[Maedhros]

Does anyone know if they give the astronauts parachutes?

[VadeRetro]

Does anyone know if they give the astronauts parachutes?

At Mach 15 and 200,000 feet, your ship coming apart, no parachute is going to help.

[mombonn]

Hate to say it, but cnn has better coverage than fox.

[ThinkingMan]

multipe contrails on the tv on CNN prayer for the astronauts and their families

[glock rocks]

they have chutes... not really helpful at six times the speed of sound and 40 miles up.

[WilliamWallace1999]

At the time of the breakup they are at Mach 6 and 200,000 feet. No way to survive.

[Thane_Banquo]

Does anyone know if they give the astronauts parachutes?

Wouldn't make much sense at that altitude and speed. Even if you could survive the lack of oxygen (assuming an oxygen tank), you'd still be bailing out at 3 times the speed of sound.

[bonesmccoy]

Yes they do have chutes...but there is no way the chutes could be used at 12,000 mph.

[Riley]

<< Does anyone know if they give the astronauts parachutes?


They do, but a NASA interviewee said that they were too high to use the escape system.

[Tommyjo]

"Does anyone know if they give the astronauts parachutes?"

Yes. The following in compiled from several websites:

"NASA added the shuttle bailout system after the 1986 Challenger accident, which killed seven astronauts. Engineers also designed a partially pressurized flight suit for astronauts to wear during launch and landing that is equipped with an air supply, parachute, life preserver, survival gear and a backpack with an inflatable life raft.

None of the gear, however, would be of any use unless the crew successfully escaped from the shuttle's cabin, a feat that would only be possible in the unlikely scenario that the shuttle's wings were level and it was in a controlled flight.

The first four Space Shuttle flights were equipped with ejection seats, similar to those on SR-71, for the commander and pilot (the only two crew on board for STS-1 thru STS-4). The ejection envelope was good to 100,000 feet. This photo shows STS-1 crew John Young and Bob Crippen in suits identical to those used by SR-71 pilots. The ejection seats take up a considerable amount of room on the upper flight deck.


The bailout sequence begins with the orbiter in a autopilot glide. Crew depressurizes the cabin to equalize the outside pressure and pyrotechnically jettison the hatch. A long escape pole is quickly deployed out the hatch. One by one, each crew member attaches a lanyard hook which is connected to his or her parachute harness to the escape pole and jumps out the door. Attached to the escape pole, the crew member slides down the pole and off the end. The escape pole provides a trajectory that takes the crew members below the orbiter's left wing. An automatic activation device deploys the parachute canopy.

A typical exit altitude begins at about 30,000 to 20,000 feet. Spacesuits provide protection against sudden cabin depressurization since the normal orbiter cabin pressure is at sea level pressure. For emergency bailout, the astronauts will not have time to do a proper pre-breath like skydivers jumping from 30,000 feet. Also, the suit provides protection against the highspeed air blast while exiting the orbiter and extreme exposure protection if landing in frigid North Atlantic waters. This crew escape system cannot be used during ascent (main engines and SRBs burning)."

Ronald Reagan, addressing NASA employees following the tragic loss of the Challenger 7 crew on STS-51L, used part of a famous poem in a well-remembered line:

"We shall never forget them nor the last time we saw them, as they prepared for their mission and waved good-bye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God."


In honour of these lost souls onboard Columbia:


Hight Flight by WWII Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr
Royal Canadian Air Force.


Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr