Posted on 04/19/2003 5:02:48 AM PDT by jpthomas
— Investigators now have the strongest evidence yet that the space shuttle Columbia's left wing was critically punctured during liftoff, when falling debris started the fatal chain of events that led to the breakup of the shuttle when it re-entered Earth's atmosphere, ABCNEWS has learned.
The evidence comes from an old magnetic tape recorder that is part of the Orbiter Experiment Support System, sources said.
It shows an unusual temperature increase in a key sensor just behind the leading edge of the left wing near the spot where foam that fell from the shuttle's external fuel tank is suspected of striking the shuttle, just 81 seconds into the flight.
The temperature spike happens within the next 40 seconds. Usually during this phase of flight, the temperature would be decreasing or holding steady, sources said.
"All the evidence is pointing there," a knowledgeable source told ABCNEWS. "It's kind of like the lady in California. Everybody knows it's her, but they just can't officially say it yet." The data comes from a temperature sensor behind the front spar of the left wing near a shuttle's protective thermal panels known as reinforced carbon carbon panels, or RCC. These panels are supposed to protect the shuttle from the heat of re-entry.
Investigators say it was a breach in the left wing near the leading edge that led to the breakup of Columbia on Feb. 1 when it plunged back into the Earth's atmosphere at more than 20,000 mph. All seven astronauts on board perished.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board is still trying to piece together the puzzle of the shuttle disaster — but they have already recommended that NASA do a much better job of inspecting RCC panels for any weaknesses prior to liftoff.
The board is concerned that as the shuttle fleet ages, the RCC panels may be more susceptible to failure — and that Columbia's age may have been a factor in the shuttle accident. Columbia flew its first mission in 1981, making it the oldest shuttle in the fleet. ,p> The board will hear from more experts at another public hearing next week. Members will start to write their report at the end of May and hope to issue it sometime in June.
None of the information from the recorder could have helped save the doomed shuttle. It was not available to ground control at launch, and controllers would not have noticed the spike until the shuttle landed and, weeks later, analyzed the data.
And even if they had known, it is open to debate what could have been done.
"If they suspected the damage, could they have done something? Probably not," a source said. "But you never want to say there was nothing that could have been done, because you never know what 1,000 people all working on one problem might come up with."
The foam was another Clinton evil: the properly working, correct original foam insulation was not "environmentally friendly" enough and was ordered replaced by that disgusting corrupt Clinton EPA director.
Gee, I wonder if the Old Media is going to follow up on this story?
Yeah, heaven forfend they might be honest with the astronauts about what they might face coming home...
Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2003
Clinton Environmental Policy Sabotaged the Shuttle
Thank fussy "environmentalists" from the Clinton administration for the substandard but politically correct foam that NASA thinks caused the Columbia disaster.
"NASA engineers have known for at least five years that insulating foam could peel off the space shuttle's external fuel tanks and damage the vital heat-protecting tiles that the space agency says were the likely 'root cause' of Saturday's shuttle disaster," the left-of-center Philadelphia Inquirer noted today in an article by Knight Ridder News Service.
So why was such a crummy substance used in such a crucial capacity, with the lives of seven astronauts at stake? Because "environmentalists" fretting about their theory of human-caused "global warming" wanted to use it.
In a 1997 report, NASA mechanical systems engineer Greg Katnik "noted that the 1997 mission, STS-87, was the first to use a new method of 'foaming' the tanks, one designed to address NASA's goal of using environmentally friendly products. The shift came as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was ordering many industries to phase out the use of Freon, an aerosol propellant linked to ozone depletion and global warming," Knight Ridder reported.
Insulation is sprayed on the shuttle's tanks to keep the super-cooled hydrogen and oxygen fuels at the correct temperature.
(Excerpt) See: http://www.newsmax.com/archive/print.shtml?a=2003/2/4/174925
"NASA engineers have known for at least five years that insulating foam could peel off the space shuttle's external fuel tanks and damage the vital heat-protecting tiles that the space agency says were the likely 'root cause' of Saturday's shuttle disaster," the left-of-center Philadelphia Inquirer noted today in an article by Knight Ridder News Service.
So why was such a crummy substance used in such a crucial capacity, with the lives of seven astronauts at stake? Because "environmentalists" fretting about their theory of human-caused "global warming" wanted to use it.
clinton Legacy Bump!
How about "Dead End Media" to borrow a Rummy GWII image concerning doomed regime adherents?
HF
Does anybody know the difference in performance of the two different types of foam?
Also, I remember one report from the Challenger disaster that said the O-ring burn-through started to appear after the EPA made NASA discontinue using an insulating putty that contained asbestos. The O-rings sit in the middle of a putty-filled recess. They started having problems with some of the rings scorched, or partially-burned, when they switched putties. Add the combination of cold weather, making the O-rings stiffer and weaker, and disaster finally happened.
But better to lose tens of billions of dollars, 14 lives, and much of the future of the manned space program, than question the sacred EPA.
The only hope would have been to abort the flight right then.
You nailed it Duke. Legacy murders, along with the 3000+ Bill and Hillary murdered at the WTC attack.
No one in NASA ever said such a thing. Prove your assertion by providing a direct quote.
And by the way, it was NASA who found data about the temperature spike. So your conspiracy theories are just plain nutty.
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