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.

[Beenliedto]

Jay Barbree emphasizes that there would still have been nothing that could have been done, even if the gash was that big, no matter how much of a ruckus would have been made.

Maybe they could have looked at some alternative means of getting them down?

[Axenolith]

I'm pretty good about boarding flights that are already going where I'm headed. Now, if they make an unscheduled detour...

[Fitzcarraldo]

Your screen name is well suited to this kind of mission.

Here is the astronaut who voiced his opinion that the crew of Columbia might have been rescued by Atlantis. He is retired now from the Astronaut Corps, but is currently chief Test Pilot with a southern California aircraft manufacturer.

L. Blaine Hammond, Jr. (Colonel, USAF) NASA Astronaut

NAME: L. Blaine Hammond, Jr. (Colonel, USAF)

NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born January 16, 1952, in Savannah, Georgia, but considers St. Louis, Missouri, as his hometown. Son, Michael Blaine. He enjoys tennis, golf, racquetball, squash, snow skiing, sailing, and scuba diving. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd B. Hammond, Sr., reside in Stuart, Florida.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri, in 1969; received a bachelor of science degree in engineering science and mechanics from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1973, and a master of science degree in engineering science and mechanics from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1974.

ORGANIZATIONS:

Member of the Air Force Academy Association of Graduates, Air Force Association, and the Order of Daedalians.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Distinguished Graduate USAF Academy, Commander's Trophy, and Flying Training Award in Undergraduate Pilot Training. Defense Superior Service Medal, NASA Space Flight Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal (2).

EXPERIENCE:

Hammond received his pilot wings at Reese Air Force Base, Texas, in 1975. He was assigned to the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing 496th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Hahn Air Base, Germany, flying the F-4E from 1976 to 1979. In 1979-1980, he was an Instructor Pilot in the F-5B/E/F at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, training a variety of foreign national students. He attended the Empire Test Pilot School (ETPS) at A&AEE Boscombe Down, United Kingdom, in 1981. Hammond returned to Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1982, where he managed several projects in the 6512 Test Squadron until being assigned as an instructor at the USAF Test Pilot School. As a test pilot school instructor, he flew the F-4/A-7/A-37, and was the High Angle of Attack program monitor, teaching stall/spin theory and flight training.

He has logged over 4,500 hours in 15 American and 10 RAF aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Selected by NASA in May 1984, Hammond became an astronaut in June 1985, and is qualified for assignment as a pilot/commander on future Space Shuttle flight crews. His technical assignments include having served in Mission Control as an ascent/entry spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM). In that capacity he was directly involved in the decision-making process for flight rules, procedures, techniques, and launch commit criteria. He was also assigned as an Astronaut Support Person (ASP), or "Cape Crusader," responsible for monitoring Orbiter status as it undergoes testing and maintenance at KSC during preparations for the next flight. Hammond also served as the lead astronaut supporting the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) which tests and verifies the flight software for each Shuttle mission. Hammond was the lead astronaut supporting Orbiter software development and changes, including the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) avionics upgrade. He also worked on designing new cockpit flight instruments/systems displays for the Multifunctional Electronic Display System (MEDS), a major cockpit upgrade to electronic display systems. A veteran of two space flights, Hammond has logged over 462 hours in space. He flew on STS-39 in 1991, and STS-64 in 1994.

Colonel Hammond flew as pilot of Discovery on STS-39, the first unclassified Department of Defense mission (April 28 to May 6, 1991). He logged 199 hours and 23 minutes of space flight. The seven-man crew performed numerous scientific experiments to collect data on atmospheric infrared and ultraviolet phenomena including a deploy and rendezvous in support of the Strategic Defense Initiative Office (SDIO).

Recently, he was the pilot on STS-64 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Mission highlights included: first use of lasers for environmental research; deployment and retrieval of a solar science satellite; robotic processing of semiconductors; use of RMS boom for jet thruster research; first untethered spacewalk in 10 years to test a self-rescue jetpack. Mission duration was 10 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes.

Following STS-64, Hammond completed 5 months of intensive Russian language training as preparation for assignment as the Deputy for Operations, Russia. That assignment was subsequently changed to NASA Liaison to USAF HQ/AFSPC, Colorado Springs, where he worked several issues to strengthen ties between NASA, AFSPC, and USAF Astronauts. Hammond was also assigned as Lead Ascent/Entry CAPCOM for missions STS-73 through STS-78. During the same period, Hammond served as the Branch Chief of the Flight Support Branch, supervising CAPCOM and ASP activities. Hammond is currently assigned as the Branch Chief of the Astronaut Office Safety Branch where he monitors all T-38, Shuttle, and Space Station safety issues.

