so apparantly after emptying the trash at the space station they tried to caulk up some of the heat shielding on the belly of the shuttle



Maybe NASA needs to use some duct tape?



some thermal blanket is loose on one of the windows as well





maybe soon a shuttle will be for sale on EBAY, what a waste of money

this is discovery right, how old is this thing? I think they should sell off bits of it and make something from scratch, yeesh.

they should put it at Disney as a amusment ride



maybe as a prop in the Pirates of the Carribean

hahaha.. yeah.. i think a new design is in order..

27 thousand miles an hour re-entering the earths atmosphere countless times takes its toll.

they need to just drive slower..

they drive like menonites getting behind the wheel of a pro street dragster for the first time

Personally I think it's time to re-evaluate the whole space program, billions of dollars are being thrown at it with nothing to show, granted some great things have come out of NASA in the past, but I am not convinced they haven't outlived their usefullness.

My opinion is this, we need a space program, period. If NASA needs to go away and be replaced by something that is more fruitfull then fine. They have developed a ****-ton of amazing technology you never hear about but its not flash-bang-ooh-ahh like a shuttle or hovercars. The shuttle is antequated but theres no way in hell they would get the funds approved to develop and build a new shuttle in any reasonable time-frame. The shuttle just needs some TLC and fixing up, it does its job. I'll relate it in terms we can all understand. The shuttle is like an FC and the gov't is like a typical FC owner.

[quote name='psyclo' date='Aug 2 2005, 07:51 PM']The shuttle is like an FC and the gov't is like a typical FC owner.


[/quote]



https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...1047683785.gif





But on a serious note, I think the program has all sorts of benifits. They do all kinds of research up there and who knows what else. The problem is they've been flying the same ship for a good 20 years. Seems like I recall hearing it had over 100 flights on it. The kind of stressing and abuse it takes its a wonder it doesn't fall apart every time.