Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Doug and Keith shouldn't have to sign off.

Explosive bolts

This is all part of some bizarre ax E. P. is grinding, and frankly, I can't even figure out what it is, although given other posts and a pattern of behavior I suspect it's an attempt to blame an Israeli for the loss of the Shuttle crew.

There were no explosive bolts on the orbiters. Never. Not Columbia, not Enterprise, not any. I know a little something about how orbiters are put together, and have worked on escape systems in my own designs, and I know damn well what it would take to blow the nose off a Shuttle in a clean manner. A lot more than explosive bolts.

I have files on the Shuttle ejection seats Keith mentions--as he says, soon discarded--and files on other past systems like the Gemini ejection seats. I have files on methods using solid motors to launch the entire orbiter free of a destroyed booster/tank assembly, and other things along those lines. Traction escape, individual pods like on some old bombers, and others. I've worked on this kind of thing for quite a while.

I waited a while to see what he'd come up with that was tangible, and so far, nothing. One thing I've noticed about those who are immune to reason is that you can pull a major brick from the bottom of their argument, and the rest just floats in air, supported by stubborness. What they found wasn't even the Shuttle hatch. Did that matter to E.P.?

The bullshit level on these boards is getting deep enough that it's hard to deal with. I sympathize with Daniel.

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