Remains from ALL Seven Astronauts Have Been Located

NASA ^ | 2/2/2003 | Pyro7480

[3D-JOY]

Hello again,

I left the "freeping" in DC just in time to get back to the Space Coast...for this!

The community is very sad. People seem to be walking more slowly and even in the grocery the voices seemed very "hushed".

The Space center was open for everyone to go to the Space Mirror where the names of these astronauts will also be engraved.

[weikel]

If the hab pod was breached in the reentry phase though you wouldn't even find any ashes.

[Atlas Sneezed]

I find it plausible that the robust structural elements of the crew cabin remained essentially intact, with the crew seats and belted-in space-suited crew secured in place.

An exposed body might turn to dust at mach 12, but keep in mind that when the spacecraft presumably began breaking up and traveling non-areodynamically, it started slowing down FAST. LOTS of energy would have been dissipated as the craft broke up, so that when the crew became largely exposed, it was probably at a much lower velocity.

Of course, helmets and limbs could be and apparently were separated by the aerodynamic forces and flying debris, but I find it credible that the major remains or each crew member were located attached to a major part of the crew cabin.

I find it unlikely that they cound find, let alone conclusively identify widely scattered remains, in such a short time.

[weikel]

The suits insulate against heat loss. Extreme high temperatures can still burn through the suits. You couldn't land on Venus with a space suit you'd go up like a Roman cnadle.

[wimpycat]

Hopefully, for their sakes, the time the last radio transmission was received was the same time the ship began to break apart. Hopefully, all they had time to think to themselves was, "Huh? What's going on?" and did not have time to process in their minds what they were experiencing. You know how it is when you see something or experience something awful and you know you're seeing or experiencing something bad, but your mind doesn't immediately register exactly what is going on. I sure hope that is the case.

[drjoe]

'conspiracy theorist' phooey. Not surprised at all. Strapped in bulky pressure suits. The vehicle comes apart and things slow down in a hurry. VERY brief fire and explosion [ no oxygen at that altitude to support combustion.] Then it is a long long fall to earth but the terminal velocity is quickly reached and that is only about 100-135 mph. I would think that the metallic fragments would suffer far more loss of integrity. I mean just look at the pieces that are reaching the ground - lots of them. The fragments of the crew are mostly water - 70% or so, so that ablates off and what is left, is left. I have participated in the investigation of lots of 'smokey hole' accidents where a high performance jet fighter goes in nose-first at hundreds of mph and when you get a back-hoe and dig down, at the bottom are perfectly identifiable human remains.

[jwfiv]

Dale Earnhardt died when his spinal cord snapped upon impact with a wall...he was doing around 220 mph.

The Columbia was moving along at a rather faster speed...I figure, soon as the spacecraft began to tumble or spin, it came apart very quickly.

Always figured dear ol' Dale never knew what happened...maybe the same for those Seven Stars over Texas.

Up until the moment of disintegration, they probaly were observing the data feeds, watching the autopilot correct that left drag...and when they crossed the line to unstable orientation, they explode a second later...things happen fast at 12,500 mph.

The astronauts were torn to bits...the pictures of the shoe and helmet are proof of that.

The patches falling all the way intact remind me of the paper and post-it debris from WTC destruction...out of that cloud of fire came floating down whole sheets of note and letter paper, photos that had been on desks, as if they'd been tossed out the windows.

[Normal4me]

Maybe I head it differently but I assume that they have found "Remains" of all seven astronauts. Not to be morbid, but I don't think that they have found "All" of the remains.

Obviously from news footage, there are alot of parts here and there. I am still saddened by it all regardless....

[FReepaholic]

>>...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...<<

You are correct.

They take mission patches, small US flags (and probably Israeli flags for this mission) and other stuff. They use them as gifts or incentive awards for NASA and contractor workers or schools or govt. officials etc.

[Pyro7480]

Not to be morbid, but I don't think that they have found "All" of the remains.

You quite possibly could be right. They may never find them all, unfortunately.

[Godebert]

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

What would be amazing is if someone had been hit by debris. The chances are exceedingly slim.

[It's me]

The human body is almost as tough and durable as the human spirt.

So true. Remember the earthquake in Mexico City many years ago where they found newborns up to 7-9 days after the quake, burried in the rubble, Alive.

Indeed, God is great. The human body is tough and durable.

[Magnum44]

Without trying to be morbid, every astronaut is a medical guinea pig, so they are measured, x-rayed, photographed, and DNA'd more than probably anyone. They could probably match things a lot faster than we think, given that as much survived as did.

[cricket]

"I find it unlikely that they cound find, let alone conclusively identify widely scattered remains, in such a short time."

Well, think the issue is getting confused here. . .

They have reported finding their remains; but they do not say 'all' ie total body accounted for. . .or that each astronaut has been identified.

Understand one; and maybe this might be the case for more. . .was nothing more than skull in helmut and partial body. . .

Sorry to be so graphic; but this will take a little time no doubt to sort out. Just glad they have retrieved whatever remains and those remains are safe.

[weikel]

Fighters don't go into a rapid orbital reentry though. Ive heard the friction causes the air ahead of the spacecrafts reentry path to get up to around 12,000 degrees. If the hab pod is breached then anyone inside would be burned to ashes which would then be scattered everywhere..

[wimpycat]

Well, of course. But the suits would have at least slowed down incineration and depending on how fast they fell, every moment they moved closer to earth after breaking up would have slowed them down and therefore decreased friction. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the 12,500mph speed should have immediately started to slow down once the ship started breaking apart and that, coupled with the insulation the suits provided, must have contributed to the discovery of at least some body parts from all the crew.

Physics would really come in handy at this point. If an object the size of the space shuttle was moving at 12,500mph at an altitude of 203,000 ft. and started to break apart, how fast would the human bodies contained in insulated suits fall to the earth and in what condition would they arrive? It sounds sort of like one of those word problems from high school.

[Alouette]

Baruch dayan ha'emet!

[WatchNKorea]

Yis-ka-dolv VaYis ka Dosh Sha me Ra ba...