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.
With friends like this, who needs enemies?
You are right. This is a real possibility that has not been ruled out at this time. Of everything I've seen and read on this unfortunate accident the last two days I have not seen it addressed
It's OK for you to start believing we can't, at least on this vehicle system.
It's unbelievable the forces, loads and temperatures involved. In the conference they said they had no hand holds, etc., on the underside. One reason they don't is that the surface must be absolutely aerodynamically smooth with effectively no steps or gaps between the tiles.
Just like in welding, it's almost impossible to torch through a perfectly flat surface. It is necessary to punch a nick into the surface so that then the heat will be able to collect on the sharp edge (like a burned cookie) and start softening it, then migrate into the base material. Then the torch can then penetrate the metal pool. Likewise, any handhold on the underside would immediately create a hot spot and the thermal protection would burn through, causing a loss of the orbiter.
When you think how smooth these fragile tiles have to be, one has to wonder if an astronaut would do more damage to surrounding tiles (nicks & scratches per the above) than he could fix, if he could fix it.
That's the part that really has me steamed. And I believe that I know where that kind of BS is coming from. Funny, ain't it, the libs build a "no-fault" cultural environment in which every criminal has an out for his behavior, and yet......
And, then, of course, when people challenged you on that post, you started posting yet ANOTHER article that said Bush had done right by NASA.
See what I mean? You never take a position and stick with it. You'll change your posts depending on whoever comes along and challenges you.
I'm not a thread nanny. That being said, since your main claim to fame all over the internet is "holding people's feet to the fire," I will do the same to you. When you post tripe, I will point it out.
You seem to think you're some sort of FR Paul Revere, "The rats are coming, the rats are coming."
It would help if you decided what YOU believe in -- and I don't mean whatever Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh write in their next column -- and stick with the facts to back it up.
Facts?
You have facts that NASA has yet to uncover?
You have facts and have reached a conclusion BEFORE the most sophisticated space agency in the world can get the investigation rolling?
Where do you get your facts?
What equipment and facilities do you have that NASA does not have?
What PROOF do you have to substantiate your "facts"?
The entire weight of the Federal government is directed at finding out what truly happened here, but TLBSHOW has the "facts" already?
BTW, in English, the statement would read "those are the facts", or maybe even "these are the facts".
I have a feeling you go to other sites and claim to have "freeped us good."
Yep. Murphy's Law.
And with equipment as complicated as the shuttle, it's gonna take the experts a long, long time to figure out exactly what.
And there's always the possibility that they might not recover the debris that will allow them to determine the cause with absolute certainty. Frankly, when I stop to think about the enormity of the task, I'm amazed they do as well as they do with "routine" airline crashes.
He slammed you "but good," and you thanked him?
Good grief.
Nice diversion, Todd.
Answer Luis' questions.
Where are you FACTS.
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