Eugene David
...The One-Minute Pundit

Monday, February 03, 2003


And thank you, Andrew Sullivan, for posting Gregg Easterbrook's astounding article on the shuttle -- from 1980. Here's a line for you:

The [heat-resistant] tiles are the most important system NASA has ever designed as "safe life." That means there is no back-up for them. If they fail, the shuttle burns on reentry. If enough fall off, the shuttle may become unstable during landing, and thus un-pilotable. The worry runs deep enough that NASA investigated installing a crane assembly in Columbia so the crew could inspect and repair damaged tiles in space. (Verdict: Can't be done. You can hardly do it on the ground.)

I would say Mr. Easterbrook foresaw the Columbia disaster. He already foresaw the Challenger's. This is muckraking at its finest -- and no one paid attention.

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