BREAKING: NBC News finds Jan 30 NASA Memo showing serious concern about tile damage!

NBC News | February 3, 2003 | Jay Barbree

[Timesink]

Developing. Watch MSNBC for latest. Internal memo shows some engineers believe there was up to a 7 1/2-inch gash from the foam breakoff at launch. Memo was serious enough to go out to all NASA centers two days before disaster.

[Howlin]

It doesn't fit the agenda here.

[Man of the Right]

A pitiful attempt to sensationalize the obvious. A space craft may burn up on re-entry. You may drown in a swimming pool.

[TLBSHOW]

this isn't a hatchet job its NASA that did NOT do their lob and 7 people are dead!

[Howlin]

And look at all the Freepers who are willing to jump in. Pathetic.

[TLBSHOW]

this isn't a hatchet job its NASA that did NOT do their job and 7 people are dead!

[aristeides]

Those people have probably never worked in government. Anyone who has been in government knows how much incompetence there is in it.

[Howlin]

THEY ONLY HAD ENOUGH OXYGEN UNTIL WEDNESDAY.

Don't you know these people will NEVER believe that!!

[Helen]

My goodness! If some of the posters on this thread (of supposedly intelligent FReepers) reflects the thinking of the larger population, NASA is in for an incredibly rough go. Many will never hear their struggle as they work through to find the the answers, will never hear their pain as they discuss it, and will never accept the answers when they come.

[Desdemona]

On another thread someone pointed out that ABC radio wondered why they didn't parachute out -- 200,000+ parachuting out!

Without a pressure suit and whole heck of a lot of oxygen? At mach 18? HALO jumps aren't even ANYWHERE CLOSE that high or fast and they require oxygen and extra protection.

This is all driving me nuts. We're not talking about firing up the old 747 and taking it out for a spin.

[TLBSHOW]

BEING DEBUNKED BY YOU MEANS NOTHING AS NASA NOW POINTS OUT IT HAPPENED AT RE-ENTRY AND BURNED ALL THE WAY IN.

what was it your said? should I get your posts?

[Miss Marple]

I want to know how many times we have to say "The Columbia couldn't get to the space station." Twenty, thirty, fifty?

Jeesh!

[al_c]

Columbia is too heavy for the amount of thrust the Shuttle stack provides.

Got it. Thanks.

[HairOfTheDog]

this isn't a hatchet job its NASA that did NOT do their job and 7 people are dead!

It is a hatchet job because we don't KNOW anything about what caused this crash yet, and you have convicted them already.

[Fred Mertz]

Anyone who has been in government knows how much incompetence there is in it.

Amen, brother.

[anniegetyourgun]

I'm amazed at the surety you exhibit in knowing exactly what happened, how it happened, and who is to blame. You must be nothing short of omniscient.

[Dave S]

Why do I think that someone will be manufacturing a "Bush Knew" out of this?

I heard that already on the radio. They were reporting this guy at NASA had warned the president that this was going to happen. Sent a letter to the White House.

[Man of the Right]

It would have been a stretch.

Prior to the accident, NASA was hard-pressed to launch a total of 4-5 times a year with four craft. Normally, mission training takes years and launch preparation takes two to three months. Moreover, there's no equipment for effecting a Shuttle-Shuttle evacuation, no one is trained to do it, and the majority of astronauts have absolutely no training for leaving the spacecraft. If it were known that re-entry was impossible shortly after launch, NASA would have been under great political pressure to try a high-risk rescue. The outcome would have been an Apollo 13 national high or a Desert One national low involving more deaths and possibly the loss of another Shuttle. Given the lack of preparation, the latter was statistically more likely than the former.

[timestax]

Annie, you nailed it. There was a Freeper on Saturday who works for NASA and made that very point. There was no way to repair any damage. If they went to the space station (if even possible) there weren't enough supplies to handle the crew, and there was no way down from there short of sending another shuttle to get them.

YEAH BUT..what's the use of having a "space station" if it can't be used in an emergency? And I'm sure if enough scientist, and engineers put their brains to work, they could come up with a way to temporarily repair tile damage in space. And if a shuttle is "too heavy" to reach space station, it should be mothballed and maybe put in a space museum.

[TLBSHOW]

BUMP

[TLBSHOW]

THANKS!