ISS to be de-orbited in 2016!

[Urwumpe]

That all was not about seriously returning to the Moon and go beyond.

These had been very serious. They just did not survive the contact with reality. And that contact will also come for Constellation. Freedom and OTV relied on the Shuttle flying often AND with low payload costs. Did not happen.

The ALS/NLS relied on the Shuttle being phased out - DIRECT is pretty much ALS/NLS reheated, while Ares is more an off-spring of the Saturn family (The future plans for Saturn IB and Saturn V in 1970 are similar to Ares I and Ares V)

 

[Moonwalker]

Constellation already has contact with reality. AresI has become metall while the Shuttle retirement has become cold reality, finally. No program since the Shuttle has come that far while being seriously announced by a president and NASA itself, which is about returning to the Moon and go beyond.

 

[Urwumpe]

Constellation already has contact with reality. AresI has become metall while the Shuttle retirement has become cold reality, finally. No program since the Shuttle has come that far while being seriously announced by a president and NASA itself, which is about returning to the Moon and go beyond.

The Space Shuttle did not yet hit the bottom of reality before Challenger. People already noticed problems but they still thought that they can fix them with the space shuttle.

 

[JamesG]

Less that they could fix them, but more that they could not do anything about them (national prestige, professional ego, development and infrastructure investment, bureaucratic inertia etc.). Except for band-aid fixes and hoping that luck and statistical probabilities would hold out...

 

[george7378]

It would be nice just to leave the ISS in orbit, powered down and empty, so that we could re-visit it when orbital tourism becomes a reality.

I suppose there are a whole new set of problems casued by this, which I don't want to discuss, but it would be a nice idea.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

An interesting document:


ISS End Of Life Disposal
US Propulsion Module

www.nasawatch.com/iss/04.07.99.deorbit.iss/01.html

---------- Post added at 23:51 ---------- Previous post was at 23:35 ----------

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[agentgonzo]

Augustine commission recommends keeping the ISS until 2020 and adding one more shuttle launch to support it.


I thought that the time to add more shuttle launches to the manifest had passed as the factory that manufactures the ET (michoud?) was dismantling the factory at the end of last year?

 

[the.punk]

That are good news for ISS.

 

[T.Neo]

Augustine commission recommends keeping the ISS until 2020 and adding one more shuttle launch to support it.


I thought that the time to add more shuttle launches to the manifest had passed as the factory that manufactures the ET (michoud?) was dismantling the factory at the end of last year?

I'm not sure, I don't think they will be dismantling Michoud, just refurbishing it for the Ares I/V stages.

 

[the.punk]

I'm not sure, I don't think they will be dismantling Michoud, just refurbishing it for the Ares I/V stages.

When is the first flight of ares I to ISS?

 

[agentgonzo]

I'm not sure, I don't think they will be dismantling Michoud, just refurbishing it for the Ares I/V stages.

After reading the whole NSF article, it seems that a freeze was put on various manufacturing plants (including MAF) to stop them disposing of the capability to make shuttle parts. As such, MAF can still manufacture ETs (and has ones partly in production to allow for this).

Sounds promising for the shuttle. I never expected the ISS to be deorbited in 2016 - I would imagine that it will get extended to 2020, and then probably again after that. It cost too much to put up there for it to just be deorbited.

 

[the.punk]

Sounds promising for the shuttle. I never expected the ISS to be deorbited in 2016 - I would imagine that it will get extended to 2020, and then probably again after that. It cost too much to put up there for it to just be deorbited.

I also think so. Why should they?

 

[Moonwalker]

I would imagine that it will get extended to 2020, and then probably again after that.

A real nightmare.

 

[Ghostrider]

It would be nice just to leave the ISS in orbit, powered down and empty, so that we could re-visit it when orbital tourism becomes a reality.

I suppose there are a whole new set of problems casued by this, which I don't want to discuss, but it would be a nice idea.

Yes.

A whole new set of problems indeed.

 

[Urwumpe]

A real nightmare.

Only for people who have believe in free lunches. TANSTAAFL!

We have still not build enough international space stations that dumping them into the water will fill the budget holes in the Constellation program.

 

[Ark]

We might as well keep the thing up there, if we're not going anywhere else before 2028.

 

[T.Neo]

Now suppose the ISS gets extended to 2020, and we only make it to the Moon in 2028, what happens in the intervening 8 years?

 

[the.punk]

Now suppose the ISS gets extended to 2020, and we only make it to the Moon in 2028, what happens in the intervening 8 years?

Satellit launches maybe. Orion tests in orbit.

 

[T.Neo]

Satellit launches maybe. Orion tests in orbit.

We're always launching satellites.
I'm talking about manned exploration.
Don't we need the ISS for Orion tests anyway? I'm sure most of the testing would be done by then...

 

[Andy44]