Replies

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.

Having listened to Dittemore at the news conference, it seemed that the fact that they couldn't do anything about tile damage if they discovered it, played a role in dismissing any investigation into the tile damage.

TLBSHOW WROTE: "Having listened to Dittemore at the news conference, it seemed that the fact that they couldn't do anything about tile damage if they discovered it, played a role in dismissing any investigation into the tile damage."

It seems to me that they COULD have done something about it!

They could have:
(1) NOT left the earth's atmosphere in the first place, scratched the mission and headed back for home
(2) Gone on the mission, but NOT reentered the earth's atmosphere until (3) and (4) were done
(3) Instead, gone to the Space Station and tethered Colombia until a space walk could be done---now or on another Shuttle Flight
(4) Do a space walk to VISUALLY EXAMINE the entire craft, particularly the left wing (and underneath it), and REPAIR the damage (now if posible or later if necessary)
(5) Ride down on the Russian Soyeus (sp?) that was coming up to the Space Station on either Sunday, Monday or Tuesday to get back to earth and pick up needed parts for repairs
(6) Send another large crew back up in another Shuttle to do the repairs and fly both the new Shuttle and the Colombia home

After seeing on the local news how UTTERLY FRAGILE and BRITTLE the black heat-shield covering is which covers the HIGHLY FLAMMABLE STYOFOAM, it is INCONCEIVABLE that NASA would NOT assume the black heat shield would LIKELY be damaged and UNSAFE!!!

I don't care if that turns out NOT to be the cause of the problem (although I would be extremely surprised if if didn't have something to do with it)---NASA SHOULD NEVER HAVE ASSUMED THERE WAS NO DAMAGE TO THE EXTREMELY FRAGILE AND BRITTLE HEAT-SHIELD WITHOUT VISUALLY EXAMINING IT WITH A SPACE WALK---NOW OR ON ANOTHER SHUTTLE FLIGHT!!!

Also, NASA needs to IMMEDIATELY find a heat-resistant substance that is not nearly so FRAGILE and BRITTLE!

BTW, the fact that the "Go ahead" guy took sooooooo long to give them the "Go ahead"---literally at the last second---could very easily have contributed to the problem because it meant that Colombia had LESS TIME to start SLOWING DOWN.

David Finfrock (KXAS-NBC-DFW) noticed that Colombia was TWO MINUTES EARLY when it crossed the DFW area (8:01 AM CST instead of 8:03 AM CST)---i.e. possibly GOING TOO FAST. Being TWO MINUTES OFF on a Space Shuttle is a LOT of time!

TLBSHOW WROTE: "Having listened to Dittemore at the news conference, it seemed that the fact that they couldn't do anything about tile damage if they discovered it, played a role in dismissing any investigation into the tile damage."

It seems to me that they COULD have done something about it!

They could have:
(1) NOT left the earth's atmosphere in the first place, scratched the mission and headed back for home
(2) Gone on the mission, but NOT reentered the earth's atmosphere until (3) and (4) were done
(3) Instead, gone to the Space Station and tethered Colombia until a space walk could be done---now or on another Shuttle Flight
(4) Do a space walk to VISUALLY EXAMINE the entire craft, particularly the left wing (and underneath it), and REPAIR the damage (now if posible or later if necessary)
(5) Ride down on the Russian Soyeus (sp?) that was coming up to the Space Station on either Sunday, Monday or Tuesday to get back to earth and pick up needed parts for repairs
(6) Send another large crew back up in another Shuttle to do the repairs and fly both the new Shuttle and the Colombia home

After seeing on the local news how UTTERLY FRAGILE and BRITTLE the black heat-shield covering is which covers the HIGHLY FLAMMABLE STYOFOAM, it is INCONCEIVABLE that NASA would NOT assume the black heat shield would LIKELY be damaged and UNSAFE!!!

I don't care if that turns out NOT to be the cause of the problem (although I would be extremely surprised if if didn't have something to do with it)---NASA SHOULD NEVER HAVE ASSUMED THERE WAS NO DAMAGE TO THE EXTREMELY FRAGILE AND BRITTLE HEAT-SHIELD WITHOUT VISUALLY EXAMINING IT WITH A SPACE WALK---NOW OR ON ANOTHER SHUTTLE FLIGHT!!!

Also, NASA needs to IMMEDIATELY find a heat-resistant substance that is not nearly so FRAGILE and BRITTLE!

BTW, the fact that the "Go ahead" guy took sooooooo long to give them the "Go ahead"---literally at the last second---could very easily have contributed to the problem because it meant that Colombia had LESS TIME to start SLOWING DOWN.

David Finfrock (KXAS-NBC-DFW) noticed that Colombia was TWO MINUTES EARLY when it crossed the DFW area (8:01 AM CST instead of 8:03 AM CST)---i.e. possibly GOING TOO FAST. Being TWO MINUTES OFF on a Space Shuttle is a LOT of time!