Aging Space Shuttle
By Cartoon: Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com
Project: Cynthia Kirkeby, ClassBrain
Jul 30, 2005, 13:03 PST
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| © Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com |
The Space Shuttle has had serious problems over the past twenty years. The loss of lives on the Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003, and the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986 were horrible tragedies. With the recent flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery, which narrowly averted disaster when the insulating foam, once again broke loose from the bottom of the Shuttle, we find the shuttle program once again grounded for an indefinite amount of time.
Questions to Ponder
Has the space shuttle program become too obsolete and dangerous to continue?
What is the alternative vehicle for manned flight voyages?
Has the public lost interest in manned flight missions?
Does the space program need a new goal, such as a manned mission to Mars?
Would the current space missions be better accomplished through unmanned remotely controlled space flights?
Since the insulating foam continues to break away, is there an alternative means of insulating the critical areas of the shuttle?
ClassBrain Learning Links
Human Space Flight
Learn the latest news about the space shuttle and the space station on this NASA website.
Source: NASA
For NASA, Misjudgments Led to Latest Shuttle Woes
A look at the series of errors and miss-assessments that are plaguing the shuttle program, and have lead to the grounding of the shuttle flights once again.
Source: The New York Times
US Shuttle Woes Could Cloud the Future of Space Travel
Source: Reuters
President’s Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond
The commission’s report on the goals of the US space program (2004).
Source: President's Commission on Implementation of US Space Exploration Policy
A Nation in Mourning: Space Shuttle Columbia
The ClassBrain memorial page for the Columbia Space Shuttle.
Source: ClassBrain
© Copyright 2005 by Classbrain.com
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