🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <9144@tekecs.TEK.COM>, jeffg@tekecs.TEK.COM (Jeff C. Glover) writes:
> The latest AW&ST says that the crew escape system uses a tractor rocket
> to pull the crew to safety.  I assume that since they go out through
> the hatch, that they leave one-by-one.
  
  Too bad the Shuttle isn't modular like Apollo (or Soyuz, for that matter).
  The whole 'crew compartment', i.e. the Apollo CM could theoretically blast
  free of the CSM and parachute to safety during a launch phase emergency.
  At "T+ few minutes", the escape tower was jettisoned.
 
  This whole escape thing reminds me of a commercial flight I was on last year.
  A first-time passenger listened to the FA's speech about life jackets, and
  asked in all innocence, "Are our parachutes under the seats too?".
  I didn't have the heart to explain that at takeoff or landing, a big pillow
  would be just as effective.
  cbs.