Columbia Discussion thread

Feb 1, 2003

[mombonn]

Bad weather, said it wasn't safe to helicopter.

[just mimi]

Not only that -- but with all this falling debris, I would hope that they would ground all flights in those three states.

[Arkinsaw]

Yes, I know there were legit experiments going on with the mission. It is just that both of our losses with the shuttle program were on missions where we were trying to do a "first".

Agreed. I'm sure there are plenty of American specialists who could have performed the experiments that the Israeli astronaut performed. But it was a political decision to send an Israeli. Fine if all goes well. But now that it hasn't you have tied world and Middle-Eastern politics into this tragedy and that is not ever needed.

US spacecraft should only have professionally trained US astronauts on board. The International Space Station is essentially tied to the US Space Shuttle and thats something else we don't need.

[EternalVigilance]

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058

Biographical Data

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WILLIAM C. MCCOOL (COMMANDER, USN) NASA ASTRONAUT

PERSONAL DATA: Born September 23, 1961 in San Diego, California. Married. He enjoys running, mountain biking, back country hiking/camping, swimming, playing guitar, chess.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Coronado High School, Lubbock, Texas, in 1979; received a bachelor of science degree in applied science from the US Naval Academy in 1983, a master of science degree in computer science from the University of Maryland in 1985, and a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the US Naval Postgraduate School in 1992.

ORGANIZATIONS: U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association.

SPECIAL HONORS: Eagle Scout; graduated second of 1,083 in the Class of 1983 at the US Naval Academy; presented “Outstanding Student” and “Best DT-II Thesis” awards as graduate of U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Class 101; awarded Navy Commendation Medals (2), Navy Achievement Medals (2), and various other service awards.

EXPERIENCE: McCool completed flight training in August 1986 and was assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 129 at Whidbey Island, Washington, for initial EA-6B Prowler training. His first operational tour was with Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 133, where he made two deployments aboard USS CORAL SEA (CV-43) to the Mediterranean Sea, and received designation as a wing qualified landing signal officer (LSO). In November 1989, he was selected for the Naval Postgraduate School/Test Pilot School (TPS) Cooperative Education Program. After graduating from TPS in June 1992, he worked as TA-4J and EA-6B test pilot in Flight Systems Department of Strike Aircraft Test Directorate at Patuxent River, Maryland. He was responsible for the management and conduct of a wide variety of projects, ranging from airframe fatigue life studies to numerous avionics upgrades. His primary efforts, however, were dedicated to flight test of the Advanced Capability (ADVCAP) EA-6B. Following his Patuxent River tour, McCool returned to Whidbey Island, and was assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 132 aboard USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65). He served as Administrative and Operations Officer with the squadron through their work-up cycle, receiving notice of NASA selection while embarked on ENTERPRISE for her final pre-deployment at-sea period.

McCool has over 2,800 hours flight experience in 24 aircraft and over 400 carrier arrestments.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in April 1996, McCool reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. He completed two years of training and evaluation, and is qualified for flight assignment as a pilot. Initially assigned to the Computer Support Branch, McCool also served as Technical Assistant to the Director of Flight Crew Operations, and worked Shuttle cockpit upgrade issues for the Astronaut Office. He is assigned as pilot on STS-107 scheduled for launch in 2003.

JANUARY 2003

[rintense]

I said the same thing earlier about the dancing fools in Palestine. Look at who was on board: evil Americans, a Jew (who helped bomb an Iraqi nuclear facility), and woman born in India who became and American...

[bootless]

The flag is at half staff at the Capitol.

[socal_parrot]

As it happened-

Space Shuttle Columbia Will Be Visible In San Francisco Area (6AM Pacific)

Post #21- "little commo problem right now."

[areafiftyone]

I heard that. A brave soldier!

[steveegg]

Highly doubtful. The only anti-air missile that may have been able to reach up to 200,000 feet is Russia's anti-ballistic missile, which is deployed in fixed sites around Moscow. Morever, that missile is nuclear-tipped.

[Howlin]

Haha.......I just posted that to you!

[rintense]

Dan Rather lost it long ago.

[Friend of thunder]

You know that there are Palestinians dancing in the streets over this--death of an Israeli astronaut--like there were after 9/11. The media is VERY CAREFULLY avoiding showing us ANY reaction in the Arab world and I can't help but be certain they are jubilant. Do you have proof of this, or is it just speculation?

[glock rocks]

Associated Press

NASA security personnel lower the space shuttle Columbia flag from the flagpole at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., after Columbia apparently broke up over Texas, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

[Mamzelle]

For this to be terrorism, our enemy would have to have a lot more sophisticated technology than box cutters. They'd have to have the ability to put a "bullet" 250K high, in which case we'd have to see them coming.

[Dog]

Afternoon everyone.....:-(

[Arkinsaw]

From the radar trail, I could understand Texas and New Mexico, but Arkansas seems far out of the path. I suppose anything is possible, though, with debris travelling 12,000 mph.

The smaller debris will be coming down for hours. Its all drifting southeast it looks like. But that high up you could have it blowing anywhere. Does anybody have a map of the jet stream and its altitude? Jet stream could have picked some of it up and shoved it north.

[Dog Gone]

I'm concerned about the astronauts up in the space station. We can't leave them there indefinitely, nor can we abandon the facility.

[Dr. Zoo]

I want to know what the last communication with the shuttle was. Did they know they were in trouble?

Naturally they record all communications, so they do have what was last said back and forth. I sincerely doubt they will release that information in the near future.

I have a friend who is retired from NASA, I started interviewing him earlier this year.

I am going to try to get together with him soon again. He has a lot of interesting stories about the stress factor that exists at NASA.

[rintense]

Thank YOU!!!!! I've been saying this all morning!!! The shuttle re-entered sideways, then breaks up. In that zoom of the rear of the shuttle, you can see a piece of debris fly off to the right, then the camera zooms out, and the shuttle starts coming apart. To me, that video is the most detailed as to what happened.

[Darlin']

Thank you for the ping. This is so awful.