On 20 Mar 2007 00:43:49 -0400, nfitz@shell1.sentex.ca (Nicholas
Fitzpatrick) wrote:


Not that simple. Congress would hold hearings on how he intends to fly
the Shuttle beyond 2010 without the "system and subsystem level"
recertification that the CAIB clearly spelled out and both he and NASA
previously agreed to adhere to. If they don't like the answer, the
President doesn't get the funding, and no Endeavour until 2014.

Hang on, do you really expect us to believe, that your president is
powerful enough to send 1000's of people to their deaths, year after
year, in some foreign wasteland, but doesn't have the power for a minor
administrative over-ride, that will only risk a handful of volunteers? Come
on ... pull the other one ...


Up there in the frozen tundra, I guess you aren't aware that Bush's
approval rating is somewhere south of 30%, that he's fighting any
number of self-inflicted scandals, that his party lost both houses of
Congress last year, that the 2008 election campaign is already in full
swing, and oh by the way, Congress controls the pursestrings, not him.

The Democrats would pounce on this if Bush just ignored yet another
independent panel (the CAIB this time.) The Republicans will distance
themselves from him even faster than they are trying to at present.

No... pull what you will, it won't happen.

Brian

Up there in the frozen tundra, I guess you aren't aware that Bush's
approval rating is somewhere south of 30%, that he's fighting any
number of self-inflicted scandals, that his party lost both houses of
Congress last year, that the 2008 election campaign is already in full
swing, and oh by the way, Congress controls the pursestrings, not him.

And everyone in this thread is ignoring the fact that Bush won't
*be* the president in 2010, so the actual decision will be made
by an entirely different set of people, even if they are
Republican-party people.

Brian Thorn wrote:

On 20 Mar 2007 00:43:49 -0400, nfitz@shell1.sentex.ca (Nicholas
Fitzpatrick) wrote:


Not that simple. Congress would hold hearings on how he intends to
fly the Shuttle beyond 2010 without the "system and subsystem level"
recertification that the CAIB clearly spelled out and both he and
NASA previously agreed to adhere to. If they don't like the answer,
the President doesn't get the funding, and no Endeavour until 2014.

Hang on, do you really expect us to believe, that your president is
powerful enough to send 1000's of people to their deaths, year after
year, in some foreign wasteland, but doesn't have the power for a
minor administrative over-ride, that will only risk a handful of
volunteers? Come on ... pull the other one ...


Up there in the frozen tundra, I guess you aren't aware that Bush's
approval rating is somewhere south of 30%, that he's fighting any
number of self-inflicted scandals, that his party lost both houses of
Congress last year, that the 2008 election campaign is already in
full swing, and oh by the way, Congress controls the pursestrings,
not him.

The Democrats would pounce on this if Bush just ignored yet another
independent panel (the CAIB this time.) The Republicans will distance
themselves from him even faster than they are trying to at present.

No... pull what you will, it won't happen.

And everyone in this thread is ignoring the fact that Bush won't
*be* the president in 2010, so the actual decision will be made
by an entirely different set of people, even if they are
Republican-party people.

Maurice Barnhill <mvb@udel.edu> wrote in
news:Z3VLh.2291$zN.2272@trndny03:


Most likely, the decision will be moot by the time the next president
takes office. NASA is already moving to terminate shuttle supply
contracts once they've provided enough parts to last through the planned
manifest.

The next administration will find itself in much the same
situation with respect to the space shuttle that the Nixon administration
found itself in with respect to Apollo/Saturn: a rapidly drying supply
pipeline and no easy/cheap way to reopen it. Stretching the current
manifest past 2010 will still be possible but adding new flights to the
manifest won't be.

--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

However, NASA chief Mike Griffin has a one-word answer for those
asking if the agency would keep the shuttle flying after the deadline:
"No."

Then the man is an idiot and should be moved to somewhere his talents
will be fully utilised. Shelf stacking in Walmart seems about right.

--