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.

[Timesink]

At least this one DU Admin has some decency:

Skinner [ADMIN] (7281 posts) Feb-01-03, 10:57 AM (ET)

About the Shuttle Tragedy (EVERYONE PLEASE READ)

LAST EDITED ON Feb-01-03 AT 12:20 PM (ET)

We are all in shock about the terrible shuttle accident this morning. I still vividly remember the last one. Our hearts go out to the families of the astronauts, and to everyone across America and the world who is dealing with this tragedy.

I would like to make clear that at this point there is ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER to suggest that this was more than a tragic accident.

Sadly, some people will ignore the lack of evidence, and offer wild speculation about who might be responsible, or who might have a motive for making something like this happen. I don't think there's much we can do to completely squash this type of speculation. But I would like to make clear that THE FACTS DO NOT SUPPORT ANY SPECULATION ABOUT POSSIBLE FOUL PLAY. I hope that our members would be very careful not to offend others with their baseless speculation.

As many of you know, one of the astronauts was an Israeli. Sadly, some of our members may want to pin this on either side of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This is shameful speculation. Until there is credible evidence to suggest a connection, we would prefer that this horrible tragedy not turn into another venue to fight the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Furthermore, as much as I can't stand George W. Bush, there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that he is responsible for this tragedy. I'm not sure there is much we can do to squash this type of speculation. But I would like to make clear that the administrators of DU do not believe that Bush or anyone else was responsible for this tragedy.

I hope that we can all come together in this time of national crisis.

Skinner
DU Admin

(Please keep this thread kicked to the top of the GD forum. Thanks. Please note that the moderators have been instructed to delete the "kick" posts so this thread doesn't get too long.)

There's also this interesting thread: Freepers and DUers - let's try and pull together for once...? Of course, none of us can go over there, admit we're Freepers and commisserate w/o getting kicked off per normal DU rules, but at least someone had the thought. It should be noted.

[GunRunner]

The problem at DU is that the conspiracy theorists are the mainstream there. One of the first threads over there was warning people that this probably wasn't Bush's fault. The fact that they had to say that speaks volumes.

[The South Park Republican]

Yeah, but that one was pretty obvious. LOL!

(Speak up Freeper...I KNOW you're reading this...And I'm guessing you're banned with that user name over there anyway...No reason to keep it a secret any longer).

[Smile-n-Win]

This one: http://www.democraticunderground.com/duforum/DCForumID60/32823.html just WREAKS or a Freeper in deep cover. LOL!

LOL It does, doesn't it! But I'd bet there will be DUmmies voicing their agreement.

[No Truce With Kings]

No.

Not if you are an engineer it isn't.

[SCalGal]

My kids still remember my sweeping arm comiing over the seat back in a wide arc hitting anything in its path,,and I am a nice person.

My mother used a flyswatter.

[The South Park Republican]

I dunno. You took a good slapping.

But a lot of support too. The facts are obvious.

[kcvl]

Does anyone know where St. Augustine County, TX is? They are saying they are finding body parts. Please forgive the gruesome details but I am curious.

[txradioguy]

Not unless there is some new "Super" AAMRAM or something like it that's capable of hitting something going Mach 17.


Good try.

[coloradan]

Katty-wumpus is about 1.382 times the kilter of copacetic?

[The South Park Republican]

Naaa....It's locked.

[Man of the Right]

The Administration has made a political decision that the incident was an accident rather than terrorism. They put out the story within two hours of the flash.

[eno_]

It was largely intact at the time, which is hard for me to believe given the tremendous stress that would occur.

Just be careful with the math: Even if the shuttle is flying 25X faster than a jetliner, the atmosphere at 200K feet is a tiny fraction of the denisty at sea level. One could easily be off by an order of magnitude regarding stresses. Back of the envelope calculations tell me it is in fact plausible for the shuttle to get sideways and not be ripped to shreds immediately - long enough to be seen on video, anyway.

[quack]

Taken from Kennedy Space Center Online.http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/schedule/schedule.htm

Columbia (OV-102), the first of NASA's orbiter fleet, was delivered to Kennedy Space Center in March 1979. Columbia initiated the Space Shuttle flight program when it lifted off Pad A in the Launch Complex 39 area at KSC on April 12, 1981. It proved the operational concept of a winged, reusable spaceship by successfully completing the Orbital Flight Test Program - missions STS-1 through 4.

Other, more recent achievements for Columbia include the recovery of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite from orbit during mission STS-32 in January 1990 and the STS-40 Spacelab Life Sciences mission in June 1991 - the first manned Spacelab mission totally dedicated to human medical research.

Columbia is named after a small sailing vessel that operated out of Boston in 1792 and explored the mouth of the Columbia River. One of the first ships of the U.S. Navy to circumnavigate the globe was named Columbia. The command module for the Apollo 11 lunar mission was also named Columbia.

[Texas_Jarhead]

no missile

[OReilly]

Well to some extent putting Nelson on there makes sense. He has actually BEEN on the Columbia. His flight landed the week before the Challenger explosion. Who better to get in a pinch than someone who's been in the aircraft that just blew up?

Normally that would be a good GET... (and you will get your appropriate bonus). See me later for a more detailed explanation...

[Man of the Right]

I think the automated Russian supply module is called the Progress.

[bribriagain]

OK

[RummyChick]

They also said that about the plane incident that happened after 9/11 ...dont remember the flight number. I still believe that might have been terrorism.

[Man of the Right]

Probably aircap for Marine One's return from Camp David.