henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (10/02/88)
In article <5680@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> rcj@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Robert Johnson) writes: >... Did you see that the Russians decided to let >the press at some pictures of thier shuttle? Looks one hell of alot like >ours. I noticed that it was on the pad, too...When are they launching, and >who will be flying? ... The similarity is in superficial appearance only; their design is actually quite different, and arguably better. The latest word I heard about launch date was "sometime this year"; they are under orders from Gorbachev himself to take their time and do it right. The first launch will probably be an unmanned test, although there have been a lot of contradictory reports on this of late. >Acctually, one more thing just came to mind: Does the agreement by the >Allies acctually mean that Freedom might go up? The operative word is "might". The big question is whether Congress will stand still for the *STAGGERING* price tag of NASA's gold-plated rabbit hutch. I would bet against it, personally. >When will work comence, Sooner or later. Probably later. It should have commenced several years ago. (I speak of real work, not Yet More Studies.) >and why the hell did they sign something which says that the Shuttle will >be the only thing used? Unless something has happened that I didn't hear about, it's not quite like that. The idea of using European or Japanese boosters for logistics support is being investigated. The shuttle is the only man-rated vehicle available to the project today, so it has to be used for crew transfers. The shuttle is also the heaviest launcher the US has today, so it has to be used for launching the US modules at least. It probably ends up being the launcher for the whole thing, simply because the project has no unmanned rendezvous- and-docking capability available. (The station people would love to have a heavylift launcher available, but there is no firm commitment to develop one, so they cannot count on it in current planning.) -- The meek can have the Earth; | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology the rest of us have other plans.|uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu