🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <SHAFER.89Dec21092942@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov> shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) writes:
>There's no way to get the Shuttle to Hawaii safely and uncorroded.  It
>would have to be deck cargo on a ship and would be damaged before it
>ever arrived, since Hawaii is beyond 747 range.

While a number of major problems with Hawaii as a launch site have been
pointed out, I think that Mary's a bit harsh on shuttle transportation
by ship.  Aircraft are regularly carried by specialized vessels
(they're called ``aircraft carriers''); launchers right up to Saturn
first stages have been moved to KSC by barge; and the SRBs *land* in
salt water after each flight.

Granting that shuttles are a bit more delicate than these other
examples, they still spend most of their lives in the middle of a salt
marsh on a seacoast.  By comparison, a special Basic Orbiter Aquatic
Transporter could give velvet-glove treatment.  A simple hangar
structure could seal out the spray, and even allow air conditioning and
dehumidification.  The shuttle wouldn't simply be dumped on the top
layer of a container ship's cargo!

I'm sure that *somebody* looked into building such an animal.  For the
present setup, of course, it makes absolutely no sense.  Edwards lacks
a year-round ice-free harbour.
-- 
John Hogg			hogg@csri.utoronto.ca
Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto