Posted on 01/31/2013 8:35:29 PM PST by chessplayer
What would you tell seven astronauts if you knew their space shuttle was crippled on orbit?
It was a question that faced NASA's Mission Control considered after initial suspicions that something might be wrong with the shuttle Columbia as it was making its doomed reentry in 2003.
Wayne Hale, who later became space shuttle program manager, struggled with this question after the deaths of the Columbia crew 10 years ago. Recently he wrote about the debate in his blog, recalling a meeting to discuss the dilemma:
"After one of the MMTs (Mission Management Team) when possible damage to the orbiter was discussed, he (Flight Director Jon Harpold) gave me his opinion: 'You know, there is nothing we can do about damage to the TPS (Thermal Protection System). If it has been damaged it's probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Don't you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?"
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I agree, I worked on Shuttle and Space Station, if NASA was certain of damage they would have told the crew. If the crew was capable of leaving the space craft (EVA) then the crew was capable of attempting repair. No way NASA would not have given them the change to try something.
I am calling BS on this story.
Admitting there might be a problem is the first step to finding a solution. It worked with Apollo 13, and who knows what the world's minds could have come up with in a week? Just the notoriety of 'saving the shuttle' would have had some of the best amateurs and professionals on the globe taking a crack at a solution--either to keep the astronauts alive until they could be evacuated, or to repair the shuttle.
Chapter and verse please?
The shuttle made turns as part of its reentry program. They could have changed the program to take pressure off the bad wing. I don't know if they could have dumped the entire Spacehab module overboard, but they could have dumped a lot of equipment to reduce weight. The other step they could have taken would have been to land at the alternate sight in Australia where it was was warmer and the atmosphere less dense.
I’d sure like to think so... like an ICBM getting refitted to carry more oxygen and supplies to the crippled craft using something like a net to achieve handoff, if necessary trying it several dozen times till the net catches, then a spacewalk to get the stuff and unhook the net.
I would hope that if NASA knew Columbia was doomed they would have attempted something like keeping it in orbit and supplying it with life support from unmanned rockets until another shuttle could be launched for rescue or maneuvering it to ISS where the shuttle crew could wait for rescue. I think they would have tried something. At least I hope they would of.
Pretty much learning from mistakes as the airline industry learns from its crashes...
The American way is to try—not trying, giving up, is un-American. There could have been a way to get them down—or at least had the prayers of a nation help them back. Something should have been attempted—even asking the Russians for help. Pride, PR, and arrogance cost these brave men their lives. Even if they died—they at least tried. Like the people in the burning twin Towers who tried to make parachutes and jump to freedom—didn’t work but a noble attempt.
Wasn't it the same thing with Apollo 13? The crew improvised and came back alive.
The Shuttle astronauts might have gone out on a spacewalk and improvised a fix. They should have been given a chance.
bfl
They should have been told, but I wouldn’t want to be the one to tell them. Give them at least a few minutes to write/record farewell messages to their families and get right with God.
They changed the glue formulation for adhering the foam to the external tank. That change was made at the request (pressure?) from the EPA. I know people inside NASA resisted.
with the new formulation, serious problems started.
We have a right to know the name of the person that made the decision to change the glue formulation. That person should be shamed for eternity.
I worked on the Shuttle Flight Control Design team at Honeywell. NASA has become very bureaucratic as is most agencies.
Still it grates me to no end that the history doesn't highlight the fact that evil humans at the EPA are the primary cause of the Columbia disaster.
I don’t think they have unmanned supply craft and rockets sitting around
Why would they not tell them, except for a fear of bad publicity should the word get out? Astronauts are smart people, the engineers on the ground may not have all of the solutions to problems. Even if they think they do.
In my opinion, if this problem was known, and the ground crew said nothing to the astronauts, it was an arrogant self serving way for the ground crew to handle it. The folks in space are the ones who put their asses on the line. They deserve the respect of being fully informed of the position they are in at all times.
“The crew was on a science mission, nowhere near the International Space Station. They had no robotic arm to look at the wing, no way to repair the wing if they had damage, and it would take much too long to send up another space shuttle to rescue the crew.”
They got most of it right, except at the end. They had a Shuttle on the pad, almost ready to fly. They had extended fuel tanks during the Columbia mission. They had all the water they needed. They could have hung out for a while until the other Shuttle was launched.
But they didn’t, because people played God there and concluded, without doing an assessment until after the accident. The assessment was later done and showed that a rescue Shuttle could have made it there in time, provided they figured out the damage in the first few days. All they needed to do was turn a DOD satellite to take pictures.
To busy making the mulsim feel good tour a success.
That was my first thought. What an absolute horror, to deny someone their chance to get right with God...
>>>>They might have thought of something to do...
I wait for your insight with bated breath......
Not being a smart arse, just wondering what other choices there could have been. Send the Russians up?<<<<<<
I’m not sure but I think their Progress-type supply ships are readily available and may be used for such a mission. It is a 3 ton robotic cargo craft, probably capable to dock STS and bring materials and instruments to fix a problem (if it was possible in these conditions). At the same time I think Progress is not capable to evacuate people and it could take a lot of time for Russians to deploy a manned Soyuz TMA ship which is still only a 3-seater.
As it is, in true government form, notice in this story that no additional names are given for those NASA administrators who kept saying "no" to the worried engineers. It's all "government passive" language.
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