http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8489097.stm
No suprises really, The whole project was dreamed up by the "Try and salvage something statesmenlike out of Dubya's reign of terror" team to try and give the American people something to look forward too.
What worries me more though is the plan to hand over the development of crew return vehicles to the private sector.
Nasa are supposed to then oversee all aspects of safety surrounding these projects and become a centre of excellence for all manned space flight. I don't like the sound of this one bit.
If you look at Nasa's track record in this area (oversight of safety with contractors) it isn't brilliant and turning more of it over to the private sector sounds like madness. A failure to launch the odd sattelite usually causes nothing more than a big firework display and a few red faces. A failure of a manned vehicle causes uproar.
Remember, your rocket was designed by the lowest bidder.
No suprises really, The whole project was dreamed up by the "Try and salvage something statesmenlike out of Dubya's reign of terror" team to try and give the American people something to look forward too.
What worries me more though is the plan to hand over the development of crew return vehicles to the private sector.
Nasa are supposed to then oversee all aspects of safety surrounding these projects and become a centre of excellence for all manned space flight. I don't like the sound of this one bit.
If you look at Nasa's track record in this area (oversight of safety with contractors) it isn't brilliant and turning more of it over to the private sector sounds like madness. A failure to launch the odd sattelite usually causes nothing more than a big firework display and a few red faces. A failure of a manned vehicle causes uproar.
Remember, your rocket was designed by the lowest bidder.
