re: Cosmis Log eye-opener. "HOW SAFE IS THE SHUTTLE?"
There have been 123 flights of the Shuttle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_shuttle_missions
Two flights exploded killing all the crew.
123 divide by 2 equals 61.5
Or for every 61 flights there was one accident where the crew was lost.
If there is currently a 1 in 80 chance of a Shuttle accident, or 1 chance in 8 for an accident in the next 10 flights, that would mean that you have some reasons to assume that the current Shuttle flights are SAFER, than previous flights.