Remains from ALL Seven Astronauts Have Been Located

NASA ^ | 2/2/2003 | Pyro7480

[Pyro7480]

It was announced during the NASA press conference today, after a question from Israeli media, that remains from ALL seven astronauts on Columbia have been found.

[weikel]

Damn right they'd lose consciousness they'd be instantly incinerated if the hab pod was breached.

[Poohbah]

I'm also amazed that there appear to be no injuries on the ground from falling debris.

I understand that region of Texas is less densely populated than, say, the Dalworthington metroplex.

[yonif]

Israel has sent a chief rabbanical team from the IDF to help identify the remains of the Israeli astronaut. They will arrive tommorow.

ON ISRAEL RADIO I HEAR NOW ON THE NEWS BROADCAST THAT NASA SAYS IT FOUND THE REMAINS OF ALL THE ASTRONAUTS

[weikel]

If the flight deck and the mid-deck area was not breached before it reached the stratosphere or troposphere, then remains could have survived

Yes it all depends on when it was breached. The remains would be badly damaged though unless the pod remained intact until it crashed.

[Pyro7480]

Well, if it was "breached" in the sense that the break-up caused the cabin to be disconnected from the oxygen and nitrogen tanks, then yes, they would have lost consciousness. However, they wear pressure suits during lift-off and reentry, so even if they lost cabin pressure, they could still breathe. But if the cabin was torn apart by the atmospheric and thermal forces, then.... you get the picture.

[Poohbah]

May the great Name of God be exalted and sanctified, throughout the world, which he has created according to his will. May his Kingship be established in your lifetime and in your days, and in the lifetime of the entire household of Israel, swiftly and in the near future; and say, Amen.
May his great name be blessed, forever and ever.
Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled, honored elevated and lauded be the Name of the holy one, Blessed is he- above and beyond any blessings and hymns, Praises and consolations which are uttered in the world; and say Amen. May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and life, upon us and upon all Israel; and say, Amen.

[July 4th]

At the press conference, they did say all 7.

[rebel]

To cremate a body at a standard crematory the body burns at 1000F for about 45 minutes ar so. It probably is a lot more intense and far far longer than what a body on Columbia would go through.

Human bodies are pretty dang tough! Far tougher than most think

[Alamo-Girl]

Amen!

[wimpycat]

It is my understanding that they had already gotten through that re-entry phase. If the crew compartment broke apart from the fuel areas before that pink streak on the video which experts said indicated the fuel had ignited, I don't understand how they would have been completely incinerated...What is the temperature of the atmosphere at 203,000ft? Would friction burn them up? I managed to avoid physics in high school and college, although I took Meteorology 101, so am ignorant on these matters.

[Semper911]

Yes, they said all of the astronauts. Of course they have not really had time to do DNA, so that means that each had characteristics that allowed for visual ID. Amazing.

[dixierose]

Seems almost impossible for human tissue to have survived that kind of temperature, velocity and trauma.

I saw a picture of a mission patch that had survived...it didn't even have a burn or a tear. It's amazing to me how ANYTHING is left.

But, in a way, it reminds me of tornado stories where an object is picked up and then placed gently on the ground again...while, at the same time, a house is completely destroyed.

[wimpycat]

Don't forget those suits they were all wearing, too. You would think those suits would somewhat (relatively speaking, here) protect human flesh from the elements, even at high temperatures.

I guess it all depends on how much naked skin was exposed.

[Dan Day]

I'm also amazed that there appear to be no injuries on the ground from falling debris.

That's not too amazing -- Texas has a population of 21.3 million, on 267,000 square miles. That's 349,000 square feet per person. If we estimate that a person occupies a surface rectangle of about 2x3 square feet, means that any given square foot of Texas has a 58,243 to 1 chance of being empty of people. So a given chunk of incoming debris has around a 99.9982% chance of missing everyone in Texas when it lands, and hitting unoccupied space.

Even if the shuttle came apart into 10,000 individual pieces, indicating an average piece weight of 18 pounds (and I'd think it would be fewer pieces), that works out to an 84.2% chance of every single one of them missing folks as they land.

And those are the odds presuming that everyone in Texas is outdoors and vulnerable to being hit -- realistically, most people would have been indoors or in cars, or otherwise shielded from incoming pieces, so the odds would be even greater of no one at all being dinged.

[Exit148]

To your #8:

The thing that bothers me the most is the possible anguish they must have suffered from the point in time when they first realized that they were in a death situation, until it occurred. If they were simply concerned, that would be one thing, but to know that the point of no return was at hand -----well, I can't even think how they must have felt. I hope they didn't have time to think before they were with God.

[weikel]

The temperature is very cold but the friction burns you up. I haven't seen the video myself. I'd need more information to make a ruling.

[LADY J]

Fox News just reported that the remains of all 7 astronauts have been recovered.

[yellowroses]

Amen.

[Ramius]

I saw a picture of a mission patch that had survived...it didn't even have a burn or a tear. It's amazing to me how ANYTHING is left.

I saw that too. I wondered how only the patch survived, but not the rest of the suit.

Then it hit me. The patch probably was never on a suit. I'll bet they take a whole box of mission patches up with them. After the trip they can use them as gifts, or sell them in the giftshop (or whatever) as mission patches "that have actually been in space". Seems reasonable to me. There might be hundreds of them.

They would survive because they flutter almost immediately to a slow speed and don't get hot.

[Dan Day]

I don't doubt that, with DNA testing, they could eventually account for all seven but I can't imagine they've accomplished that certainty so quickly

It takes DNA testing to pinpoint a criminal suspect out of all the millions of people who could conceivably committed the crime, but don't forget in this case they know who the body parts are from out of a pool of only 7 known identities. Blood typing alone would help narrow down what belongs to whom. Furthermore, they undoubtedly have *enormously* complete medical records for each for 7 astronauts, so it would take only minutes to compare found bones to X-ray records and match by size, sex, characteristic ridges, or even match blood antigens or other characteristically individual chemical differences to information already on file with the NASA medical records.