Posted on 07/16/2003 2:02:27 AM PDT by yonif
The Columbia astronauts lived for almost a minute after their final communication with mission control, well after signs that the craft was in serious trouble, investigators at NASA and the Columbia Accident Investigation Board said yesterday.
Investigators are scrutinizing data from an on-board sensor recording system that continued to function far into the breakup of the Columbia for clues about how to improve the survivability of future space vehicles, possibly even the three remaining shuttles.
NASA is planning to disclose more information soon about the fate of the crew, drawing from analysis of debris, information on where the debris was found and data from an on-board data recorder, according to people involved in the investigation.
While some news reports after the Feb. 1 accident suggested that the astronauts died as soon as the shuttle broke apart, the space agency and the investigation board have been circumspect about any such details. Even in the hangar at the Kennedy Space Center, the debris from the crew cabin is laid out separately in a private area, and officials have promised to not disclose what they characterize as morbid details. Records indicate, though, that the crew capsule would have been severely buffeted, and the crew was aware of sensor readings indicating major problems.
Several people say information about the last moments of the shuttle could help save lives in the future.
"It's a pretty good container they have the crew in; that's the last part to come apart, just like it was in Challenger," said one investigator with the board, referring to the fatal shuttle accident in January 1986. "It stayed together for a pretty long time."
The investigator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, noted that the loss of the Columbia was now viewed as preventable because the damage on liftoff that doomed the shuttle was from a problem that had been previously identified but not corrected, foam falling from the external tank and striking the orbiter.
He added, "As we sit there thinking about what they were going through, or what their last thoughts were, it kind of angers you."
At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Eileen Hawley, a spokeswoman for the space agency, said, "I am unaware of any announcement that NASA plans to make about how long the crew cabin remained intact."
But investigators say they have drawn inferences from the functioning of a data recorder called the orbital experiment support systems recorder, which was recovered in Hemphill, Tex., in mid-March. During the re-entry, the recorder continued to function until about 18 seconds after 9 a.m. Eastern time.
The recorder was near the middle of the deck, in the pressurized part of the orbiter inhabited by the crew. Its continued ability to function, receiving electric power and input from sensors around the orbiter, is a strong clue that the cabin was still intact, experts say.
The final sequence of events is that at 8:59:28 a.m., Col. Rick D. Husband, the flight commander, was cut off as he spoke to mission control, saying, "Roger, uh," or, perhaps, "Roger, buh." From the context of the conversation, he may have been in the middle of saying, "Roger, both," responding to messages about both left-side main landing gear tires, which sensors indicated were overheating.
The reason the conversation was cut off is not clear. It may have had nothing to do with the accident: the tail of the Columbia may have come between the broadcast antenna and the relay satellite, which was behind the shuttle, over the Indian Ocean. But the board has also determined that some communications may have been interrupted by sprays of molten metal from the left wing.
At the time of Colonel Husband's last transmission, the Columbia was approaching Dallas at an altitude of just over 200,000 feet, at 18 times the speed of sound. Hot gases were entering through a breach in the left wing, burning out wiring and melting metal. (The on-board data recorder recovered later showed that the heating began about 16 minutes earlier, shortly after 8:44 a.m., although it was not evident to the crew until several minutes later.)
OTOH, there is the possiblility that the Columbia still carried an accoustic sensor (microphone) in the crew module like it did in the old days. If so, that audio will never be released, so it really doesn't matter.
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Kind of?
Getting the original shuttle coating replaced with foam turned out to be a real coup for these b@stards!
That ole Ozone killer Freeon. You know how the enviro nazi go ballistic when anyone even mentions Freeon.
Yes the truth sure is painful to some.
SFR
Under Daniel Golden the morale and the attitude deteriorated. He was skimming money and diverting those funds to Yeltsin at the rehest of X42.
I'm all for protecting our enviroment within reason, but these folks have gotten way out of control and their junk science (in most part) is causing way to many tragedies.
Recently new school construction was held up due to the presence of a MAN MADE pond on the property.
We live in a rural area and all the farms had man made ponds because there is no city water and the pond water was used to put out fires if necessary.
Nice to see the craziness landing on the school system, the biggest promoters of this nonsense.
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