Guest: Robert (Bob)A. Adamcik. Topics: Space Shuttle Discovery and the space shuttle in general. Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. We welcomed Robert (Bob) Adamcik to the show, author of the new Apogee release, "Voyages of Discovery: The Missions of the Space Shuttle Discovery. This book is available on the OGLF Amazon partners page and if you buy it there, Amazon contributes to The Space Show/OGLF. Please use www.amazon.com/dp/1926837134?tag=onegialeafou-20. In our first segment, our guest was asked why he focused on the Discovery shuttle. As you will hear, Arthur C. Clark had a lot to do with his focus on Discovery along with other reasons he discloses during our interview. I asked him about his biggest surprise he came upon while researching his book and it had to do with STS 131. Don't miss what he had to say about this mission. Charles called in to ask about the new genre of spacecraft being built, capsules, rather than winged vehicles. Our guest reminded Charles about Dream Chaser which is a winged vehicle. Toward the end of the first segment, listeners pointed out that Discovery had only flown (including the last mission scheduled for later this week) 39 missions yet it and all shuttles were rated for 100 missions. The listeners wanted to know if Discovery could fly 100 or more total missions. You might be surprised by the Bob's answer to this set of questions. In the second segment, we asked Bob for a list of his top three favorite missions. STS-120 was at the top of the list, followed by STS-51A, and then STS-63. You will want to hear what he had to say about each mission and why it made his favorites list. Our guest was also asked why Discovery was the return to flight shuttle after both the Challenger and Columbia accidents. Later in this segment, we focused on the payload capacity going to and back from the ISS and what it will be like in the future given the absence of this capacity/capability. Bob had much to say on this subject. As we started the last segment, we talked about the John Glenn flight, STS-95, Oct. 29, 1998. Our guest, having his roots in Ohio, then told us about the Buckeye mission, STS-70 in that the entire crew was from Ohio and what had to happen to make sure everyone was from Ohio. Later, we talked about Bob's research efforts including NASA, Rockwell, and Boeing. As you will hear, NASA had lots of information available but much of what both Rockwell and Boeing had was discarded! Later we talked about heavy lift and if we needed it. Our guest said absolutely. Don't miss his comments on this. He also said Hubble was perhaps the most significant of the Discovery missions. Near the end of the interview, he was asked about the issue of using solid rocket boosters (SRBs) for the shuttle and human spaceflight. Don't miss his response to this question. If you have questions or comments for Robert Adamcik, please post them on the blog URL above. You can also email Bob at robert.a.adamcik@gmail.com.
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