Monday, June 29, 2009

On A Clear Day, You Can See to Decatur

Or so they say. And the best time to look over in that direction is just as the sun is rising. The dawn of a new day, so to speak. Perhaps, may we be so bold, the dawn of a new (space) age.

Yes, Decatur, Alabama is taking on a whole new light these days. As Norm begins to avert his attention away from the crash site (figuratively speaking, of course) in Huntsville, he appears to be directing his gaze at change you can believe in. The early birds are also beginning to turn west in their quest for worms. Not even Sen. Shelby will be able to stop tomorrow's sun from breaching this new found horizon.

Of course, the former Emperor, may very well want to check out the men's warehouse in Montgomery, Alabama soon. We hear they have some nice striped suits that might fit him very well there. It's only a matter of time until Norm sees through the fog and discovers a scene rigged more carefully than an Iranian election. Such is the nature of illusion. Such was the nature of the bygone Emperor's mirage.

8 comments:

RayGun said...

If Mike and Scott knew that you couldn't air start the SSME and that is the rocket they picked, I would call it fraud. 8 billion and 4 years down the drain.

Anonymous said...

There were long faces in the hall today. Having been shown the 'bathtub' in the manpower curve, the scales fell from many eyes. The width of the tub was measured in years. The solution? Everybody will go away and get a macjob while those that let the situation get that way will remain at their posts.

Oh, before you leave, if you have any 'good ideas' about more work we'd be more than happy to listen. Please overlook the fact that we've told you to keep you ideas to yourself for the last twenty years!

You want fries with that?

Not everybody can be a rocket scientist.

Come mid July, thousands are going to find out just how true that saying really is.

Anonymous said...

Not fraud... just the time old tradition of "bait & switch".

Anonymous said...

Gross Incompetence is a defense against fraud. In the 1970's, the defense for fraudulent behavior by inner city minorities on failed great society programs was "The Feds were grossly irresponsible to give a X Million dollar grant to a bunch of High School Dropouts". I suspect any investigation of ESAS will end up as "Congress was grossly irresponsible to give a bunch of NASA weenies $5 Billion to build a rocket".

Trust me, Mike, Scott, Cooke and Hanley had no clue you couldn't air-start an SSME or a RS-68. They just are fundamentally clueless.

Anonymous said...

It's even worse. The SSME guys here at Stennis ran "corner of the box" tests that showed you could easily air-start an SSME - so Steve Cook changed the upper stage ICD. The SSME guys gave up at that point.

Mr. X said...

A switch to some flavor of EELV would certainly be a step in the right direction, at least in terms of stopping the gap from growing beyond 2015. But how are Norm & co. going to address the job retention issues associated with the shuttle retirement? An expanded role for EELV would mean that some shutle people could be rehired, but the job losses would still be a political hot potato.

Anonymous said...

"It's even worse. The SSME guys here at Stennis ran "corner of the box" tests that showed you could easily air-start an SSME - so Steve Cook changed the upper stage ICD. The SSME guys gave up at that point."

it's possible you could shorten the start sequence,
but it may not be reliable

Anonymous said...

do Shuttle-C