Posted on 02/02/2003 6:35:58 PM PST by TLBSHOW
Astronauts doomed from the start
THE seven astronauts on space shuttle Columbia may have been doomed in the first moments after they were shot into space 16 days ago.
NASA officials are investigating whether loose foam from an external tank that struck Columbia's left wing during takeoff contributed to its disintegration under the stress of re-entering the Earth's atmosphere – one of the most dangerous parts of any shuttle mission. The last words between mission control at Houston and shuttle commander Rick Husband gave no clue of impending disaster:
Mission control: "Columbia, Houston, we see your tyre pressure messages and we did not copy your last."
Cdr Husband: "Roger, but . . ." No more was heard.
The homeward-bound space shuttle broke up in flames and trails of smoke and vapour over Texas yesterday, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
The disaster struck 16 minutes before Columbia, the oldest in the shuttle fleet at 22 years, was due to land at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Echoing the tragedy of space shuttle Challenger, which stunned the world 17 years last week, Columbia exploded at an altitude of about 63km as it was travelling 18 times the speed of sound.
The explosion scattered debris and human remains across hundreds of square kilometres in Texas and Louisiana and shook houses in the area around Nacogdoches, Texas.
Police in Hemphill, eastern Texas, said human remains believed to be from the crew of Columbia had been recovered.
"I can confirm human remains from the space shuttle Columbia have been found in the debris," Hemphill police spokeswoman Karen Steele said, declining to elaborate.
A burnt torso and thigh bone were found on a Texan country road while elsewhere a scorched helmet and arm patch from one of the space suits were discovered.
In a televised address to the nation, an emotional President George W. Bush paid homage to the astronauts, saying, "The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to earth but we can pray that they are safely home".
The sparse information NASA had yesterday seemed to point to failures on the craft's left side.
Sensors on the shuttle's left wing and in the left wheel gear detected a sudden temperature increase or failure minutes before the vehicle exploded 63km over Texas as it flew at more than 20,000km/h.
NASA had concluded only two days ago there was no serious damage to the tiles, but was uncertain last night.
"As we look at that now in hindsight we cannot discount that there might be a connection," stunned shuttle manager Ron Dittemore said.
Investigators have all but ruled out terrorism as a cause because the shuttle's high altitude and extreme speed effectively put it out of range of an attack from the ground.
Officials are focusing on the extent of damage sustained during take-off.
Experts said many other malfunctions could have destroyed the shuttle during re-entry, when a cocoon of hot plasma envelops the spacecraft.
Columbia's underside and the leading edges of its wings would have been subjected to some of the highest temperatures during re-entry – up to 1650C – as friction from air rushing by heated its surface, experts said.
During this critical period, computers control the shuttle's angle of descent as it flies with its nose pointed about 40 degrees upward; the slightest deviation from the ideal orientation can expose underprotected parts of the vessel, causing it to burn up.
The shuttle's chief defences against an inferno are about 28,000 heat-resistant tiles attached to its vulnerable aluminium exterior. Experts have worried about the tiles' tendency to break off during flights since the earliest days of experimental test flights.
Relatives of the astronauts – six Americans and an Israeli – watched in horror while waiting at Cape Canaveral's VIP area to welcome their loved ones.
Residents in Texas, Louisiana and Alabama reported hearing the explosion as the shuttle fell apart at more than 18 times the speed of sound.
Bob Molter from Palestine, Texas, said he had seen the shuttle break up in the sky.
"There was a big boom that shook the house for more than a minute, and I went outside because I thought there had been a train accident," he said.
"I looked up and saw the trails of smoke zig-zagging, going across the sky."
Thousand of pieces of debris landed over vast areas of Texas and Louisiana which experts said may take years to find. People were warned not to touch any wreckage because it might be contaminated with toxic propellants.
President George W. Bush rushed to the White House from where he described the disaster in a televised address as a national tragedy.
"The Columbia is lost. There are no survivors," he said, before later ordering all flags be flown at half-mast.
The crew, six of whom were married and five of whom had children, were relatively inexperienced. Only three had flown in space before.
NASA has ruled out human error.
Sounds reasonable to me---on all counts.
Which is exactly what I said. I never said it would happen immediately.
I'm not ready to say it was anybody's fault. It was an accident.
Not that I care a bit about what you "think", Todd. However, this thread that YOU STARTED is not discussing the President. NOBODY has brought up the President, until you, Todd, just did.
We were talking about NASA, and falling tiles over California, and debunking some "journalists" theories.
Try to stay on topic, on your own thread.
The DIFFERENCE is that airplanes have fairly HARD, SOLID skins. They can get "dings" like a car and although it might slightly alter the aerodynamics a bit, the skin is not easily punctured.
The Shuttle, however, has a black heat-shield which is a VERY THIN, BRITTLE, FRAGILE coating on top of STYROFOAM. The coating has no supporting backing if something hits it, so it just punctures it, leaving HIGHLY-FLAMMABLE STYROFOAM exposed.
Also, planes stop from time to time and are EXAMINED when they do stop. The Shuttle was not examined for damage even though it COULD have been examined.
See my post #185.
Well, when we are flying a shuttle, if it was worn out, it should never have gone out. WE are not trying to point fingers here, but trying to find out the reason for the crash, so we do not get any more of them in the future.
You're right, I missed your "n't" on your "would". Sorry. :^) It's getting late, my eyes have about had it, I need to get my off this thread so I can hit the hay that much earlier. I tried to earlier.
To the point: I believe that burn-through would taken the few minutes it took for the shuttle to get from California to Texas at least. The shuttle was traveling at 3.3 miles a second. A few minutes of burn-through would've covered the distance from California to Texas.
Apparently somebody in the government decided to keep THIS technology until 2020 (can that possibly be right????); I swear that is what I heard today!
I read your post and started to respond to it. Then I decided that most of the stupid things you put in there would have been answered had you watched the press conference today.
BTW, your writing style is very similiar to another freeper.....beginning with ex.....?
That could be very possible. But, I would prefer a trusted older technology to something new and untested. I think our current aircraft carrier technnology is going to last for another 50 years or so.
If they said the shuttle "columbia" was old and had a lot of wear andtear and it should not fly, that might make more sense in not trying to fly it. But from what we hear, the shuttle is inspected throughly after and before each trip and am sure this inspection is through.
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