Replies

"If NASA believed there may have been a problem, then why didn't they have made a serious attempt to photograph its re-entry?"

This is what bothers me. The premeier space agency in the world is asking for hobbyists and amateurs to provide video and still photos of re-entry. WTF???

In any case, the crew should have been informed (they were afaik) and some sort of inspection should have been performed either by - remote camera, or EVA - _something_ - anything - other than playing roman candle over the western US and Texas. While no astronaut, I crewed thousands of hours on aircraft and when something ain't right, I was never afraid to speak out - sometimes forcefully - and it helped more than once.

"There's nothing they could have done about it, no repairs possible." - that's not good enough.

The premeier space agency in the world is asking for hobbyists and amateurs to provide video and still photos of re-entry. WTF???

Telespopic video should be SOP for all re-entrys, and yes....WTF?

I'm almost positive I have heard on several accounts, that the crew knew about the suspected debris hitting the left wing area, and had inspected the area. The astronauts ensured those down below that they did not think there was anything major to worry about.

The best possibile scenario after the Columbia was launched would have been to abort their trajectory toward orbit, and immeditely change course toward Africa.

I heard two former astronauts state this yesterday. Once they were in orbit, their choices were slim to none. They needed to reenter the earth's atmosphere at this stage in NASA's years of knowledge & development. This sounds almost unbelievable that more emergency procedures haven't been developed, but no matter, these 7 knew the risks and accepted the challenge.

And as I, myself, (and others) have stated...the astronauts apparently gave the go ahead after their own inspection of the problem. NASA is like a huge family, and I seriously doubt they held these 7 captive as some seem to imply.