Columbia Discussion thread

Feb 1, 2003

[Admin Moderator]

'

On behalf of posters on Free Republic, I post this with deepest sympathy for the crew and their families.

Mission - sts107

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This is a continuation of the original thread.

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

ANY DU LINKS OR POSTS WILL BE REMOVED IMMEDIATELY. Keep them on the original thread.

[AshleyMontagu]

I already said I was done with this. But others keep responding to me, and I feel obligated to answer their questions (accusations?). I will try to refrain from anymore responses to this aspect of the tragedy. Regards.

[Lurking2Long]

Caption: A senile Dan Rather shown in his second childhood playing with a model of the space shuttle, which he insists is really a 1939 Chevrolet Sedan...

[asneditor]

So God talked to us by blowing up the space shuttle and killing astronauts?
YOU ARE SICK!!!!!!!!!

[kcvl]

Mr. Haviland got a email from his niece last night. He says that they are very proud of her. How very sad.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

It means we have a despicable bigot on this thread who can't seem to rise above it, even when people have tragically died. (Surprise, surprise.)

[Dog]

Thank you Doughty...

[ladyinred]

Our flag is up everyday also. Has been for several years. I am planning to lower it to half staff today in memory of our shuttle crew.

[ladysusan]

Military jets reported in the air over Nacadoches surveying the debris field. FOX 4 showing video of a piece of curved metal the size of the bed of a pick up truck.

[Arkinsaw]

I already said I was done with this.

---BTW, what does the N in NASA stand for?

Care to explain that one first before backing away?

[CyberAnt]

Yes, Carolina - I do so agree ...

Also ... Jim - having met you at FRIVA, thank you so much for this wonderful place to share our grief and our joys.

[rossusa]

I noticed that video too. Fox seems to want to show more of the break up and not the picture of the shuttle before something happened. Also you can notice on that video a piece falling off behind the shuttle.

[Ichneumon]

My guess would be a software error. 1000's of lines of code & at 200K the landing is under computer control.

I would consider that a likely possibility if this were one of the first shuttle flights, but the re-entry software has performed successfully scores (hundreds?) of times now.

[McGruff]

Columbia's history

NASA
Published Feb. 1, 2003	HIST02

Columbia (OV-102)

Background

Columbia, the oldest orbiter in the Shuttle fleet, is named after the Boston, Massachusetts based sloop captained by American Robert Gray. On May 11, 1792, Gray and his crew maneuvered the Columbia past the dangerous sandbar at the mouth of a river extending more than 1,000 miles through what is today south-eastern British Columbia, Canada, and the Washington-Oregon border. The river was later named after the ship. Gray also led Columbia and its crew on the first American circumnavigation of the globe, carrying a cargo of otter skins to Canton, China, and then returning to Boston.

Other sailing ships have further enhanced the luster of the name Columbia. The first U.S. Navy ship to circle the globe bore that title, as did the command module for Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission.

On a more directly patriotic note, "Columbia" is considered to be the feminine personification of the United States. The name is derived from that of another famous explorer, Christopher Columbus.

The spaceship Columbia has continued the pioneering legacy of its forebears, becoming the first Space Shuttle to fly into Earth orbit in 1981. Four sister ships joined the fleet over the next 10 years: Challenger, arriving in 1982 but destroyed four years later; Discovery, 1983; Atlantis, 1985; and Endeavour, built as a replacement for Challenger, 1991. A test vehicle, the Enterprise, was used for suborbital approach and landing tests and did not fly in space. The names of Columbia's sister ships each boast their own illustrious pedigree.

In the day-to-day world of Shuttle operations and processing, Space Shuttle orbiters go by a more prosaic designation. Columbia is commonly refered to as OV-102, for Orbiter Vehicle-102. Empty

[Darlin']

"But, in those minutes, a man next to him was just sitting there, motionless, with his head bowed over his keyboard.
My thought was, "That man is praying."

It is hard to imagine how heavy the weight of his knowledge must have been at that moment.

[DoctorMichael]

........those countries take a LOT more pride in the successes of their citizens than a "LOT" of our people do..........

Bump that.

[Dog]

Can we please get back on topic here...

[Chad Fairbanks]

She means, apparently, that the 'N' in NASA stands for 'National', hence we dont' need any dirty ignorant furriners in our space program... of course, I COULD be reading too much into it...

[Ichneumon]

I keep wondering whether she was piloting.

She was not piloting.

[Arkinsaw]

It means we have a despicable bigot on this thread who can't seem to rise above it, even when people have tragically died. (Surprise, surprise.)

The trash has been carted out to the curb it appears.