NASA Press Conference Thread

[The Right Stuff]

BBFH seems to be saying that the NASA guy didn't answer the question of why/whether or not they had scheduled a space walk to detect potential damage sustained on launch.

You seem to know a fair bit about this, so I'll ask you - they said they didn't have the robotic arm, did they have the necessary equipment to perform a spacewalk in the first place?

Secondly, if they had performed one and discovered significant damage it has already been pointed out that there wasn't much they could do about it given the fact that they couldn't make it to the ISS and the difficulties of launching another shuttle in time to make a difference, as you've outlined.

Nevertheless, it would have been nice to know what they were dealing with so that they would have a better idea of what would/could happen during reentry.

The NASA guy made a point of how they had investigated on the ground (with people experience with the tiles) and thought it would be okay. Thanks for your insights.

[Just mythoughts]

Hello?

You cannot now complain of bias and prejudice after you first jumped in a claimed "guilt" based on a press conference.

You made the first personal attack, how does it feel.

What else as an attorney which you made clear in your first post about your many depositions would your "real" motivation possibly be?

You have not stayed on the topic of your first post, but change questions everytime you get a response.

The thread you jumped in on was a discussion on what information was being given, when you jumped in the middle of the press conference with "guilt" some of us were trying to learn what was known at the time. There were some people who understood the language what was being said and were translating to us common people what it meant.

Your timing on "guilt" was dumped in on a group who were still in a daze about what had happened.

Do you stop when not all agree with your opinion, no you keep arguing, questioning.

YOU and YOU alone posted your own motivation, I will tell you I was a bit slow, and actually gave you the benefit of the doubt, but then I caught on to the method used to gain information.

What is sad, the loss of life, and some of us are sad at the loss and are not ready for a self announced attorney to show up and pronounce guilt, based upon the way in which someone answered questions.

You earned your own welcome.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

I never attacked him personally because of his background or his job. I pointed out a problem with his WORDS. What he SAID, or didn't say for that matter.

There's a huge difference. If you can't see it, that's something you should think about.

[EternalVigilance]

Reaching Higher Ground

Descending, only to rise!
Leaving pull
Of God's green Earth
In a blaze of fire!

Worldly friction didn't win
Every trouble fades
On that heavenly high

Pushing out further
Than man has ever been
On the frontier
Of the deep dark night

Pushing the limits
Of this mortal life
We will never know
Unless we strive

The brave live forever
Seared into our hearts
Not knowing they were heroes
Just doing their part

But they'll not be forgotten
In the troubled times ahead
By courageous example
They have forever led

Elijah's chariot
Came to carry them away
To their eternal home
In God's eternal sky

EV

Dedicated to the crew of Columbia - 2/1/03

[Just mythoughts]

Look, you assigned guilt, go back and read your words.

What I see is someone who needs to be in control.

You are spliting hairs now, kinda like "depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.

Now you are offended because you think you are personally attacked because of your background or job.

You set the table, served the food, demanded it be eaten, and now expect to be told yum yum that is good food. It is not going to happen so get over it.

What I think is you have a problem with his WORDS and you want everyone else to agree. Your brain is trained to gain agreement at some point and doesn't know when to shut down until an agreement is reached.

[Xenalyte]

Oops... I thought I was on the NASA Press Conference Thread, not the NASA Fashion Thread... anyone got a link to the press conference thread? Thanks in advance!

With all due respect, Mr. Smalls, a man with a cucumber in his pants has little room to criticize. :)

[Chad Fairbanks]

ROTFL... at least I had tin foil on it so the government couldn't control my little head.... ;0)

[steveegg]

While I know a bit about physics and the layout of the shuttle, I don't know exactly what was on Columbia with regard to spacesuits. Since the arm was not on board, the only way that someone could have gotten from the cargo bay over the doors and around to the underside of the wing was to have a thruster pack (in space, once you leave a solid object with just a tether, you're only going to either continue in that vector, stop, or head back toward where you started from on the reciprocal vector). According to some reports, there were none on board.

Had the crew been able to make it to the the underside of the wing, the only things they could have done as far as damage control were to try to straighten out any tiles that may have been bent (which only might have worked had the back edge been loosened) or pluck any foam that might have got stuck between the tiles.

It definitely would have been nice to know close-up what they were up against. As cold as it may sound, NASA will learn from this and have some plan in place. As the other three shuttles are capable of reaching the ISS at least on a launch (I never learned whether they would be able to reach it from a "traditional" shuttle orbit), there will at least be the ISS to hang around for a while while things are examined in detail and a plan for getting the crew and (hopefully) the shuttle back to Earth is made.

[FITZ]

I doubt anyone would think a meteor was news, they're common. I just wondered if something like a meteor could hit the shuttle hard enough to damage it where it would explode. I don't see how terrorists could pull it off.

[Mark Felton]

Debris Photos (post them here)


We are collecting debris photos here. (Hardware only)

[Gracey]

They should have done a space walk outside to check for damage. And if there were some, they could have docked at the space station to have repairs done or send another shuttle up to get them.

You know less than zero about space flight. Space Station is on a completely different trajectory than Columbia was on. Columbia was orbiting the earth just a little bit overhead doing experiments. Read about space before asking unrealistic questions. Even if they knew there were lost tiles, there's no way to fix them in space. Sorry

[Gracey]

Get lost, you phony.

[G Larry]

NASA officials should have a canned response for some of these idiots:
"Do you get paid for thinking up the dumbest possible questions for us, or did your boss just send the dumbest reporter our here?"

[Gracey]

I was confused about the tire pressures. If I understood correctly, they showed an increase, then went offscale low.

You must have worked at KSC Shuttle Ops turnaround. Would the tire pressure increase reentry heat from damaged leading edge tile, and then just blow (indicating no pressure)? That Columbia was full of instrumentation. I used to sit in on Shuttle change board meetings regarding same.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

Bottom line is this:

The shuttle was damaged on lift-off. They "analyzed" that, without visual confirmation, and determined it was not a problem.

They made ZERO effort to get a visual inspection after that. No space walk to examine the ship. No telescopes used. No satellites used. No cameras/telescopes from orbit (space station, hubble, etc) used either. They did absolutely NOTHING after making that initial uneducated evaluation.

That was a HUGE mistake. And, in the press conference, the NASA program director gave it all away with his response:

QUESTION: Did NASA consider a spacewalk to examine the damage?

ANSWER: We don't have the ability to repair tiles in space.

That did NOT answer the question. Who cares if that shuttle could have repaired the tiles? The should have at least inspected to see if there was a problem.

IF they had inspected, and found the problem, then contingency plans could have been made:

1) Stay in orbit as long as possible.
2) Download all shuttle data, all expierment data, and give the crew time to say personal goodbyes, letters, emails, radio calls, etc.
3) Analyze contingency plans such as launching another shuttle to rescue them, launching another shuttle to repair the damage, spacewalking to repair the damage if possible, docking with space station to wait out rescue/repair, or simply taking as long as possible before attempting re-entry or simply dieing in orbit.

NASA made a huge mistake. And the program director's evasive non-responsive answer betrayed his feelings of guild and responsibility.

[bribriagain]

Did you do the sensors on the Columbia?

[snopercod]

No, I was an engineer for Atlantis. I didn't install them anyway, I just wrote the procedure for the techs to do so, and did the troubleshooting when something went wrong.

[bribriagain]

I can see why you're so engaged with this issue. When we exchanged posts Saturday we were engaging in rampant speculation. I think you knew how limited the options were for those poor souls.

Any way, thanks for your personal contributions to this wonderful program that has given flight to the human soul.

Brian