Columbia ejection seats - NOT -- NAC!!!!

[superba]

Hi All,

I was as stunned as most of you probably were;  however, the mission should
have been aborted as quickly as practical when the damage to some of the
structure happened on lift off.  The stresses of re-entry are simply too
great if anything is damaged.

There was little or no possibility of a successful ejection, for the craft
was reported to be moving at 12,500mph at an altitude of 207K feet above the
earth.  An ejection pod that would survive those conditions would be
prohibitively heavy.

Sorry to be cynical;  however, we and they(NASA, Astronauts, media, etc)
just became too comfortable with a long string of successes and few glitches
and took too much for granted.  Flying under any circumstances is a
dangerous undertaking and triply so when going into space and back.

I'm not sure that we ought to continue making so many of these flights.  The
most immediate return on investment that I see is for the aggrandizement of
those who do the flights.  What in the hell can the investors, us stupid
taxpayers, get out of it?  And, it costs a ton.

Have mercy on their survivors.

Cheers!

Jim Jordan