[bd476]

This is a fascinating story. It was a miracle that Shuttle Atlantis carrying the five man crew including five time Shuttle Astronaut and Veteran Top Gun Navy Pilot Commander Robert "Hoot" Gibson, Viet Nam Air Force pilot Mike Mullane, pilot Guy Gardner, Jerry Ross and William Shepherd, survived re-entry considering the amount of damage to the heat tiles and melted metal. It also demonstrates how much technology has advanced from 20 years ago.

The limited communication between NASA and the Shuttle imposed by the top secret status of the mission added to the already incredibly dangerous situation. There had been over 700 heat tiles damaged when insulation broke off a solid fuel booster during launch December 2, 1988.

Commander Gibson would tell NASA about the amount of damage the Shuttle crew had viewed on their video yet ground control would only see a grainy encrypted version of the same video. From that grainy video NASA then attributed shadows and poor lighting to what Gibson and crew had viewed as extensive damage to the heat tiles. Yet NASA ground crews didn't share with the Shuttle Crew the faulty conclusions NASA had derived from the poor quality video, probably due to the top secret status of the mission.

Here's the link to the referenced book written by Astronaut Mike Mullane on his life as an astronaut. Mike Mullane was an Air Force Pilot who flew 134 missions in Viet Nam. After reading the reviews, his book goes on my "Hurry, Must Read This" list.

Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut (Hardcover)

by Mike Mullane (Author)

Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut

[null and void]

YIKES!

[Riley]

I have Mullane’s book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I bought it at KSC, and just missed meeting him and asking him to sign it, last may when I was down in the Orlando area.

[dennisw]

These tiles are super hi tech ceramics of some kind?

[KevinDavis]

[BOBTHENAILER]

Great post.

[Vaquero]

Hoot is a home boy and graduated HS 2 years before I did, 1 town over from me.

then he went to the same 2 year community college and left the year before I started.....

He is TOP GUN.

[Danae]

That looks a LOT like “The Right Stuff” What I read of it makes me want to read more, looks like a great book!

[happinesswithoutpeace]

/mark

[BerryDingle]

Don’t underestimate the ignorance of NASA, they’re trying to sell us global warming right now.

[NonValueAdded]

Did’ja all catch that they knew the instrumentation signature of burn-through and “that is one of the things we always watched on re-entry anyhow.”

[XBob]

good catch bd. I saw this one close up, but it was not the closest safe landing nearly resulting in disaster, there was one worse that I saw.

[YOUGOTIT]

While the debris investigation went on and the thermal protection material for the forward skirt, frustum, nose cap and aft skirt were changed on the next flight (March 13, 1989, STS - 29R), (new material that never again came off, that had been in work for over three years because of the inability of the old material, that caused damage to many of the heat tiles (on STS - 28R), to stay on, it was thought by the engineers at the time it came off due to impact with the ocean and not during flight), the people refused (although several individuals stated it was a problem and should be fixed), at that time, to believe that the thermal protection material of the fuel tank, due to its weightless nature, also caused damage and was a danger.

[sefarkas]

It seems that the location of the tile failures is significant. In spite of the graphic description of damage and the hyperbole of the story, the engineers were correct and Atlantis landed as expected.

[TXnMA]

I have seen a dramatic photo of a 3" cube of tile material that was heated red hot in the center, and it was being held by opposite corners betwen a man's thumb and middle finger -- and the interior was still visibly glowing red hot.

This is the closest thing I could find via a quick search:

[anymouse]

I wonder how this crew sleeps at night, knowing that if they had spoke up louder after their close call, that their fellow astronauts, the Columbia crew would still be alive today?

Even if it was a highly secret military mission, there were channels for providing this crucial mission safety info. back to shuttle engineering and mission operations, so they could take corrective action for future missions. It wouldn't necessarily have prevented a future catastrophic incident, but shutting up about a clear mission safety issue should never be acceptable.

But sadly I am all too aware of the tyranny at NASA that would keep this crew from passing on this safety info. even to fellow astronauts. And guess what, George Abby, that tyrant of NASA JSC at that time is now advising Obama on space policy. So look for more fear and loathing at NASA.

[SunkenCiv]

Robert "Hoot" Gibson

He was always more popular than his flatulent colleague, Paul "Toot" Mifinger.