Shuttle Contact LOST-No Tracking Data During RE-Entry!

Nasa TV | 02/01/03 | GRRRR

[GRRRRR]

Shuttle has NOT been heard from or seen on tracking radar since 0800Hrs CDT. No contact at Merrit Island tracking station, no voice comm...DEVELOPING.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

There's no way humans can be "saved" at 200,000 miles high.

Obviously. Since that distance is close to the orbit of the Moon. You meant 200,000 feet perhaps?

[sobieski]

"On to Vienna" (Metaphorically speaking)

[Teacher317]

How'd they get a tape that quickly? I'd be VERY skeptical of that one. Just like the idiots who speculated that the chase planes were too close, when they don't fly within 150,000 ft of that altitude.

[bonesmccoy]

Snopercod...looks like we have a possible scenario from putting together press reports.

If the impact on launch hit the gear doors, you could lose the gear door latching mechanisms due to tile damage. If the vehicle loses enough TPS, you could compromise the frame underneath.

The shuttle TPS system has several layers, but if the layers were compromised prior to entry interface, you could get a slow melt of the airframe and the loss of integrity that engineers have always feared with the vehicle.

[jimbo123]

Another radar view of the debris trail...

[The South Park Republican]

This thread is already over 1000. Seriously, if you don't like my posts, don't you think you are bringing MORE attention to them with your pestering?

[snopercod]

The tire pressure data is not readily available to the crew, IIRC - only on...what was it...Spec 60 or something. Don't know if they would get an SM alert - probably would, but I think that Houston would monitor that stuff for them and advise.

It's hard to imagine how a MLG door could open without a mechanical failure of some kind. The overcenter lock is hydrauliclly operated, with pyro backup.

I just heard that this was Columbia's first flight after OMDP. I don't know if that's true, and if so, whether the OMDP was done at Palmdale or KSC.

All I know is that every time an orbiter came back from OMDP at Palmdale, it was totally trashed by those pot-smoking derelicts out there. There were always well over 1,000 IPR's taken on the damage when an orbiter arrived back home. (Yes KSC is their home, not Palmdale.)

[jude24]

I seem to remember reading that eighteen tiles being dislodged on the Columbia's maiden flight.

Would it be more accurate to say that it only takes the right tile?

[whipitgood]

Just walked back in from flying my flag. It doesn't have a half mast setting but I am flying it today anyway.

[leadpenny]

Good morning Howlin. Peace.

[Arkinsaw]

DU links will be allowed on this thread, but this thread only. May the world see what kind of animals DUers are.

I fail to understand why we want to see animals on a thread about lost heroes. I would prefer that the links be allowed on any OTHER thread than this one.

[hole_n_one]

NBC saying that Nasa computers detected a "heat spike" within the same path as the shuttle.

"heat spikes", according Jim Msomethinganother are commenly present during missle launches.

??

[Tommyjo]

"The Shuttle had its first Israeli pilot on this mission, Ilan Ramon, 48. There is no indication that terrorism was involved in this tragedy.

Why the hell would they even mention that? Are they trying to imply he sabatoged the mission and killed himself and the other astronauts? Whoever wrote that needs to sober up before releasing a news story. This is already enough of a tradegy without injecting nonsense such at that into it. They are virtually suggesting that the dead pilot was a terrorist murderer"

No you have picked this up wrong. Because there was an Israeli onboard the security was tight in case terrorists planned to target Columbia either on the launchpad or immediately before/after landing. Ilan Ramon was one of the Israeli pilots who flew on the 1981 raid on Iraq to bomb the nulclear plant before it went on-line.

[Howlin]

If you're so interested in DU, why are you here?

[Smile-n-Win]

I cannot understand why anybody would even CARE to read what those creeps say anytime, much less now.

Right now, I'm not in the mood to look at their filth, either. I think it's a good thing to expose them, though.

To sum them up in a nutshell, they're trying to find ways to use the tragedy for political advantage.

[Godebert]

Fascinating. It appears from that radar image that some of the debris will land near Ft. Polk, Louisianna, to the Southwest of Alexandria.

[cajungirl]

You all, go to the thread on the shuttle that was put up about its landing,,a couple of freepers were looking for it and saw it exulting in how good it looked. One of them must have been one of the last people to see it,,he was in Texas and was commenting on it,,it is chilling to read, I know they must be in shock.

[Archangelsk]

The left wing was damaged during launch by a piece of insulation foam that detached from the main fuel tank.

Was this previously reported? or just now being speculated?

I am, like all others here, struck with sadness and sickness over this. Willie McCool was in my company at the Naval Academy. This very likely marks the end of the Shuttle program and certainly will ground US manned space for the next several years. Spacestation construction is done, and without yet another expensive redesign, likely signals the end of further work on that program as well.

For those of us who have worked in the space business, for those who know any of the crew members, fellow astronauts, or their friends and families, and for anyone who has ever been inspired by the US manned space program, this is a terrible day. I can only hope we have the national fortitude to recover from this and develop a follow on program that will be properly funded and maintained to provide safe access to space in the future.

Rick Hauck, the commander of the first shuttle mission after the Challenger disaster, is on MSNBC right now. He is speculating on two theories. What is interesting is the order of his speculation. The first one is not the loss of tiles, but the pitch attitude (40 degrees) on reentry and a possible loss of stable longitudinal control. He further stated that this is controlled and stabilized by small reentry rockets which line the shuttle up in the correct attitude. Unless I miss my guess, this is not a manual input from the pilot, but is done automatically by the onboard systems. I am quite sure that the code will be looked at during the investigation.