Shuttle Contact LOST-No Tracking Data During RE-Entry!

Nasa TV | 02/01/03 | GRRRR

[GRRRRR]

Shuttle has NOT been heard from or seen on tracking radar since 0800Hrs CDT. No contact at Merrit Island tracking station, no voice comm...DEVELOPING.

[txradioguy]

1999 - Columbia's launch was delayed by a hydrogen leak and Discovery was grounded with damaged wiring, contaminated engine and dented fuel line;

· January 2000 - Endeavor was delayed because of wiring and computer failures;

· August 2000 - inspection of Columbia revealed 3,500 defects in wiring;

· October 2000 - the 100th flight of the shuttle was delayed because of a misplaced safety pin and concerns with the external tank;

· April 2002 - a hydrogen leak forced the cancellation of the Atlantis flight;

· July 2002 - the inspector general reported that the shuttle safety programme was not properly managed;

· August 2002 - the shuttle launch system was grounded after fuel line cracks were discovered.



As "perfect" as everything has to be in order for these aircraft to work properly. It just boggles my mind that they'd try to run shuttle missions on the least amount of money as possible.

[Northern Yankee]

Oh My God...

That helmet just took my breath away.

Incredibly sad.

[bribriagain]

This really begs the issue of risk vs reward. My gosh, how can we ever turn back, Freepers?

[SCalGal]

Marker....

[185JHP]

Tks.

[TankerKC]

Whos is this Nelson guy anyway. Is he the one I saw on Fox totally misusing reliability statistics? As if he could predict the exact flight that would crash.

[Man of the Right]

It will be billions of years before the sun consumes the earth.

Given human aggression, the Islamofascist ideology, WMD proliferation and the declining barriers to accessing these weapons (technology, cost), in your opinion, how long will it be before the following occurs?
1. A WMD attack on a U.S. metro area
2. WMD attacks become routine in the U.S.
3. U.S. civilization is destroyed
4. The human race self-immolates

[bribriagain]

1. A WMD attack on a U.S. metro area

That's your call 2. WMD attacks become routine in the U.S.

see no. 1 3. U.S. civilization is destroyed

? 4. The human race self-immolates

?

[Man of the Right]

I don't think it will be 8 billion years, which is when the sun is expected to consume the earth.

[George W. Bush]

CBS News on radio: four confirmed recoveries of human remains.

Lord, let them find the rest. I'd like to send the Israeli home unless they prefer that he be buried here with the rest of our crew.

Did anyone else notice the mention in the official statement from Israel around noon that, as sad as today was, that Israel looked forward to more manned space flights with Israeli astronauts? Good for them. We need a little of that same spirit. And it was a gracious and kind thing for them to say to us as well.

[wasp69]

I know what you mean in regards to spinning. But you gotta remember that the video clip on the website is slowed down. The actual was maybe a second and a half to two seconds. Take a look at post 171 (I think) and it will take you to a thread discussing NASA talking about watching the tail section fall away. The reason I believe that it is the tail section is because of the there/not there appearance of a large flat object tumbling through the air. Also, if you look at it and look at the object, it appears to be proportional to the size of what many of us believe to be the shuttle.

My theory is that once that the wiring harnesses may have been burned through, the elevators (flaps) on the left wing failed and flopped in the wind creating less drag and causing the shuttle to yaw. Once it was pushed to the right, it lost attitude and the tail sheared off. I believe had the shuttle not come apart under the stress of being perpendicular to the air flow, it would have spun on it's horizontal axis until the air pushed it over and it tumbled.

I'm not trying to sell you on any one particular thing, but I do believe that the shuttle was coming down sideways and they lost comms with NASA several seconds before they came apart.

[B-Chan]

Thanks. Yes, I painted it this morning. It was the only thing I could do.

Please feel free to copy it to your hard disk and use it.

[Chemist_Geek]

Eternal Father, King of birth,
Who didst create the heaven and earth,
And bid the planets and the sun
Their own appointed orbits run;
O hear us when we seek thy grace
For those who soar through outer space.

[manna]

Interesting article. Thanks for posting.

[yoe]

Thanks, I am truly relieved, I did not know we had more than two. I hope they are newer than the Columbia. By the way to ALL FREEPERS here is NASA's site for sending commets.
http://www.spaceref.com/feedback.html?op=shuttle

[prisoner6]

We need a little of that same spirit

Some one elase posted it earlier on this thread but I'll say it again...

GET BACK ON THE HORSE!

What we DON'T need is to wait two and a half years like we did after Challanger.

Sadly with the war and the economy I don't see how we can afford an agressive, government funded manned space program.

prisoner6

[manna]

Thanks for the ping.

[nicollo]

lol! Good for you!

[P.O.E.]

"He mourns that day so soon has glided by:
E'en like the passage of an angel's tear
That falls through the clear ether silently"

- John Keats

[abner]

Thanks for the ping. We just rolled in from CPAC. What a horrible tragedy, we heard about it this morning when we were getting ready to go back to CPAC.