[Timesink]

[Centurion2000]

We need to get back up there ASAP ... we also should be building a new class of shuttles ... like an SSTO model.

[topher]

Time is way off base. Fox news has an important paragraph in their story that may have the explanation.

The Fox News article is:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77253,00.html

And it is posted under www.freerepublic under breaking news as "Space Shuttle Disintegrates over Texas".

I will post that URL in a moment.

But during liftoff, on January 16th, the Space Shuttle's wing was damaged.

Here is the paragraph that is key to explaining this disaster (in my opinion), and shows what junk TIME.COM is publishing:

Shortly after Columbia lifted off Jan. 16, a piece of insulating foam on its external fuel tank came off and was believed to have hit the left wing of the shuttle. Leroy Cain, the lead flight director in Mission Control, assured reporters Friday that engineers had concluded that any damage to the wing was considered minor and posed no safety hazard.

Basically, the wing was damaged on liftoff, and when the re-entry time came, the wing was put into "Maximum" stress by the initial re-entry -- 200,000 ft up at 12,000 mph.

So even minor damage at this speed can be disastrous.

Time reporters, as usual, are problably on dope.

If you read the Fox article, the key fact is there to be dug out.

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[ez]

My question...What caused the BOOM heard all over the south...sonic boom or other?

[Reagan Man]

>>>Now that we've lost two shuttles out of a fleet of five, it's even conceivable that the shuttle won't fly again.

While the shuttle design is based on 30 year old technology, I highly doubt TPTB would simply trash the entire shuttle program. This would set the US back significantly and wouldn't be a logical move. Even a two year lay off wouldn't be proper decision to make. The space station needs to be manned and without the use of the space shuttles, to keep up the rountine maintenance, it would fall into disrepair and be a huge waste of money.

The next generation of space vehicles need to be moved from the planning stages and into full production, immediately.

[supercat]

JK: Following the precedent of the Challenger disaster in 1996...

Is that a typo?

[RaceBannon]

STS-107 (113) Columbia (28) Pad 39-B (52) KSC Landing (62) (Planned) 113th Shuttle Mission NOTE: Click Here for Countdown Homepage Crew: Rick D. Husband (2), Commander William C. McCool (1), Pilot Michael P. Anderson (2), Payload Commander Kalpana Chawla (2), Mission Specialist David M. Brown (1), Mission Specialist Laurel B. Clark (1), Mission Specialist Ilan Ramon (1), (ISA) Payload Specialist Milestones: OPF -- 3/12/02 (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 3/12/2002) VAB -- 11/18/02 (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 11/18/2002) PAD -- 12/09/02 (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 12/09/2002) Payload: SpaceHab-DM Research Mission, Freestar Mission Objectives: Click here for Additional Info on STS-107 Research Mission, Freestar (MEIDEX,SOLSE-2,CVX-2,SOLCON-3, LPT,SEM,PSRD) The FREESTAR payload is a Hitchhiker payload through the GSFC Code 870 Shuttle Small Payloads Project. FREESTAR consists of separate experiments and the Hitchhiker (HH) Carrier (HHC) avionics mounted on a cross-bay HH Multipurpose Equipment Support Structure (MPESS). The carrier avionics provides the interface to the electrical systems, the payload power control, and command and telemetry capabilities. Examples of some of the experiments that FREESTAR can carry are MEIDEX, SOLSE-2, CVX-2, SOLCON-3, LPT, SEM, and PSRD. Launch: January 16, 2003 - 10:39 a.m. EDT (15:39 GMT) On Thursday, 1/16/03, the launch countdown proceeded as scheduled. At 9:18 a.m. EST, a go was given to close the hatch. At 10:10 a.m. EST, the countdown clock exited the planned hold at the T-minus 20 minute mark. At 10:31 a.m. EST, the countdown clock came out of the planned hold at the T-minus 9 minute mark. At 10:35 a.m. EST, a go was given for APU start. Launch occurred at the opening of the launch window. On Friday, May 24, 2002, in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), processing continues for Columbia's STS-107 microgravity research mission. Workers installed the SPACEHAB/FREESTAR payload into Columbia's payload bay after managers determined the small scratch on a support attachment was not a concern. Installation of Space Shuttle Main Engines and servicing of Freon Loop No. 1 is in work. (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 5/24/2002) Previous launch dates were July 11, 2002, April 4, 2002 and before that January 11, 2001. Orbit: Altitude: 150 nm Inclination: 39 Orbits: 255 Duration: 15 days, 22 hours, minutes, seconds. (Estimated) Distance: miles Hardware: SRB: SRM: ET : MLP : SSME-1: SN- SSME-2: SN- SSME-3: SN- Landing: KSC February 1, 9:16 a.m. 2003 (Estimated - Landing did not occur) Deorbit burn occured at 8:15 a.m. EST (1315 GMT) for a planned landing on KSC Runway 33. Communication was lost with Columbia at 9:00am EST while Columbia was at approximately 200,000ft over Central Texas while the vehicle was traveling at 12,500 mph. Mission Highlights: KSC Home Mission Index Last Mission STS-113 Next Mission STS-114 Last Updated Saturday February 1 11:49:43 EDT 2003 Jim Dumoulin (dumoulin@titan.ksc.nasa.gov)

