Posted on 06/12/2007 4:48:53 PM PDT by XBob
Space Shuttle's Left Wing May Be Damaged Meteorite, Space Junk May Have Struck Panels
POSTED: 5:13 pm EDT June 12, 2007 UPDATED: 7:00 pm EDT June 12, 2007 Email This Story | Print This Story Sign Up for Breaking News Alerts WASHINGTON -- A meteorite or space junk may have struck Space Shuttle Atlantis' left wing, according to NBC News space correspondent Jay Barbree.
NASA recorded a hit on reinforced carbon panels 7 and 8 on the left wing. The panels keep heat from re-entry from burning the spacecraft.
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This is the same area where foam damaged Columbia's left wing and caused it to break up, killing its crew on Feb. 1, 2003.
The liberals whine about “how many people could we help with this money?” Both arguments are kind of naive, considering how small NASA’s budget is compared to pretty much anything else the government does, and how big of a payoff we’ve gotten from the space program over the decades it’s been active.
$15 billion really is pocket change in government terms.
Roger that.
We can send lots of exploring drones up there without the risk to human life.
The cowards never started, and the weak died along the way.
“Every commercial flight you make has people and cargo on board. Much of the profit is in the cargo...sometimes all of it.”
Uh, what? Who’s talking about airplanes? Are you reading, or just posting at random?
Ping to those on the “almost live-thread”.
How can the shuttle be an overly expensive diversion from the ISS when the shuttle was used to haul the biggest parts of it up there? :P
Nope. The Shuttle was reusable. But it wasn't intended to be reused this long.
I *worked* on that project, seeing its models fly in wind tunnels before I reached the age of majority. Last Sunday I took my first "senior citizen" discount... and the Shuttle's replacement is hardly even on the drawing boards????
Automobiles that were new when I was on the project are considered antiques or classics. You don't see any on the road but the ones that have been restored.
NASA's bureaucracy is riding it into the ground, sucking up the money.
Throwing them hither and yon to get a close look at pretty moons circling Saturn, Uranus and whatever is not. Many of those unmanned missions cost Billions.
“Hippie freaks (all Liberals) love spending other people’s money.”
If you were around at the time, you would know that my statement is correct.
“Please lay out your cost benefit analysis. As a starting point, use the cost per occupant of the International Space Station.”
You were the one who said it wasn’t worth it. Let’s see yours.
Just saying it makes sense from a cost standpoint to mix cargo and people on the same launch vehicle at times.
We don't know if anything is even broken
ping
I have confidence in our engineers and technicians. They will find a way to repair it and get our boys home safe.
God bless out astronauts.
Astronauts will be staying at the space station I guess.
A few hours after the disaster, this speech was delivered to the American people via nationwide radio and television.
648 words
Ladies and gentlemen, I’d planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.
Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we’ve never lost an astronaut in flight; we’ve never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we’ve forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.
For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we’re thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, “Give me a challenge and I’ll meet it with joy.” They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.
We’ve grown used to wonders in this century. It’s hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We’ve grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we’ve only just begun. We’re still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
And I want to say something to the school children of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle’s takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them.
I’ve always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don’t hide our space program. We don’t keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That’s the way freedom is, and we wouldn’t change it for a minute. We’ll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.
I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: “Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it.”
There’s a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, “He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.” Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake’s, complete.
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”
48 - “Nothing to see here move along folks...non-event!!!
Minor scratch is all....”
aLLRIGHT NOW SUPERMAN, JUST WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR INFORMATION? DID YOU FLY UP THERE IN YOUR SUPER SUIT AND USE YOUR X-RAY VISION?
JUST WHAT ARE YOUR QUAOLIFICATIONS AND SOURCES TO EVEN OPEN YOUR MOUTH???
I’m watching my teevee piping stuff into my living room by little birdies just floating around up there, and it costs me maybe 40 bucks a month.
Not one taxpayer dollar paid for those birdies.
I could be wrong, but I haven’t noticed any pieces of the ISS that could not have been designed in smaller pieces, to be launched by rocket, and assembled on site.
Funny, I could use the same adjectives to describe people like you.
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