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.

[sweetliberty]

[sweetliberty]

Hehehehe..

[MeekOneGOP]

Very nice series of pics. Thanks so much...

[sweetliberty]

Aren't those great? Here's another...something a little different.

[ALS]

ConservaBabes Columbia Tribute

[nicmarlo]

Evening sweetliberty; I've seen a couple that you posted, but not all....thanks for posting them here; I especially liked the one where there are angels on a cloud telling Columbia they're clear to land.

[bonesmccoy]

I apologize. I got reversed in my comment.
You are correct. The sun clearly rises in the East and sets in the West. Relative to the ground, the vehicle is rolling under the flight from west to east. Since the vehicle is flying W to E and the Earth is rotating WITH the vehicle, it adds additional relative velocity like a toss from a moving car in the direction of the car's travel, rather than against the direction of the car (where you would need additional delta V to achieve orbit).

This point is important when considering launches into polar orbit from Vandenberg AFB in California.

Thanks.

[bonesmccoy]

Jim,

You may be correct regarding the inability of less intellectual Americans to handle difficult losses. Liberals often have these weaknesses.

Conservatives also feel the pain of loss but we do not become dysfunction from our suffering. Indeed, most conservatives view these challenges as an opportunity for growth and development.

The US needs to refine our national space policy.

This is our opportunity to recast space policy by reforming NASA, DOD, Commerce, and Transportation.

I agree that 43 is a blessing.

I pray from him each day and night.

It's been a very long time since I could say that.

During 42 I was praying that I would survive and that he would get out. During 43 I am praying that the President will continue to be strong to help us survive.

[bonesmccoy]

I totally agree. I have felt that way for the last three days.

Some of the local affiliate news anchors have been totally ignorant and have shown disrespect to the program's participants.

[bonesmccoy]

they looked at doing a sprayable foam filler. The idea was to use an EVA to gap fill. But, the idea was tabled for some reason. I can't recall why it was tabled.

[snopercod]

I can't recall why it was tabled.

1. There is no way for an astronaut to reach the underside of the shuttle - no handholds. (They could revive the MMU, of course.)

2. They couldn't find a foam, caulk, or any other material that would work in the vacuum of space. (I'm not sure they tried hard enough.)

3. Also, each tile is custom made to fit in a certain place on the shuttle, so stop all this talk of carrying "spare tiles" - you would have to fill the entire cargo bay with spare tiles to have enough.

I can't recall who questioned me on the mechanics of the landing gear, but I looked at the drawings and here it is:

• The MAIN gear are held up by an uplock hook, which is released by hydraulic pressure when the "Dn" button is pressed in the cockpit.

• If the uplock does not release within one second, the pyro backup uplock release fires.

• The gear is lowered by a hydraulic extend/retract actuator, assisted by gravity and the wind.

• There is an "overcenter bungee" to keep the gear down-locked should hydraulic pressure be lost. Think of it as a gas-strut like on the hatchback of an SUV.

• The three door hooks are released mechanically by push-rods which are connected to the uplock release. There is a "door spring booster assembly" in the linkage mechanism to help snap the door hooks open.

The NOSE landing gear is similar, but has a backup pyro strut extender as well as backup pyro uplock release.

[prisoner6sson]

I think that maybe( actually i have numerous theories) when the shuttle came in for landing, that if there WAS a peice lost in space, then they would leak oxygen. Coming in with a wing that was damaged at takeoff made it difficult to steer the ship, which caused the extremely tight banks. after the ship started to break apart and disintigrate, a chunk flipped and hit the engine(s) and cause an even bigger explosion, which at this point the astronauts would be dead,disntigrated, whatever you want to call it, which at people being reporting seeing body parts the glass form the windsheild shatterd and went through the cabin and cut them all up. ( just telling what I think happened here) When knowing that they couldn't use parachutes, even though being smart they would equip them just incase, because they are moving so fast the parachute would rip totaly imidiately. then the shuttle exploded and parts could have landed as far as from the pacific ocean, to the gulf of mexico.

prisoner6sson

[mwyounce]

Bump to remember the Challenger 7, lost on this day in 1986 and the Columbia 7, lost on February 1, 2003.

It's almost haunting to read the first few posts from this thread, as we all realized the tragedy that had just happened. Just as the WTC threads did, this is a snapshot of a tragic moment in American history.

"They slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God"
--President Ronald Reagan, January 28, 1986.

[GRRRRR]

Anniversary Bump, I hope we get back up there soon...

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