OCTOBER 1997

[al_c]

No worries.

[js1138]

My dream would be a separate "emergency module" within the shuttle which has good enough armor to survive re-entry itself. That and you routinely do a pre-reentry EVA to check for tile damage on the outer shuttle. If you find enough to scare you, you re-enter in your pristine "little shuttle."

Wouldn't have to be included in the shuttle package. Just a Gemini-style re-entry capsule that could be launched on a moment's notice by a solid-fuel booster. Ditto for a robo-cam.

These would be bare-bones items, not luxury suites.

[Fitzcarraldo]

The week turn around time would have made the operation horribly risky,

Fortuitously, the Atlantis was being prepared for its next launch.

[Poohbah]

The video shown on Fox looks like the shuttle went sideways, with the port side leading.

Problem: the Fox video was shot with a lens of insufficient focal length to show the Shuttle as anything more than a featureless point; any appearance of the Shuttle going sideways COULD be an artifact of the camera lens iris.

Additionally, I fail to see how increasing drag on the left side relative to the right side would cause the left side to lead into any yaw movement.

[Coop]

Another prime example of big government working toward the benefit of us all. Funded by the taxpayers of the United States of America.

Congrats on the stupidest post I've seen in 2003.

[Poohbah]

Fortuitously, the Atlantis was being prepared for its next launch.

You do not just shave thirty days off of the prelaunch schedule without consequence.

[Mo1]

MSNBC is reporting that 3 electronic components thought to be the same as a black box was found in Texas

[Chad Fairbanks]

Why didn't they just build the shuttle out of the same stuff black boxes are made of? ;0) (Hey, SOMEONE Had to be the first to ask, and I bet I won't be the last)

Thanks for the head's up, Mo!

[bvw]

It's to us now too. We can't say -- "Oh, just let them handle it." Sure, the people at NASA considered many things, etc. Yet -- we have now been notified. We can't say, "Well, just continue."

Nor should we be rash in any assumptions. We have a duty to satisify ourselves that thw right thing is beiong done, for the right reasons. Should another Shuttle ever be launched? We don't yet know.

Very heroic to say, "Sure" -- but that would be a fool's heroism, the nature of a dangerous dare.

That NASA has played tooo much the pollyanna with the heat deflecting tiles seems a fair bet -- yet it's a bet, not certain. All to be discovered. And not just within the confines of NASA, but to all off us.

Set a high bar, not a low one.

[js1138]

thought to be the same as a black box was found ...

Now that could be some actual news.

[Fitzcarraldo]

You do not just shave thirty days off of the prelaunch schedule without consequence.

With conservation, starting early, the crew of the Columbia could have lasted at least that long.

[Poohbah]

You'd have to conserve long enough for the crew to last 44 days (January 16th to March 1st).

[Mo1]

Maybe they could have looked at some alternative means of getting them down?

I am not an expert in this area but of all that I have been able to read .. there weren't many options in getting them back down.

The shuttle didn't have fuel to get to the space station and even if they did have fuel, they were not equiped to dock, plus they were to heavey to even try that.

[TennesseeProfessor]

Ok...If the Columbia cannot dock with the ISS, what makes you think that a spacecraft that CAN dock with the ISS would be able to dock with the Columbia???? Use your head, man...

I was thinking that if the resupply ship navigated near to the shuttle, the crew could retreive the supplies without docking. Anothjer poster told me that the crew had no EVA suits and would not have been able to get to the resupply ship even it did rendevous.

[ThinkingMan]

It is my understanding that the pitch and yaw are controlled by computer. I was thinking on the lines of the computer overcompensating for the sudden heating.

It would make more sense if the heating caused a sudden flattening of the port leading edge- it would reduce the drag coefficient and (if I remember correctly) increase lift.

As I stated- just pure speculation on my part- my aerospace experience is limited to the design of model rockets. I will patiently wait for NASA to explain.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Congrats on the stupidest post I've seen in 2003.

Your intelligence, bravery and courage from behind your keyboard is humbling to say the least. Neener Neener.

[Mo1]

Maybe the box had a parachute??