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A comment on Lock the doors: Remembering Columbia's final homecoming (2020). Parent comment

Re:Lock the doors: Remembering Columbia's final homecoming (... by mlyle on Friday February 11, 2022 @07:27PM (#30308738)
> I'm also amazed that the shuttle could not be landed by remote control because of a couple switches.

A deliberate, but dubious decision. Deploying the gear before it's time is guaranteed catastrophe-- they decided it was important to not leave this under software control.

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Re:Lock the doors: Remembering Columbia's final homecoming (... by WalterBright on Friday February 11, 2022 @08:36PM (#30309092)
An independent "arm" switch is a reasonable solution. I'd want to be able to bring the crew back if they were incapacitated, sick, etc. Or even just bring the shuttle back so what went wrong can be determined.
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Re:Lock the doors: Remembering Columbia's final homecoming (... by amatwl on Friday February 11, 2022 @09:41PM (#30309427)
The Astronaut Office pushed strongly against an autoland capability for Shuttle.
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