PARIS, Feb 4: French astronaut Patrick Baudry, who flew on the Discovery space shuttle in 1985, said on Monday that he had recommended to US space authorities “several years ago” that they should discard the space shuttle because it had become “very dangerous”.

“I thought, indeed,” he recalls, “that they would have stopped the programme back in 1986 after the accident with Challenger.”

Why has the United States continued the space shuttle programme nevertheless, he was asked? “Because it’s manna for the American industrial lobby. I was hoping that with the failure of Challenger, they would think of developing a new space transport system, and when they didn’t I was quite disappointed.”

And, given the inability by NASA to develop a new system, what might have been done to correct the many problems inherent in the space shuttle programme?

“I’ve always been amazed,” he notes, “that an engine so dangerous is not equipped with a safeguard system, a backup device that would permit the saving of the crew in case of a problem. I think it’s an unacceptable situation, especially when you realize that combat aircraft have ejectable seats, and capsules like Soyuz are equipped with a system that permits the ejection of the crew if there is a problem upon takeoff.”