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.
He was NOT complimenting you.
Thanks? LOL!
Damned near impossible, I'd say. First, NASA has about a zillion computers, the odds of hacking into the right one, which contained the source code for the re-entry control software, would be astronomical -- presuming it's even reachable, it may well be kept off the network for security's sake, and might not even be "at" NASA at all, I'm not sure what company might have the subcontract for that work, it could be in California for all we know.
Second, the hacker would have to find the right version of the software, read it, and *understand* it well enough to know what he was looking at and how to tweak it so that it would do the desired effect, instead of just crashing, and in a way that wouldn't be immediately obvious. Then he'd have to ensure that the changes weren't noticed -- I'm sure NASA has multiple procedures to detect software alterations (not just against hacking, but to ensure that someone doesn't accidentally install the wrong version by mistake).
Finally, and here's the tough one, he'd have to find a way to get the ground-based, development version of the software to be uploaded to the Columbia and installed as its new onboard working version. That's almost certainly not something that can be instigated "remotely", it would have to be manually installed by a technician (and then tested and retested) only a result of a legitimate workorder.
It'd be a hell of a lot easier to just sneak a Stinger missile onto the landing runway...
Like it or not, this is the result of failing to thoroughly check things out. Oh, they "analyzed" this and "concluded" that, but in the end NASA decided to just keep their fingers crossed. They should have checked it out.
I had him on while reading these posts but I couldn't stand him any more and turned him off. Being somewhat familiar with the subject, he's way off base.
I had/have some theories but it's a lot more interesting watching the truth emerge and looking for where it will come from. One of the thoughts is that with all the video on the breakup it should be pretty easy to match the pieces in the video to the debris field and work it backwards to identify the sequence of parts breaking up. There was one large component that separated to the South and sure enough there was a large debris site separated from the general field to the South. I expect that video from different angles (plus possibly radar) could determine if the path is south or just low.
They are also expecting additional "compromised" data for 30(?) more seconds after what we have heard so far. I think NASA is doing a fine job through this whole ordeal. I hate to see Drudge and people that are not knowledgeable stir up the politicos and waste more time and money.
Accidents do just happen, you numbskull. And no, there's not always a cause. Stuff happens.
Well, you have come to the wrong thread then........LOL.
It's not good enough. It is too early to tell with the Columbia disaster, but the Challenger disaster was a nightmare of incompetence, negligence and carelessness. Totally avoidable.
Foot <--------------tap, tap, tap........
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