NASA Clamors for Safer Launches: Reliability Must Grow Tenfold in New Rockets
Florida Today
Documents obtained by FLORIDA TODAY through the Freedom of Information Act show exactly where the actual risk-takers stand.
NASA’s Astronaut Office says the next crew launch vehicle should be 10 times safer than the shuttle, which is set for retirement after five more flights.
The system should “dramatically improve crew survivability,” Chief Astronaut Peggy Whitson told FLORIDA TODAY in an interview. “We believe an order-of-magnitude improvement is possible with today’s technology and should be the goal.”
The demonstrated probability of a shuttle launch disaster is 1 in 129. NASA’s 83 astronauts think those odds can be improved to 1 in 1,000.
Read the full story.
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