NASA Press Conference LIVE THREAD

Fox, CNN, networks, NASA TV | February 2, 2003 | NASA

[snopercod]

Any time now...

[PhiKapMom]

Air Force Accident investigators are some of the best in the business and asked in on many aircraft investigations. Air Force had pilots on the shuttle and thus are part of the investigation.

[GRRRRR]

The shuttle tires are permanently inflated with nitrogen. They are made by Michelin Go HERE for more info...

The main landing gear shuttle tires are only used one time and the nose landing gear tires are used for two landings...

GRRRRR

[Budge]

Why not the other way around?

Refraction.

[snopercod]

Av Week asking if it's possible to have a main gear door not completely closed without anyone knowing about it.

Dittimore: NO.

snopercod: I agree, having seen these wheel wells and doors up close and personal. They are mechanically latched shut and CAN'T open without massive mechanical failure.

[Ramtek57]

They assumed everything was ok, and you see what happened.
They thought, the tiles were OK. They thought it was too dangerous to do a space walk to check out the damage.
They are crawfishing right now. Trying not to take the blame, trying to cover up what they really should have done. They had 16 days up there, they should have spacewalked around the shuttle to check for damage. Watch, when they improve there safety procedures, and there is damage to the spacecraft, they will take a space walk to check it out. Then it will be time to thing about contingencies, like how to get them home. Unlike the events that they call contingencies now, A DISASTER!

[PhiKapMom]

Ailerons control lift!

[Rifleman]

Pitch and roll. They combine the functions of elevators (pitch control) and alerons (roll control). Move 'em together, they control pitch, move them in oposite directions and they roll the aircraft.

[DoughtyOne]

Jim I'm not even sure the wing was damaged. They seemed to have been somewhat concerned about it. Instead of going the extra mile, they seemed to have simply said "Oh, no problem". Now this. I'm not confortable with their dismissal of this problem out of hand.

Perhaps they were right. I just hope they were, because if they weren't, some people paid a high cost.

[_Jim]

Don't tell us software cannot be a problem -- my brother is a software engineer!

I don't think you have any idea of the practices and special hardware that can be used in hi-rel apps, techniques such as watchdog timers, timed execution of check-sum routines that examine/tally program memory to verigy it's integrity ...

Most programmers have *little* on-the-hardware experience or understanding thereof - they are far better off using the stndard 'libraries' and leaving the hardware I/F and real-time programming to the EE's ...

[Timesink]

Can anyone tell me why the networks feel compelled to show a postage stamp-sized screen of the actual event, and a larger screen showing old, recycled footage that we have all seen a hundred times? Do they think we'll click the remote if all they offer us is a talking head?

Yes, they really do think that. They've all been taught that if they leave up a static picture of a monotonal guy sitting at a table, people will tune out in droves. They don't even think about it; they just automatically make sure they have extra material ("b-roll," they call it) to run over and over, just to keep the picture on the screen active.

[alancarp]

Here's the real problem with spy satellites - or the Hubble telescope, for that matter: The shuttle is moving - at 17,000 MPH in orbit. Nothing we have in orbit that has a camera is designed to track objects at anything near that speed.

HERE'S MY QUESTION FOR NASA: Which came first: the heating elevations or the flight control corrections that continued to a degree unprecedented in the program? I haven't heard that on the timeline discussions.

[Judith Anne]

Sorry, I've been listening carefully. No crawfishing that I've seen.

[don-o]

. They had 16 days up there, they should have spacewalked around the shuttle to check for damage

And then...?

Buy a clue.

Repair was not an option.

[Amelia]

The same lens that could read a license plate on the earth's surface would not necessarily be able to turn and focus on something that is much closer.

Kind of like my eyes after I turned 40.....

[_Jim]

Snopercod just suggested flight software doesn't control wheel extension...

Manually cranked?

[Budge]

It hit the leading edge, went under left wing, and came out sideways...sortta.

[Dog]

Could a faulty elevon cause a tumble??

[Magnum44]

If damage could have been detected before reentry,..

Don't know if it was possible given fuel remaining, orbits, etc, but I was wondering why no one has asked if rendezvous with ISS would have been possible. Could they have hunkered down there until a rescue mission could be put into motion? I think just staying in orbit would have been a limited option since fuel cells and such were probably nearly depleted. IIRC, the shuttle can only go it alone for about 2 to 3 weeks, depending on fuel cell usage. Did they launch into the ISS inclination, or (probably) less since they were heavy with the Space Lab? If they weren't in the right inclination, an ISS hook-up would probably be out of the question. Anybody know?

[William McKinley]

Spacewalks are not the piece of cake they appear to be in Bruce Willis movies. I find it completely plausible that a space walk would probably cause more damage to the tiles than any damage they would have been preparing.

[Karsus]

What about a ground based telescope? We must have something that could have seen the shuttle.