"W. D. Allen Sr." wrote in message
t...
Right! And my fellow Rockwell employees did a great job for
their time - remember slide rules and T squares?


Sure I worked on designs for Petrochem cracker plants
using them.

But why continue with a forty year old vehicles that are now
falling out of the sky and killing people, especially with
NASA insisting on flying with ice cycles hanging off the
shuttle, leaking booster gas seals, and fuel tanks shedding
insulation?


Because nobody will pony up the money for a replacement.
I imagine NASA would be overjoyed if Congress said
'Go procure a new shuttle - here's $20 billion


We could certainly do it much cheaper, safer, and better
today, right?


Probably but the political will seems to be lacking

NASA's budget for the Shuttle last year was $3.3 billion
enough to buy 2 B-2 bombers, that seems unlikely to be adequate
to fund a replacement

Keith