Re: [PICLIST] [OT] shuttle damage by Glen Holmes .

I believe that in one of the books about Richard Feynman, he is quoted as saying that the "pilot" does not actually fly the shuttle. He selects from one of three pushbuttons to tell the on-board flight computer which airfield has been chosen for landing. The on-board computer is responsible for controlling the shuttle descent until it has been brought to a dead stop. I seem to recall that the computer is even responsible for applying the brakes. The following link quotes Feynman as saying the pilot is responsible for lowering the landing gear. If that were changed, complete automatic control of ascent and descent would be possible. http://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v2appf.htm {Original Message removed}