# Replacing the Shuttle
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-the-shuttle/152304
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 2, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-the-shuttle/152304 "2003-02-02T14:29:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-the-shuttle/152304/1 "2003-02-02T14:29:38Z")
Is there a new design advanced enough to put into production?
If so, does NASA have the resources to run missions with two different working shuttle designs? Should the whole fleet be replaced?
IIRC, after the Challenger, it was claimed that the program couldn’t continue with only 3 shuttles, that there MUST be a replacement or they might as well shut down the program. Given a demonstrated failure rate if about 1 in 50 launches, does it make sense to build abother on the same old design?
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-the-shuttle/152304/2 "2003-02-02T14:35:03Z")
All I know of is the X-33, but that’s been cancelled.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-the-shuttle/152304/3 "2003-02-02T14:36:37Z")
There were some new shuttles in the works, The one that was in the front running would take off and land vertically IIRC.
I think that it might be difficult to manage 2 STS’s (space transportation systems IIRC) but not impossible as we sometimes launch conventional rockets too. Whatever replaces the shuttles if much better then the shuttles will most likely spell the end of the old shuttles.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-the-shuttle/152304/4 "2003-02-02T14:52:57Z")
Well, there’s Buran sitting in a Russian hangar somewhere.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-the-shuttle/152304/5 "2003-02-03T05:11:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by qts \*
> \*\*Well, there’s Buran sitting in a Russian hangar somewhere. \*\*
Actually, there’s not. Last I heard, it’s sitting in an amusement park in Austraila.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-the-shuttle/152304/6 "2003-02-03T05:26:52Z")
:eek:
I thought it was in Gorkiy Park?
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-the-shuttle/152304/7 "2003-02-03T05:49:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Sunspace \*
> \*\*:eek:
>
> I thought it was in Gorkiy Park? \*\*
Apparently, their only [renting it to the Aussies](http://raz.cx/20001123_Buran.html), and Russia was talking about building a working [replacement](http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/buran_010628.html).
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-the-shuttle/152304/8 "2003-02-03T22:31:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \*
> \*\*Apparently, their only [renting it to the Aussies](http://raz.cx/20001123_Buran.html), and Russia was talking about building a working [replacement](http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/buran_010628.html). \*\*
Wow, I wonder if they really are trying to get Buran off the ground (so to speak).