[net.space] missing satellite and "SHUTTLE SNAFU"

rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (Roger Noe @ N41:48:31, W88:07:13) (02/10/84)

>>	the booster that McDonald-Douglas made appears to has only fired a
>>	fraction of planned time.  The shuttle shouldn't be implicated.
>>		--eugene miya

First of all, the company to which you refer is McDonnell Douglas or, more
accurately, McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company.  They make no hamburgers.
Second, they didn't make the PAM motors, Morton Thiokol did (who else?).
I do agree that people calling it a "shuttle snafu" or referring to it as
"shuttle follies" have missed the point.  NASA and its agents performed
their entire part of the contract very well.  They cannot be faulted in
any capacity.  It is up to individual payload owners to arrange for
boosters.  The incidents do make NASA a victim, too.  I'd speculate that
QA at Morton screwed up.
	Roger Noe		ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe