From: mark@unicorn.com
Date: Wed Jun 02 1999 - 07:28:32 MDT
Chuck Kuecker [ckuecker@mcs.net] wrote:
>It looks to me like the powers that be would rather enjoy a fireworks
>disply costing billions than spend a few thousand to preserve. Remember
>Skylab!
Putting Mir into a long-lived orbit would cost at least hundreds of
millions, if not billions of dollars; dropping it into the atmosphere will
cost a few million. No contest for a nation that would probably be bankrupt
without American taxpayers' money.
NASA, of course, planned to save Skylab by using one of the early Shuttle
flights to boost it into a higher orbit, but the shuttle was delayed by
years and unexpectedly high drag brought Skylab down a few years early.
Mark
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