[Howlin]

Sounds like they were doomed from Day 1.

[HiTech RedNeck]

<grim-humor>Left wings are constant sources of trouble </grim-humor>

[HiTech RedNeck]

Was there any other craft that could have been sent out there to pick up the astronauts, if they knew this thing was going to have problems landing?

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

The current occupants of the ISS could have eyeballed the wing as Columbia flew in formation close to the station.

Future missions (if ever continued) should include tile repair kits.

Autos have been equipped with spare tires for nearly a century.

[mewzilla]

FWIW, supposedly none of the things monitored by these sensors would have affected flight worthiness. While whatever happened may indeed have started on the left wing, I don't think the men I saw at the press conference were willing to draw the same conclusion the Times seems to be drawing. Something happened on the left side of the shuttle. Whether it had anything to do with the break-up or not, I don't think they know yet.

[dennisw]

If true than every mission should include a spacewalk/inspection. IIRC this mission did not! Same way you take a walk around your car, take a look at tires, check the belts& oil, before a long trip.

[Clara Lou]

Investigators trying to figure out what destroyed space shuttle Columbia immediately focused on the left wing and the possibility that its thermal tiles were damaged far more seriously than NASA realized by a piece of debris during liftoff.
Just a little over a minute into Columbia's launch Jan. 16, a chunk of insulating foam peeled away from the external fuel tank and smacked into the ship's left wing.
Question: Why is it that the Times publishes articles wherein the information given does not align with the title given? The title of this article presents as fact that Columbia's problem was the foam debris that hit the left wing. Nowhere in the article is that "fact" substantiated.

[Light Speed]

Info on STS 107 from SpaceRef.com

STS-107 Launch of Space Shuttle Columbia for Spacehab NASA, SPACEHAB, and members of the STARS Academy have been preparing for the STS-107 mission for over two years. Scheduled for launch on July 19, 2002, this research mission of sixteen days is sure to be an exciting event. With the debut of SPACEHAB’s Research Double Module on this flight, over 100 experiments are expected to take place onboard the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia. The flight inclination for this mission is 39 degrees and the flight altitude is 150 nautical miles. This mission will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida from launch pad 39B. Seven talented astronauts will be flying this critical research mission. They include Mission Commander Rick Husband, Pilot William "Willie" McCool, Payload Commander Michael Anderson, Mission Specialist 1 Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist 2 David Brown, Mission Specialist 3 Laurel Clark, and Payload Specialist 1 Ilan Ramon. For the STARS Academy locker, Anderson, Chawla, and Ramon are the assigned crew. As the 111th shuttle mission and Columbia’s 28th flight, this shuttle just celebrated the 20th anniversary of its maiden voyage. Columbia returned to service, fresh from a year and a half of maintenance and upgrades that have made it better than ever. More than 100 modifications and improvements have been made to make Columbia ready for flight on STS-107. Highlights include a “glass cockpit” with nine full-color, flat-panel displays, reduced power needs, old wire removal, and a user-friendly interface.

Columbia's launch for July was scrubbed:****

June 24, 2002 Ed Campion Headquarters, Washington (Phone: 202/358-1694) James Hartsfield Johnson Space Center, Houston (Phone: 281/483-5111) Bruce Buckingham Kennedy Space Center, Fla. (Phone: 321/867-2468) Release: #H02-117 NASA MANAGERS DELAY STS-107 LAUNCH NASA managers today temporarily suspended launch preparations for Space Shuttle Columbia until they have a better understanding of several small cracks found in metal liners used to direct the flow inside main propulsion-system propellant lines on other orbiters in the fleet. Columbia's launch on STS-107, previously planned for July 19, will be delayed a few weeks to allow inspections of its flow liners as part of an intensive analysis that is under way. Recent inspections of Space Shuttle Atlantis and Space Shuttle Discovery found cracks, measuring one-tenth to three-tenths of an inch, in one flow liner on each of those vehicles. Some of the cracks were not identifiable using standard visual inspections and were only discovered using more intensive inspection techniques. "These cracks may pose a safety concern and we have teams at work investigating all aspects of the situation," said Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore. "This is a very complex issue and it is early in the analysis. Right now there are more questions than answers. Our immediate interests are to inspect the hardware to identify cracks that exist, understand what has caused them and quantify the risk. I am confident the team will fully resolve this issue, but it may take some time. Until we have a better understanding, we will not move forward with the launch of STS-107." The impact of the investigation on other upcoming space shuttle launches has not been determined.

[TheDon]

"Dittemore said that even if the astronauts had gone out on an emergency spacewalk, there was no way a spacewalker could have safely checked under the wings, which bear the brunt of heat re-entry and have reinforced protection.

Even if they did find damage, there was nothing the crew could have done to fix it, he said.

``There's nothing that we can do about tile damage once we get to orbit,'' Dittemore said. ``We can't minimize the heating to the point that it would somehow not require a tile. So once you get to orbit, you're there and you have your tile insulation and that's all you have for protection on the way home from the extreme thermal heating during re-entry.''

The shuttle was not equipped with its 50-foot robot arm because it was not needed during this laboratory research mission, and so the astronauts did not have the option of using the arm's cameras to get a look at the damage.

NASA did not request help in trying to observe the damaged area with ground telescopes or satellites, in part because it did not believe the pictures would be useful, Dittemore.

Long-distance pictures did not help flight controllers when they wanted to see the tail of space shuttle Discovery during John Glenn's flight in 1998; the door for the drag-chute compartment had fallen off seconds after liftoff. "

I heard this part of the shuttle manager's answer to a question, and was chilled. He almost made it sound like they would send the crew to their deaths if they found the tiles damaged, so why bother looking at them.

If this played a part in the thinking, the shuttle program should be closed down permanently. That attitude is not what one would expect from the NASA "can do".

Either the people need to change that kind of thinking, or if it is valid, they need to provide solutions for this kind of problem.

It would seem a member of the crew could have been tethered and taken a look at the damage. If the call was made that it was unsafe, why not dock with the space station, and send down as many people as possible with the ISS rescue pod? Sure it leaves no failsafe for whoever is left behind, but it gives more chance for survival. Hopefully, those left of the ISS would have enough life support to last until another shuttle rescues them, or some other rockets are sent to take them home.

The ISS should have sufficient rescue pods for an entire shuttle crew, and the ISS crew.

[Pushi]

Could they have aborted the flight immediately after the foam hit the wing and landed in Spain?

[VRWC For Truth]

It was the second time in just four months that a piece of fuel-tank foam came off during a shuttle liftoff. In October, Atlantis lost a piece of foam that ended up striking the aft skirt of one of its solid-fuel booster rockets. At the time, the damage was thought to be superficial. Dittemore said this second occurrence ``is certainly a signal to our team that something has changed.''

Well, duh. Who's guarding the hen house? The fox?

[yooper]

The minute I heard about the take-off wing damage this morning, I knew that it was the cause of the wreck.

"Even if they did find damage, there was nothing the crew could have done to fix it, he said."

I bet this will be corrected quickly. I recently took a SCUBA course and the instructor at one point presented all of the technological advancements in equipment, noting that each advance was the result of an incident where someone paid with their life.

[RckyRaCoCo]

It's too bad they didn't have a camera mounted atop the external fuel tank like on STS112 a little while back. May have provided them with more information.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/video/shuttle/sts-112/html/fd1.html

[TinkersDam]

Does anyone know if had they suspected a possible defect from the lift-off debris could they have had the shuttle re-enter the atmosphere in an unusual attitude so as to make the right wing function for a longer time period?

If they came in extremely banked with the right wing down, then as the left wing degraded in aerodynamic performance and drag increased they might have been able to remain in an attitude wherein heat absorbing tiles might still have remained functional.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

THE NYTIMES IS LYING. The mission commander said in a live NASA KSC TV interview that the debris /wing event is not the focus or center of attention. The shuttles have come back before with critical tiles missing. The commander clarified the lies the NYTimes is saying.

[ibtheman]

I think this accident could have been prevented! Somebody or team did not do there job! What about scrubbing re-entry when they noticed a bad indication on there sensors on the left wing? Even this spacecraft was slated to be de-commissioned two years ago, give me a brake! Those tiles is the only thing you got protecting you from the extreme heat. Those seven were doomed, the same way, same mind set from the previous accident! They had to launch in cold weather. And this time, they had to end there mission, time, and money! They could have launched another spacecraft, rescue seven lives! Oh no it is always money! All the technology, but no common sense! And now they want to go to another planet, what a waste of human life! And billions of tax dollers! This could have been prevented, once again americans putting there trust in our government, seven dead astronauts! Those shuttles have been thru to many launches, to extreme hot/cold cycles, extreme vibrations. Aircraft metals are strong, but go thru extremes going thru space, and thru atsmosphere. The g forces weaken the metals, and design of the aircraft also! This has been proven over the repairs of each shuttle mission, over all the data recorded, there is a mutitude of evidence available! This shuttle system needs to be de-commisioned. And use unmanned space research launches.

[ibtheman]

I think this accident could have been prevented! Somebody or team did not do there job! What about scrubbing re-entry when they noticed a bad indication on there sensors on the left wing? Even this spacecraft was slated to be de-commissioned two years ago, give me a brake! Those tiles is the only thing you got protecting you from the extreme heat. Those seven were doomed, the same way, same mind set from the previous accident! They had to launch in cold weather. And this time, they had to end there mission, time, and money! They could have launched another spacecraft, rescue seven lives! Oh no it is always money! All the technology, but no common sense! And now they want to go to another planet, what a waste of human life! And billions of tax dollers! This could have been prevented, once again americans putting there trust in our government, seven dead astronauts! Those shuttles have been thru to many launches, to extreme hot/cold cycles, extreme vibrations. Aircraft metals are strong, but go thru extremes going thru space, and thru atsmosphere. The g forces weaken the metals, and design of the aircraft also! This has been proven over the repairs of each shuttle mission, over all the data recorded, there is a mutitude of evidence available! This shuttle system needs to be de-commisioned. And use unmanned space research launches.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for the article. This expresses what I was talking about better than I could.

[wharfrat]

Sure would have been nice if it was just "Glenn's Fireflies"