NASA Press Conference Thread

[ksen]

NASA Press conference any minute now....

[Tree of Liberty]

The NASA rep went on to say that they don't have the capability to walk to the underside of the craft.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

mewzilla, totally agreed. This "well we couldnt fix it so why bother" line of responses is not helping this guy.

Sounds to me like he is feeling very guilty. His evasive responses, and broken logic is telling.

Does he really expect us to believe that they couldn't go out and look at the wing? Good grief.

I wonder, did the shuttle crew even get informed that a massive piece of insulation had broken off the launch tank and struck the left wing leading-edge?

[mewzilla]

Well, we don't know, we, though I suspect the EVA would have ment losing stuff in the cargo bay since I think that was the only way to go out. Plus the robotic arm was not on board, so that would have made getting to the area difficult supposedly. But the point is NASA obviously didn't even consider the possibility an EVA could be needed for a damage assessment, or that a visual assessment might be useful. Very farsighted of them, wasn't it? NOT.

[Tree of Liberty]

You are incorrect. After the NASA rep said there was no means of doing repairs, the journalist then asked about just inspecting for damage. The NASA rep then said they cannot walk to the underside of the vehicle.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

TOL, what I heard him say was that they didnt have the ability to space-walk under the ship AND REPAIR TILES.

That was totally non-responsive to the question.

Did Nasa consider a space-walk? He never said yes or no. I don't care if they can repair tiles or not. What I do care about is whether or not they adequately investigated the damage potentially caused during launch.

Does this guy think we are going to believe that the shuttle crew does not have the ability to put on a space-suit, and walk out to the wing to look at it?

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

Tree of Liberty writes
"You are incorrect. After the NASA rep said there was no means of doing repairs, the journalist then asked about just inspecting for damage. The NASA rep then said they cannot walk to the underside of the vehicle."


Do you believe him?

And by the way, the debris during launch struck the LEADING EDGE OF THE LEFT WING. Not the underside of the shuttle.

[Cboldt]

I agree the answer was not responsive. But, as way of excusing this, consider whether the person answering the question is at a level where all inquiries are answered in terms of what has been rehearsed; i.e., if they have never gone or planned for going below the wing to look, then that possibility is in fact not considered. Might not be prudent, but may in fact be true.

We'll probably know in due course.

[luv2ndamend]

Do not know if this would be any help. From this web site. http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts107/030201columbia/launchincident.html

[Tree of Liberty]

Do you believe him? I don't have enough facts at my disposal to make a judgment call in that regard. Contrary to your assertion, though, he did answer the question. However, I'm sure the veracity of the answer will be debated.

[foreverfree]

bump

[_Jim]

7:53 AM CDT we saw an indication of Offscale/Low temp msmts on left IB and OB Hydraulic systems and - and this was loss of temperature msmt - not an indication of high or low ...

7:56 In the left main gear tire wheel-well brake line and tire tempeatures - there we saw an increase.

I need to tell you that during this time the vehicle was performing fine.

We had no indication

7:58 We have what we call Bon-line tempeartures ... these are temp sensors embeded in the vehicle ... in left wing area ... these were Offscale/Low readings

7:59 Left IB and OB Tire temperatures and Pressures - Offscale/Low. Ahh ... about 8 msmts total during that time.

One of these msmts ... gave the crew a msg an indication that they could look at on their display, and they - we think that they were acknowlinging that message that htey saw ...

[bribriagain]

Is it just me or does the guy giving the NASA briefing look like what Tom Dashole would look like if he had a pair?

[Just mythoughts]

Do you really think at this very moment in time should be likened to a deposition?

I am not an attorney, but truly find it sad to hear that you are suggesting this person is ignoring a smoking gun. If what you are suggesting is true then an immediate criminal investigation should be started.

I believe that this press conference should be stopped and all be ordered by their attorney to answer no more questions.

Do you really believe that these people willingly and knowlingly ignored something that allowed this to happen?

[_Jim]

Could you link to it? Thanks.

Off a local HD? ... maybe sometime in the future ...

[bribriagain]

Are there redundant sensors and wiring?

[Joe Hadenuf]

Off scale meaning zero reading, a major concern. I have no doubt at least one of the crew knew something was terribly wrong, a few moments before the event......

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

It wouldn't be the first time someone in a government-funded program or agency skirted the truth in order to justify their mistakes, or to avoid negative fallout.

I don't know what he knows or doesn't know. All I know is what I heard in the press conference. And, as someone who has professional experience in Question and Answer sessions dealing with serious or touchy subjects, I'm just trying to offer my reaction to his response.

Noone asked him if tiles could be repaired. All that was asked was if Nasa had considered a spacewalk to investigate the impact that occurred during launch.

His answer was totally defensive. Between several of his responses, the "theme" was "Nothing could have been done to repair tile damage" - I don't believe that for a minute. Regardless, who cares if it couldn't have been repaired? That is NO justification for failing to fully investigate before re-entry.

[steveegg]

Looks like we both got it. Thanks, Jim.

[CharacterCounts]

Do you really believe that these people willingly and knowlingly ignored something that allowed this to happen?

I am also an attorney and do not equate the press conference to a deposition. Depositions only ocur after there are allegations of fault or malfeasance.

That being said, it came to light after Challanger that NASA ignored indicators of problems with the seals and freezing temeratures. People do not often willingly put others lives at risk nut the sometimes do negligently and carelessly.