rax8@phx.mcd.mot.com (Steve Roberson ) (03/12/91)
This subject MUST have been kicked to death before... If a shuttle were to be stranded in orbit, for whatever reason, there is no way NASA would launch another shuttle to rescue it. The entire shuttle "fleet" would be grounded until they knew exactly what went wrong with the first ship. At a minimum you'd loose the crew, and then probably the orbiter when it came down uncontrolled. My guess is that the ground controllers would spend all their time trying to find a way for the on-orbit crew to fix the problem. Anyone remember the movie "Space Camp" where they landed a shuttle-full of kids by remote control? At night? Steve Roberson rax8@phx.mcd.mot.com