Shuttle Disaster, Could this have been an act of terrorism?

STS-107 "Columbia" Loss FAQ v2.0.3 ^ | Updated 7:30Pm 2/12/03 | B0b Mosley

[analyst2]

Could this have been an act of terrorism?

This, by far, was inarguably the first question on everyone's mind at the time of the mishap.

It's so far been the consensus of the sane participants in the sci.space.* hierarchy that at the extreme altitude and speed Columbia achieved during reentry, and with all the various radar tracking systems in place - including NOAA's NEXRAD as an unexpected source of tracking data following the breakup - the odds that Columbia and her crew were destroyed any act of terrorism along the lines of a SAM attack is almost on the verge of absolute nil.

So far, only two "credible" theories have come forth, both with valid reasons for being highly unlikely:

1.Air-to-Air or Surface-to-Air missile strike: As Columbia was at on approach at ~Mach 18 at an altitude of ~200,000 feet (61 km), the odds of a terrorist group such as the Taliban, Al Queda, or even North Korean or Iraqi agents gaining access to a weapon that could catch up with Columbia, much less intercept it, are astronomically small. At this time, not even the US, the Russians, or even the Chinese possess the capabilities of hitting a reentry vehicle at that speed and altitude with any probable° of success

2.Bomb planted on board by a spy: More realistic based on Occam's Razor. However, pre-launch security, which has always been high, was even tighter due both in part to post-9/11 restrictions and the presence on the crew of the first Israeli Astronaut, Ilan Ramon. Odds are almost as small of this happening as Columbia getting shot down by some sort of anti-aircraft weapon.

[analyst2]

There are three credible theories have been discussed that are not mentioned:

1) Speculation that a simple hardened object (such as a small metal knife) could have been inserted in the ET insulation foam. This would cause deeper damage to the tiles than would normally be predicted. Investigation is ongoing as to why one camera on the launch pad was turned off and the other was out of focus, preventing detailed analysis of ET insulation foam impact on the TPS.

2) There were reports written by NASA saying that extremely low level employees have access to putting the tiles on the space shuttle and one employee was caught spitting in the glue bucket and was fired. Mentioned on page 69 in the following paper: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/fischbeckshuttle.pdf Perhaps a tile was compromised.

3) An early theory centers around comments by Jeffrey Kluger: "There are three possible scenarios that explain this event. The first, which I believe is the likeliest explanation, would be an aerodynamic structural breakup of the shuttle caused by it rolling at the wrong angle..." http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,418462,00.html The roll and attitude are transmitted from the ground to the shuttle, at the same time these transmission were being uplinked, a major cyber attack was tying up routers and occupying a great deal of attention. The theory goes that this was a diversion for a hack on NASA computers to program an invalid angle for the first S curve on the left wing.

[B-Chan]

If this were terrorism, one suspects that terrorists would be claiming responsibility for the act. To date, I see no such claim.

[Spiff]

The roll and attitude are transmitted from the ground to the shuttle, at the same time these transmission were being uplinked, a major cyber attack was tying up routers and occupying a great deal of attention. The theory goes that this was a diversion for a hack on NASA computers to program an invalid angle for the first S curve on the left wing.

And which "major cyber attack" was that? Do you really think that NASA guidance/shuttle comms computers are connected to any network that is remotely close to the Internet?

[Poohbah]

More to the point: IIRC, the roll and the pitch (I assume that pitch is what he means by "attitude") are contained in the OPS 303 and OPS 304 programs, and are inside the orbiter's computers to begin with. (It would be a PITA) if the roll and pitch had to be transmitted...and the orbiter was NORDO...

[isthisnickcool]

Or,

The flying monkeys from the wizard of OZ had on their invisability suits and peed on the external fuel tank. Which resulted in some very thick flying monkey pee/ice that sloughed off the tank and hit the leading edge of the left wing and caused enough damage to make the wing fail during re-entry.

[johnb838]

AQ never claims responsibility. The lack of such a claim means nothing.

[Monty22]

Didn't you see the memo? 'terrorists' no longer claim responsibility or give a rat's ass about 'terror'. Only the destruction and death they can cause.

Fear is not the ends here. Our deaths is all that they care about.

[johnb838]

The flying monkeys from the wizard of OZ had on their invisability suits and peed on the external fuel tank

No, couldn't be... Cheney controls the flying monkeys.

[Warhead W-88]

What if someone fired a silenced rifle at the underside of the wing just BEFORE take-off, blowing off tiles? I doubt that anyone could dectect the impact of a rifle-shot, given that the shuttle rumbles horribly as its engines roar up.

Look, I think this is very unlikely. But it's not impossible.

[Cold Heat]

None are valid IMHO.

BTW, the do not use glue on the tiles, they use high temp RTV silicone. Wetting the silicone after application is a old trick to get it to tack up quicker so you do not need to hold it for as long or wait for drying time.

NASA was concerned that the joint might not be as good. I concur with that, but there is no proof.

There is nothing reported that indicates the camera foulup was anything more than a mistake by ground crew. They yanked a wire and it accidently fell out.

Sesors and the program data indicate the shuttle was perfoming exactly as programmed until loss of signal. Data indicates a cascading failure in the left wing and landing gear bay.

Tinfoil won't expain this. The investigation will.

[ChemistCat]

We're now hearing that a damaged re-entry tile would not have been enough to have caused the plasma-breach in the left wing wheel well. However, deliberate sabotage of the area probably could have.

I am sure they're looking very closely at EVERYONE who had access to Columbia on the launch pad...and before it was moved there.

[swheats]

And Osama didn't mention it in the last communication. Some things just don't add up. Not saying he had to, but that would have dated his whereabouts.

My concerns are were the shuttle compromised due to the number of people working on it and what were there clearance in light of the current terrorists environment?

[537 Votes]

Could one thing please happen in the world without there being a conspiracy behind it?

[Cold Heat]

We do know that nearly 2000 cubic inches of foam hit the underside of the wing.

Why suggest a bullet?

[The Great Satan]

If this was "terrorism," the most likely scenario would be an Iraqi agent at a NASA contractor dropping the proverbial "spanner in the works." I see no evidence in favor of that hypothesis yet, but none to discount it, either. It should be on the table. When the shuttle went up, there were plenty of stories about the "heightened security concerns" because of the presence on board of the first Israeli astronaut, a hero of the raid on Saddam's Osirak nuclear reactor. As soon as the shuttle blew up, everybody conveniently forgot that they were previously worried that somebody would blow it up. I wonder why?

[dalebert]

Do you really think the government would tell you.

[John H K]

Could one thing please happen in the world without there being a conspiracy behind it?

No, because something bad happening without a conspiracy causing it is too frightening.

People are more terrified of randomness than they are of conspiracies. Conspiracies are actually reassuring to people and allow them to think that horrible things happen for a reason. Nothing is more terrifying than a world leader being killed by a lone random nut, or some disaster happening because of a simple innocuous mistake or a natural cause.

[TLBSHOW]

If we listen to the SFgate paper its an act of God!

[Arkinsaw]

It was struck by a very large ball of tinfoil travelling at high speed. This tinfoil was inserted into the proper orbit by Al-Qaeda when they got a stowaway on that Chinese space capsule test.

[steveo]