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also, SPACESHIPS. Real ones!
Jan. 17th, 2012 01:54 amOne of the few things about the Space Program and NASA that gets me really riled up(another would be the budget cuts and...other things) is the bureaucracy and utter criminal incompetency that happens leading up to some tragedies, and the complete disregard for the original founding ethics of NASA; be sure you can make it safe, and then figure out how to make it work. Yeah, they spend years afterwards making sure that it doesn't happen again, but what everyone seems to forget is that if they had listened to the people who actually knew what was going on, then the problem never would have arisen in the first place.
Take, for example, the Challenger disaster. It was caused by the sudden ignition of the main fuel tank for the orbiter. It all started because that day in Florida, the temperature was far, far below what the SRBs had been rated for. An O-ring eroded because the putty mean to protect it was hard from the cold. The ring failure led to joint failure which, thanks to some serious wind shear, eventually led to the ignition of the main tank, which, naturally, resulted in that explosion just 72 seconds into flight that we've all seen so many times over. But what really made me mad was the fact that dozens of engineers warned that there was no way to know how the O-ring would react to the temperatures(in fact, they had evidence that as the temperature lowered, the erosion on the O-ring increased). They also knew that launching in ~28 degree weather could present all kinds of issues, considering none of the rockets had been tested and approved at that temperature. But, somehow, despite the massive number of checks that were required to launch in those conditions, the shuttle still lifted off that day.
I'm sure it wasn't as easy as it is now to look back and judge, but, still. I wasn't even alive when it happened; I wasn't even a twinkle in my parents' eyes, but it's something that just makes me feel pretty crappy about bureaucracy. It's almost like we need a disaster every 15-20 years to remind us that we're not infallible, that cutting corners and taking risks gets good people killed. Also, when some of the smartest people in American and the ones who built your massive rocket say "Dude, this isn't safe. Don't launch.", you should maybe listen to them.
This has been brought to you by the Ethics Case Study that Grace is currently working on instead of sleeping. Cheers.
(In other unrelated concerns, you know what, I can't help but wonder if there are any statistics anywhere of how much of the American Armed Forces is from the southern/western states vs. the traditional east, especial considering the stereotypical trends of the east to be more liberal/anti-war vs. the south(and west, though, not counting the actual west coast)'s typically conservative status. IDK. Something that interests me. I want to know how many people in the Armed Forces originate in the south, basically :P)
Take, for example, the Challenger disaster. It was caused by the sudden ignition of the main fuel tank for the orbiter. It all started because that day in Florida, the temperature was far, far below what the SRBs had been rated for. An O-ring eroded because the putty mean to protect it was hard from the cold. The ring failure led to joint failure which, thanks to some serious wind shear, eventually led to the ignition of the main tank, which, naturally, resulted in that explosion just 72 seconds into flight that we've all seen so many times over. But what really made me mad was the fact that dozens of engineers warned that there was no way to know how the O-ring would react to the temperatures(in fact, they had evidence that as the temperature lowered, the erosion on the O-ring increased). They also knew that launching in ~28 degree weather could present all kinds of issues, considering none of the rockets had been tested and approved at that temperature. But, somehow, despite the massive number of checks that were required to launch in those conditions, the shuttle still lifted off that day.
I'm sure it wasn't as easy as it is now to look back and judge, but, still. I wasn't even alive when it happened; I wasn't even a twinkle in my parents' eyes, but it's something that just makes me feel pretty crappy about bureaucracy. It's almost like we need a disaster every 15-20 years to remind us that we're not infallible, that cutting corners and taking risks gets good people killed. Also, when some of the smartest people in American and the ones who built your massive rocket say "Dude, this isn't safe. Don't launch.", you should maybe listen to them.
This has been brought to you by the Ethics Case Study that Grace is currently working on instead of sleeping. Cheers.
(In other unrelated concerns, you know what, I can't help but wonder if there are any statistics anywhere of how much of the American Armed Forces is from the southern/western states vs. the traditional east, especial considering the stereotypical trends of the east to be more liberal/anti-war vs. the south(and west, though, not counting the actual west coast)'s typically conservative status. IDK. Something that interests me. I want to know how many people in the Armed Forces originate in the south, basically :P)
