Posted on 03/09/2003 7:32:03 PM PST by TGIAO
CBS NEWS STATUS REPORT
06:00 p.m., 03/09/03, Update: Updated telemetry timeline shows shuttle on autopilot through last transmission Ongoing analysis of the final two seconds of telemetry from the shuttle Columbia during re-entry Feb. 1 shows the doomed ship's fuselage, crew module, right wing and right-side rocket pod were essentially intact 32 seconds after the commander's final transmission and that the orbiter's digital autopilot was still flying the spacecraft. A computer alarm generated in that final two seconds of data suggests one of the pilots' joystick hand controllers may have been briefly engaged, but the autopilot was never deactivated before contact was lost. By that point, however, there was nothing the crew could have done to stop the quickening disaster. The telemetry shows Columbia's left wing and left-side orbital maneuvering system rocket pod were either gone or severely damaged, the ship's hydraulic system was empty, its flash evaporator cooling system was in shut down and multiple computer alarms were being generated because of lost data from the orbiter's left side orbital maneuvering system rocket pod.
Guidance and navigation data show the shuttle was in an "uncommanded" orientation, yawing rapidly to one side, presumably toward Earth, in what may have been the start of a banking tumble. The yaw rate - a measure of how fast Columbia's nose was swinging to one side - was at least 20 degrees per second, the maximum value the sensors are designed to measure. The actual yaw rate may have been higher.
(Excerpt) Read more at spaceflightnow.com ...
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