[Desdemona]

ping

[The Great Satan]

From Matt Drudge:

Final radio transmission between Columbia and Mission Control:

Mission Control: 'Columbia, Houston we see your tire pressure messages and we did not copy your last.'

Columbia: 'Roger, uh, ...' (transmission breaks off after the crew member starts to stay a word beginning with the sound 'buh.')

At this point, my money's on a burn-through.

[The Great Satan]

NASA press conference coming up in about ten minutes. Supposedly they will have some technical info, and take questions.

[RossA]

Can the ISS be left unattended? It regularly fires rockets to counteract orbit-decay. Even if this could be automated, it needs a resupply of fuel.

[_Jim]

A small piece of what looked like a curved SS tile was shown by one of our local TV channels in Arlington, Tx ... this is between Dallas and Ft. Worth ... this would represent the furthestmost-west piece found so far ...

[_Jim]

Flight restrictions now being put into effect ... as reported by TV News chopper-crews ...

[paul51]

Now that we've lost two shuttles out of a fleet of five

I thought we had three operational prior to todays tragedy. Does anyone know for sure?

[FBD]

In honor of the Columbia astronauts, would someone please post the official NASA picture of them, on this and every thread about this tragedy? Their faces deserve to be remembered. Thanks...

[NonValueAdded]

Sorry if this has been covered, I'm posting then reading.

Just heard the Mission Control replay:
CAPCOM "we read your tire pressure messages and copy your last"
CDR: "Uh, roger ..."  [loss of comm occurs]

IMO, this wasn't an instantaneous event but rather happening over a short period of time. Seems to me that if it was a spacecraft attitude problem, the words would have been different. I'd say a tile problem jumps to the head of the speculation line. Occam's razor and all that.

[Cicero]

I think it was probably a systems failure of some kind--notably the insulation and the tiles--or as this article suggests stress from the shuttle getting too far out of line with its flight path.

But you simply cannot rule out terrorism entirely without doing an investigation. There are numerous ways that the shuttle could conceivably be sabotaged, if a sleeper agent or a disgruntled fanatic had access to it, or possibly to a piece of equipment or one of the experiments that were carried on board. I'm sure everything was checked out carefully, but it would be hard to guard against every subtle form of sabotage. I think the odds are very much against it, but it's not impossible and it should certainly be investigated along with every other possible cause.

[Paleo Conservative]

Reentry is a very difficult process, but the Russians mastered it in 1961 and we did the same a few years later.

Where do the news networks find such nitwits. The US successfully tested a Mercury capsule in 1961 with a chimpanzee aboard prior to Gagarin's flight.

[Xenalyte]

Just out of curiosity, does Kluger have any more credentials than "TIME Science Correspondent"?

[HighWheeler]

"...which means astronauts at the controls can't compensate for a loss of attitude by using the engines, they can only do so using the flaps. And that's extremely hard."

I looked up this guy's credentials, he is not an engineer nor a pilot. He is a keyboard jockey.

As a glider pilot, I can tell you that using flaps is the fastest way to restore control, engines are too slow to react and only point thrust in one direction. This guy need to go back to writing about gardening.

here is his bio