Odd language - shuttle reliabllity "necessarily 1 in 10^5"
I read that as that it was defined from up on high a long time ago that the shuttle needed to be reliable to that level, so they just assumed it was / refused to listen to any contrary information. Because that would require a lot of expensive design reviews and fixes to reach that level (if it is even possible to do so at our current level of technology)
If NASA required that level of reliability from all manned missions, we would still be waiting to put a man in space.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
