CBS Radio News Now Reporting Human Remains Found. Believed To Be From Shuttle

Story moved on WFLA / WFLF Orlando | CBS Radio News

[MindBender26]

CBS Radio News Now Reporting Human Remains Found. Believed To Be From Shuttle / at the 7:45 PM EST update.

Unconfirmed report from rural area near Palestine, TX. Sheriffs Dept in that area reports human remains found, believed to be from shuttle.

[Freedom4US]

I wondered about this myself. A software-zapping "pulse" or hack that renders the re-entry problematic since there is only one chance for the orbiter landing.

Still, the more logical aspect is to concentrate on the launch sequence where a piece of FOD flew off and contacted the wing.

[petuniasevan]

Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster Archive ^

[Rebelbase]

[MindBender26]

Neg. Badly burned torso has been found.

[Buffalo Head]

Michael Rivero signed up 1998-08-27.
His account has been banned.

[MindBender26]

RE: #43

Michael is back, and the medicine has worn off.

[r9etb]

I didn't know that. So cause of death was impact (no parachutes) or drowning?

At the altitude of the accident, the Shuttle is still at hypersonic speeds. The failure point was where maximum heating occurs. Any human body that enters the airstream at that point will burn up.

[Dengar01]

Could this possibly have been terrorism?

I would be one of the first people thinking that this would be terrorists, however, I know enough about astronomy, NASA, ect. to say this is not likely terrorism.

As I said at 8:30AM Central Time I am guessing that they hit the angle wrong. Reentry is a very complicated and the slightest change in angle or velocity can cause destruction as we saw today. I am not sure about the flap on the wing as that can be a possibility, but before all the talking heads jumped onto the various news stations I said that it had to do with angle and or velocity and I'm sticking to that.

Regardless of the cause, this is a horrible tradgey, I have been upset at the lack of intrest in the space program as of the last few years. I pray for the victim's families. But the hope out of this incident is a more focused look on the space program. I want to see it continue and expand as it did during the "Space Race" of the Cold War.

[r9etb]

However, news reports indicate that NASA has added a lot of contractors in recent years to replace career staff. I don't know if the contractors have accesss to reentry software. Perhaps a Freeper closer to the space program would have that information.

Contractors write and maintain the entry software. The timeline for new software loads is measured in years, and is also generic -- all Shuttles would use it.

And, of course, the folks on the ground are watching closely for any anomalous behavior in the onboard, and would have ordered a switch to the backup software, which is written by a different contractor, and has little or nothing in common with the primary software.

[Jackie]

My scientific expertise tells me ...

Have you calculated how long it took for the first debris to reach earth's surface from 200,000 feet? I'd be interested.

[Mr. Mojo]

Wasn't he the guy who invented the tinfoil hat?

[the_doc]

or a reentry-trajectory just a fraction of a hundredth of a degree off

I respect the fact that the tolerances are pretty tight for the angle of re-entry, but I don't see how they could be that tight.

I am betting that the official inquiry will eventually conclude that the tiles on the left wing were damaged.

[r9etb]

I respect the fact that the tolerances are pretty tight for the angle of re-entry, but I don't see how they could be that tight.

IIRC, the tolerance is on the order of a half degree.

[the_doc]

That makes a lot more sense to me. Tight, but doable.

[nhoward14]

It is infinitely more likely this destruction was because the damage that occurred at launch to the left wing was more severe than the engineers initially realized and caused catastrophic failure under the high temperature and pressure present during re-entry.

[mostlyundecided]

I did some quick research and found that there is a big Balloon launching facility in Palestine TX - this web site (once translated) shows large balloon being launched with equipment in tow - could it have been terrible coincidence that shuttle happens to hit balloon from this facility?

check out pics on this web site: http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~deboer/pdm/pdminstastsat.html

[nhoward14]

Exactly who is it that has a space-based weapon?