Legendary astronaut John Glenn says the nation should keep flying U.S. shuttles rather than paying Russia to launch Americans to the International Space Station.Operating Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour until successors are ready might end up being cheaper than buying seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the retired Senator told FLORIDA TODAY.
Flying the shuttles beyond their planned retirement this year or next year also is the best way to maximize the return on taxpayer investment, he said.
“The cost of continuing the shuttle is really very tiny compared to the $100 billion investment that we’ve made in the station,” said Glenn, who became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962 and then returned to space aboard Discovery in 1998 at age 77.
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2 comments:
Well this is a very pleasant surprise. I couldn't agree more with him.
But the Shuttles are totally unsuited to delivering crews to the ISS. They can't stay up long enough to act as a lifeboat.
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