cfb@siesoft (cfb) (11/01/88)
Hello all, This is just a quick question. Does anyone out there know if NASA still intends to use the MANNED MANEUVERING UNITS, or are they regarded now as un-needed risk? I know that there are now a number of things which are not regarded as a good idea any more, like landing regularly at KSC. Thus the motivation for this question. Cheers all, Chris F. Broadbent ...!mcvax!ukc!siesoft!cfb <cfb@siesoft.uucp> "I am certain we shall soon be hearing a human voice coming from space - and that it will have an unmistakable Russian accent." Werhner von Braun speaking to a Congressional Commitee on Space - Nov. 1959. Addresses: email - ...!mcvax!ukc!siesoft!cfb <cfb@siesoft.uucp> snail - (W) Siemens Ltd. Woodley House 65-73 Crockhamwell Rd. Woodley, Reading Berks. RG5 3JP England Phone (W) **44 - 734 - 443 044 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (11/04/88)
In article <1030@argon.siesoft> cfb@siesoft.UUCP () writes: >... Does anyone out there know if NASA still >intends to use the MANNED MANEUVERING UNITS, or are they regarded now as >un-needed risk? ... As far as I know, nobody's ever suggested that the MMUs are a particular risk or that their jobs could be done in other ways. -- The Earth is our mother. | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology Our nine months are up. |uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
alastair@geovision.uucp (Alastair Mayer) (11/10/88)
In article <1988Nov3.184834.28614@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1030@argon.siesoft> cfb@siesoft.UUCP () writes: >>... Does anyone out there know if NASA still >>intends to use the MANNED MANEUVERING UNITS, or are they regarded now as >>un-needed risk? ... > >As far as I know, nobody's ever suggested that the MMUs are a particular >risk or that their jobs could be done in other ways. >-- >The Earth is our mother. | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology >Our nine months are up. |uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu The MMUs have, however, been put into storage for the indefinite future. There aren't any missions planned within the next few years that require them. The MMU simulator at Martin-Marietta Denver may also have been put in mothballs (Martin made the MMUs), but I'd have to check my sources to be sure of that. But, is there anything that can be done with an MMU that can't be done with the Canadarm - or an astronaut on a 'cherry-picker' on the end of the arm? (Hey, I think it's a useful piece of hardware to have in the inventory, but NASA doesn't have any missions for it right now). -- "The problem is not that spaceflight is expensive, | Alastair J.W. Mayer therefore only the government can do it, but that | alastair@geovision.UUCP only the government is doing spaceflight, therefore | al@BIX it is expensive." |