Space Shuttle Post-Mortems
In your article (March 16), “Five Years of Trouble Seen for Space Program,†it was implied that the system might be operational again a year after the Challenger disaster. This should have read “years,†because that is how long it will take if a redesign of the booster rockets is necessary. It also seems that due to current pressures and adverse publicity, NASA may not be in a good position to effectively pursue such an effort.
Under these conditions, there is a serious question whether or not the program is worth continuing at all.
Funding might be better spent on accelerating development of advanced systems, such as the space plane, rather than trying to patch up a shaky design that resulted from serious mistakes in engineering judgment committed many years ago.
It might be best not to dwell obsessively on what went wrong with this program, but instead admit that the concept was probably a mistake, and move on to new and promising horizons.
LAWRENCE S. CRANE
Los Angeles
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