Phil Cook wrote:
> Hmm the most likely reason to perform EVA would be to get to the engines 
> or dish so we'll put the pods at the front of the ship so they have to 
> rotate 180 degrees then move around the cockpit to get there.
> Hard points to attach the EVA pod to the ship so I don't need to float so 
> far? Nah. The ability to dock the EVA pod to the emergency door? Nah.


Except that wasn't the most likely reason to perform EVA.  The EVAs were 
to be performed at the destination to examine the environment.  The 
AE-35 unit malfunctioning was something that had a low probability of 
happening (so low, in fact, that it DIDN'T happen; HAL forced the issue).

> An easy to access emergency computer override system? Nah the 9000 series 
> is perfect which is why they had a Computer Malfunction alert on the 
> hibernation pods.

Overriding the computer was the absolute last thing anybody was 
interested in doing; Dave lobotomized HAL and had an incredibly 
difficult time keeping up with doing all the stuff that HAL handled 
automatically by himself, in the book.

> Ducking through doors - just make them taller.  Ladders
> to climb up/down things that only allow one person at a time.

Why don't they make submarines, F-15s, heck, even trains large enough 
that you can just waltz around freely?  Space is at a premium in just 
about any vehicle.  You use as little as possible.

> Put the engines well out of the way along 
> this spindly connection so they're difficult to get to and easily 
> severed from the rest of the ship. Etc., etc.

Actually that one is fairly common in SF; you're using nuclear-driven 
engines that spit out a lot of radiation and are experimental so you 
want it as far away from your crew as possible just in case it goes boom 
in more directions than the one you want.

> Well you do also go to a jump from radio burst on the Moon to a 18 month 
> later ship heading to Jupiter, which may make you go 'huh, what happened 
> then?'

According to the book, the ship was already being built; the TMA-1 
incident a) sped up the schedule and b) augmented the mission with 
additional parameters.

-- 
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.digitalartsuk.com

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