But You Can't Trust Anything SciAm Says Right Ed? ;-)

I liked the special too. The parachute and the air bags were problems. Shows the value of testing which was short changed on several failed missions. I was surprised however that the parachute fix seemed to be more of a trial and error nature than design. The air bag fix seemed that way too. I'm curious if Gary or anyone else familiar with NASA can shed some light on how much of mission development is trial and error based on educated guesses and how much is detailed design calculations. Gary's comments usually indicate a large amount of calculation in his area.

I also agree that NASA should use expertise from other areas of government. I wonder if Larry, Gary, or some other insiders from the air force or NASA can shed some light on whether there are barriers to this kind of exchange or not.

Regards,
Mark