Columbia's Problems Began on Left Wing

NYT.com ^

[John Jamieson]

10 years, 500 flights, $10 a pound.

[csvset]

I don't know all the technical requirements or even if possible, but it may have helped detect damage to exterior.

If the ground crew had told the shuttle crew that their lives depended on a visual scan of the wing, they'd have improvised a way to have checked it.

The folks on the ground had a serious fault in logic by not doing a visual check.

[OReilly]

Correct

[John Jamieson]

Carried SpaceHab up and down. Mini space station/lab.

[yooper]

"This is beyond unreal. You'd think the first order of business once in orbit would be to check for damage."

You nailed it Solamente. I'd be willing to bet that NASA sweated every minute after seeing that insulation hit the wing, and I'll bet that the crew suspected that they might have a problem on re-entry. They were not prepared to effect a space repair when they had the chance. They just had to get going and hope for the best.

I've heard much about contingency planning today, and I'd look for major changes in contingency planning in the future. Such changes should account for planning a repair BEFORE you have to come back. As someone else noted, the only contingency planning NASA seemed to make was in their after-tragedy statements and actions to obtain after the fact information. Contingency planning by definition should have as a goal the successful return of the people on the shuttle. As I understood it today, contingency planning mainly consisted of the lockdown of flight data immediately following the disaster.

[Swordmaker]

If the alternative was this, they may have figured out how to lighten the load... no?

No. This isn't Destination Moon...

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

I believe that the left wing was damaged on take off.

The wing was ruptured by heat and pressure on descent.

This caused the shuttle to roll over to an inverted position and begin spiralling out of control.

Break-up quickly followed.

The Challenger was destroyed by a faulty O-ring at sub-freezing temperatures and by NASA's over-optimistic scheduling timetable.

[TheDon]

In that case, they have no excuse for launching Columbia.

[Marines981]

Indeed. Those Left-wingers are always causin trouble.

[bvw]

hen why didn't they route to Vandenburf over the Pacific, rather than over populated areas. BS.

[John Jamieson]

Might have been able to due a space rescue for a few people, but not 7. Time would have run out.

[OReilly]

I'd be willing to bet that NASA sweating every minute after seeing that insulation hit the wing, and I'll bet that the crew suspected that they might have a problem on re-entry.

You are also correct and the Challenger sweating took place after the SLC Thiocol engineers said, launching below freezing was suicide...

[yooper]

"According to what I heard on Fox News, this is not a rare event. It has happend nine times before without incident."

So we arrive at a 10% failure rate. Not odds I'd trust my life to.

[John Jamieson]

Costs too much to fly it home. Only for bad weather at KSC.

[OReilly]

If the alternative was this, they may have figured out how to lighten the load... no? <<<<<<<< No. This isn't Destination Moon...

And your point is, Sir?

[John Jamieson]

Failure rate that counts equals 2 out 113.

[cgbg]

Challenger took 32 months for return to flight.

I was very concerned with what appeared to be NASA (and their supporters) gung ho attitude today.

I am not convinced they are prepared to take all the time that might be needed to make major fixes.

I am not a big fan of this "international space shuttle" stuff anyway, but there seem to be bureaucratic and "pork" agendas at work here, and safety appears to be a lower priority.

[Swordmaker]

Might have been able to due a space rescue for a few people, but not 7. Time would have run out.

Is shuttle to shuttle docking even possible?

[OReilly]

Might have been able to due a space rescue for a few people, but not 7. Time would have run out.

They were up there for over two weeks without invading the safety days...

[John Jamieson]

I agree. I've been saying for the last year on FR the the ISS should be sold on ebay and new DynoSoar like vehicle should be built. Moon base is best and most interesting goal. Then Mars.

Space is something to be crossed, not a place to live.