I can't find a specific reference, but I have heard them say EXACTLY that - the statistical chance of fatalities per mission. They've also done the work on the statistical chance of a death during ISS construction. They've done the maths to figure out if the Hubble mission is any less or more dangerous than any ISS mission.

Yeah - they're not going to take full page adverts in the newspapers saying "Shuttle Launch - 1:100 shot" - but to deny that they acknowledge, calculate or work with those sorts of figures is just wrong.

Perhaps the problem is not one of NASA at all. Perhaps what you're actually talking about is the PUBLIC's loathing of acknowledging the risk. After all, we want heroes, not statistics.

Doug