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danielravennest t1_j5w3jq3 wrote

Reply to comment by SFDinKC in Netflix Special Challenger The Final Flight - curious omission. by GhostRiders

Small world department. I was working for Boeing's space systems division at the time, and we had a two-stage solid rocket in the cargo bay that flight. It was intended to send a NASA communications satellite to high orbit.

People in our division knew the astronauts, because we trained them how to deploy the upper stage with the satellite from the cargo bay. Until they found our rocket intact on the ocean floor, we didn't know if the accident was our fault, because it was 27,000 pounds of rocket fuel. Man that was a tense couple of weeks.

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mike-foley t1_j5wu3un wrote

That gave me chills.. Can't imagine how it impacted all of you.

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danielravennest t1_j5zmnfi wrote

For me personally, I went to work on the Space Station project the following year. Space systems is my career, but Shuttle technology carrying people was too flawed. That was borne out by the second Shuttle accident, and I fear for crew flying on the SLS rocket, which is still Shuttle tech (in some cases literally reused old Shuttle parts).

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zoinkability t1_j61hogk wrote

The one potential saving grace I see for SLS is that there is a realistic escape aystem

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mike-foley t1_j5znnok wrote

I don't see SLS lasting beyond 3-5 launches.

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JohnHazardWandering t1_j63qdgh wrote

That's more likely due to it being crazy expensive, not a safety issue though, right?

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mike-foley t1_j63ssuz wrote

Crazy expensive, sure.. But that means there won’t be as many launches as the Shuttle so the odds are in its favor that it won’t go boom. Maybe. I guess we’ll see.

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[deleted] t1_j622wvr wrote

[deleted]

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DirkMcDougal t1_j6252j7 wrote

Some of the SRB segments are literally re-used segments from shuttle SRB's. And the the first few flights are using RS-25's which flew on shuttle missions.... then throwing them in the ocean.

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