[Mars-discuss] Fwd: NASA Rounds Up Roadkill

[Tao Yue]

On Wed, 3 May 2006, Thomas Coffee wrote:
> But NASA fears collisions with the large, carrion-eating birds could
> damage shuttle heat shields, leaving the spacecraft vulnerable to an
> accident like the one that killed Columbia's seven astronauts.


Sure makes the capsule approach look more attractive, doesn't it? 
With Soyuz and Apollo, launch shroud covers the spacecraft (including the 
all-important reentry heat protection) until the launch vehicle has 
exited the atmosphere.

Another insight from playing (if that's the right verb) the Orbiter space 
flight simulator ...


-- 
Tao Yue