From: john@johnweeks.com   
      
   In article <1139074881.555923.130060@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,   
    "tomcat"  wrote:   
      
   > I have never, never 'made up' a fact in my life.  Ignorant people   
   > sometimes pretend that things they don't know are made up, however.   
      
   > The upshot is that NASA goofed and is 'covering up' with 'made up'   
   > facts.  BTW, they also forgot about heat shrink/expansion when they   
   > decided to cement the tiles onto the Shuttle body.  This is what rips   
   > them off, not the wind.  All they had to do was 'clamp' the tiles using   
   > standard steel clamp rings.   
      
   ????  You just made up this NASA stuff, and didn't state that   
   it was an opinion, so clearly you just attempted to pass this   
   made-up mumbo-jumbo off as a fact.  The fact is that shuttle   
   design worked more or less flawlessly (though not cost effective)   
   for well over 100 flights.  The only time the heat ablative   
   system failed with loss of vehicle/loss of crew is when it was   
   hit by a suit-case sized chunk of debris.  Titanium may have   
   failed in this case, too.  There were a lot of failures here,   
   such as failing to see the warning signs and failing to manage   
   the technology, but none of them can be blamed on the vehicle   
   itself.  If you look at how complex a shuttle is, and how many   
   parts it has, the only conclusion you can draw is that it works   
   remarkably well.   
      
   -john-   
      
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   John A. Weeks III           952-432-2708            john@johnweeks.com   
   Newave Communications                         http://www.johnweeks.com   
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