NASA Recovers Columbia Cockpit Videotape

AP ^ | February 25, 2003 | MARCIA DUNN

[ambrose]

-- The board investigating the Columbia tragedy said Tuesday it wants to know more about a mysterious object that almost certainly fell off the shuttle and was flying alongside the spacecraft during its second day in orbit.

Calling Art Bell...

[Rightone]

I'm not saying that the video wasn't recovered, but how the heck did it survie the trauma of 12,000 mph rentry? Something doesn't sound quite right.

[Balding_Eagle]

How about the Black Box? Did that survive? Or, is it true that NASA didn't put a black box on the shuttle?

[Ciexyz]

Info bump.

[Int]

I'm not saying that the video wasn't recovered, but how the heck did it survie the trauma of 12,000 mph rentry? Something doesn't sound quite right.

I know what you're saying. It reminds of the hijacker's passport that was discovered intact after the plane he was on exploded and brought down the WTC.

[Az Joe]

Why didn't they make the whole shuttle out of the black box?

[AFreeBird]

'm not saying that the video wasn't recovered, but how the heck did it survie the trauma of 12,000 mph rentry? Something doesn't sound quite right.

How does a person get thrown from a really nasty and spectacularly violent car crash and survive, while everyone else in the car perishes? Who the hell knows, but it happens.

[RoughDobermann]

This ain't your standard VHS....

[Cold Heat]

Or, is it true that NASA didn't put a black box on the shuttle?

The entire shuttle is a black box. Hundreds of functions are monitored and transmitted via telemetry to the ground throughout the entire flight.

[Balding_Eagle]

I already knew that, but how did they save the telemetry 'sent' after contact was lost?

[Cold Heat]

32 seconds after verbal comm was lost, the shuttle was destroyed. No telemetry was needed to tell them that. They have the 32 seconds and that was released in it's entirety today.

[Lancey Howard]

Thirteen minutes of tape were preserved; the rest was burned. The tape ends four minutes after the shuttle's atmospheric entry, while the shuttle is still over the Pacific and flying normally....The board knew about the videotape for the past several days but did not discuss it at its weekly news conference Tuesday afternoon, the official said, because it wanted to give NASA time to show it to the astronauts' families

This is exactly the kind of thing that gets conspiracy theorists going. And I can't blame them.

[Cold Heat]

Other than the fact that the left wing was degraded, the last data showed the hydraulic reservoir was empty. This indicates the hydraulics were burned through in the left wing, but it does not say much about what we need to know about the initial cause or location of the left wing damage.

Earlier telemetry shows it started near or slightly ahead of the wheel well cover.

Video evidence shows foam striking that area.

That's about it!

[Cold Heat]

The tape only shows video of the crew in their seats. I would think the last minute of tape would show the same until the power failed.

So what.

[no-s]

how the heck did it survie the trauma of 12,000 mph rentry? Something doesn't sound quite right.

It didn't burn up, it broke up. There were quite a few papers, suitcases, etc recovered which are charred on the edges and intact otherwise. Quit it with the conspiracy hysteria. At least they're talking about it now, rather than hushing it all up as they did with Challenger.

Everyone knows, NASA has known for a long time, the shuttle is always within a few percent of disaster. Management tries to downplay the risks, provokes complacency. For the money we spend, these guys need to be going the extra mile on disaster insurance. If they didn't, heads should roll. But even if they do everything right, it can still catch up to them. Remember all the fires, blackouts, computer failure, collision etc happening on Mir? Those guys dodged a thousand bullets.

That's life on the frontier.

[Ramius]

How about the Black Box? Did that survive? Or, is it true that NASA didn't put a black box on the shuttle?

No, there's no "black box" on the shuttle. What they do have is very much more information in telemetry data than any airliner would ever have. What they have is actually better than a normal black box on an airplane.

A "black box" is designed to survive a crash at hundreds of MPH, not thousands of MPH. A regular aircraft CVR or FDR would not have survived the catastrophic destruction of the shuttle. An airplane lawn-darting into the ground is one thing, but a shuttle returning from orbit at Mach 18 is a whole different problem.

[Positive]

"I already knew that, but how did they save the telemetry 'sent' after contact was lost?"

The 32 seconds was the last part of telemetry that was sent. This particular telemetry was being sent up to a satellite as opposed to the telecom and other telemetry that was sent down to Houston. Also it was badly corrupted and only parts of its data were understood.

[weegee]

I think that one of the stewardess' pair of bound hands was found on a rooftop from the WTC explosion.

It is amazing that this tape survived the drop impact. I'm sure that it required a new case from the fire damage.

[Ichneumon]

I'm not saying that the video wasn't recovered, but how the heck did it survie the trauma of 12,000 mph rentry? Something doesn't sound quite right.

I'm sure it wouldn't have survived a solo re-entry, but keep in mind that the tape machine itself was probably deep inside the craft somewhere, and for most of the re-entry it was protected by the bulk of the airframe as it spent minutes coming apart layer by layer as it fell.