They sure were.
Posted on 12/30/2008 2:11:10 PM PST by Joiseydude
Seat restraints, pressure suits and helmets of the doomed crew of the space shuttle Columbia didn't work well, leading to "lethal trauma" as the out-of-control ship lost pressure and broke apart, killing all seven astronauts, a new NASA report says. At least one crew member was alive and pushing buttons for half a minute after a first loud alarm sounded, as he futilely tried to right Columbia during that disastrous day Feb. 1, 2003.
In fact, by that time, there was nothing anyone could have done to survive as the fatally damaged shuttle streaked across Texas to a landing in Florida what would never take place.
As was already known, the astronauts died either from lack of oxygen during depressurization or from hitting something as the spacecraft spun violently out of control. The report said it wasn't clear which of those events killed them.
(Excerpt) Read more at optimum.net ...
So what? What the hell would having a helmet on have done? Or gloves? Keep them alive an extra ten seconds?
They could have been helmeted, gloved, and wrapped in a foot of protective suiting, and they still would have either burned to a crisp as bodies, dropped like rocks, or more likely both.
No parachutes, and flying at a speed where the reentry heat melts metal? C'mon.
I understand and agree with need for the investigation and report, but to leave the implication that somehow the reason they died was their helmets didn't fit is just balderdash.
Opening up the cabin at 17,000 mph....gloves, helmets etc...wouldn’t have helped at all.
When you’re in a vehicle traveling the speed that the Shuttle travels and you lose structural integrity, gloves and seat belts are only going to buy you a few more seconds at best.
If that.
The implication that they could have somehow been saved is just ridiculous.
Sheesh. Even that round ball thing that the president climbed into just before the plane crash in ‘Escape From New York’ wouldn’t have saved those astronauts.
Aren’t like ten billion times more people killed every year in auto accidents? Why don’t we have special helmets and gloves and seat belts and whatever it takes to protect them?
If you had read the article, you would have known that it made absolutely no implication that they could have been saved.
They sure were.
The FR live thread from that day. History live.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/833885/posts
[AP SCOOP] Space Shuttle Columbia Will Be Visible In San Francisco Area (6AM Pacific)
“Aren’t like ten billion times more people killed every year in auto accidents? Why don’t we have special helmets and gloves and seat belts and whatever it takes to protect them?”
Helmets would be good in cars. The windshield pillar is lethal on impact because it can’t be padded (it would be too thick to see around) and can’t be made to yield (it holds the whole corner of the car up in a rollover).
But try to get peoplt o wear helmets! I can’t even get my friends in the back seat to put on seat belts.
I was looking toward the north when I saw several shiny objects going across the sky from generally west to east. Mentioned it to the family when they returned to the car and didn't think too much about it after that. (the kids insisted on listening to music on the radio)
We arrived at the funeral site and I noticed several shuttle shaped balloons over the grave. (turns out the guy was a NASA buff)
Later, at the wake, my Wife's Uncle came up to me and asked if I'd heard about Columbia. Suddenly it all became a lot more clear. I had seen Columbia's re-entry.
There's no way they could of survived and there's few days in my life as weird as that one.
You asked — “So what? What the hell would having a helmet on have done? Or gloves? Keep them alive an extra ten seconds?”
In retrospect, we can see that it was catastrophic (as to what happened). However, it could very well have not been catastrophic if it were a different set of circumstances. And so, one must prepare for the possibility of something not being catastrophic but also requiring the survival of the crew in order to do things that can save a ship in a non-catastrophic situation, before it turns into something that can’t be saved.
So, having the knowledge of what needs to be improved can give people more time to do necessary thing to save a ship in the future, on other missions. That’s important to analyze and to know.
That’s what this kind of thing is useful for (in looking at this kind of catastrophic event) — to take care of the future.
Did The Communist News Network actually say that - “18 Times the speed of light”?
Warp 17, Mr. Scott
makes sense, thanks.
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