Why do NASA carabiners cost $1100?

Rick Tumlinson from the Space Frontier Foundation claimed in a hearing the other day that NASA spent too much on carabiners to keep astronauts attached to the shuttle: "The best climber's carabiner at REI costs $19.00. I found the manufacturer of NASA's carabiners, and he said he charges $1,095.00 each." Among other things, each ounce of aluminum has to be tracked, workers re-certified every six months, etc. The unfraggable Keith Cowing from NASAWatch / SpaceRef counters this argument by pointing out that, among other things, space is way way different than any conditions experienced on terrestrial locales... commercial carabiners would easily snap after being heated and cooled to extremes every 90 minutes (roughly the time the Shuttle takes to orbit)... to boot, the apparatus that NASA uses to keep astronauts from floating away isn't even close to a carabiner! Good show, Mr. Cowing. Posted by joebeone at Enero 30, 2004 01:40 PM