On Wed, 2005-09-21 at 23:33 -0400, Bob Ammerman wrote:
> Well....
> 
> I haven't read all the messages on this thread (yet) but I am surprised I 
> haven't yet seen mention of the _real_ safety problem with the shuttle: the 
> 'we gotta fly or else' mindset of NASA.
>
> Unless this mindset changes (can it?) the new program will still be faced 
> with the biggest safety issue from the shuttle age.

IMHO this mindset will always be with us, to an extent.

Flying to space is a risk. It is impossible to make it 100% safe.
Somewhere you draw a line where safety ends and "has to go" begins. 

The unfortunate truth is sometimes this line wanders a little to far to
the "has to go" side, and then things end up happening (it's scary to
think about all the things that probably go wrong that the public isn't
aware of).

This "has to go" mindset is inherent to all human endeavour involving
risk. If safety were #1 nobody would get out of bed in the morning.

TTYL


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