle hurtling through space at far more than supersonic speeds with no clear soft landing guaranteed. A hole in a spaceship is a leak that is far, far worse than a crack on a boat. The forces at work are far different and much more volatile. Granted his space vehicle was redesigned some. There are three improvements that I am aware of, more cameras, more sensors designed to detect problems so if a leak develops the astronauts are going to know something is wrong, a scenario I want to compare to a foghorn going off on the Titanic. And they have been supplied with special new compounds that they might be able to use to plug damage, maybe. These new chemicals are allegedly very poisonous, don't you know. But this machine is flying at extremely high speeds. A car at five mph can be harmful. At one hundred mph it is very dangerous. The speeds involved here are substantially in excess of that and we are not talking about mere foam, we are talking about dangerous projectiles worse than a pea shooter because the momentum is far greater. Remember pea shooters, while not looking dangerous, do hurt. There is a new design but there are long term contracts in effect and cancellation creates financial, political and relationship and patronage problems. That is, going for the new equipment cost’s extra money and disengages people who currently have vested interests meaning a politician involved in this effort has to come up with a whole new set of patronage promises. Possibly endangering his (or her) re-election. An article in "The New York Times" indicates that the shuttle has a history of being hit by debris, a worrisome fact that has been ignored by officials and politicians until the current cancellation of future missions for the time being. Fifteen thousand hits is not a small number, meaning high placed officials knew there was going to be a debris problem but the shuttle launching went ahead anyway. I want to point out that I have limited my research to what has been published in the papers because answering stupid questions from boys in the FBI is very annoying, even when I have nothing to tell anyone as in the case of anthrax scares. I repeat I am in favor or better use of antibiotics and that is that. I certainly hope nothing goes wrong from hereon with the shuttle. This is my thirty-sixth essay for "Useless-Knowledge" and I continue to write for the spoof.com, now having eighteen satires up. My writer’s profile there is http://www.thespoof.com/profile.cfm?uID=2595 and the following is a searchable listing of my satires: http://www.thespoof.com/search.cfm?userID=2595$Neil%20Levine I want to conclude that I agree with the Complaint that editing is annoying since I guess the powers that be are looking for possibly search engine optimization or do not really understand what I am saying but it is not within my powers to do anything and I have to be appreciative that I am being published by an established, ongoing ezine although I wish useless potshots by people with a history of lashing into their peers and apparently nothing better to do (unemployment leaves idle minds with lots of time on their hands and not much in the way of productive things to do. On the other hand, I am thinking about writing a spoof of the Yankees seeking a player's picture for a bubble gum card. I am not sure what my next essay is going to be. ------------ Email Neil Levine: neillevine3@aol.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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