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.

[TLBSHOW]

I see that this happened just as I said it did Saturday night.

[Poohbah]

It is my understanding that the pitch and yaw are controlled by computer.

Within limits.

Once the catastrophic failure began, no amount of computer control was going to stop it.

[bvw]

Not an analogue. More like, imagine you are that Brit who owns Virgin Airlines. One of your pilots runs a plane off the runway, people get hurt. Your managers say "Ah, but it was all following standard procedures. We'll deal with it."

Do you then do -- accept that at face, or do you check into it yourself, in addition to letting them handle it?

And to take it further ... the same pilot, ran a plane off a runway five years back. Then, a trustworthy independent investigator you hired said you have problems with both pilot and managment. You make some fixes then, but no major ones.

How responsible are you?

[Gracey]

These memo's are not unusual at NASA. It's always easy to dig up memos after the fact. They go on everyday. However, did any of the memo's address this particular issue...foam falling off ET and hitting critical carbon carbon tiles on leading edge, etc??? I doubt it. This is NOT a money or upgrade type problem. It's an issue with keeping that Foam ON the ET.

[Mo1]

thought to be the same as a black box was found ...
Now that could be some actual news.

Depends on what kind of shape it's in

[Mo1]

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR .... You Drive me nuts .. LOL

[ThinkingMan]

Exactly- that is why I am leaning towards a sudden flattening of the wing. Thanks for your insight and your endless defense of their inability to get to the space station! Keep up the good work.

[Fitzcarraldo]

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

Astronaut Hammond thought it could be readied in a week.

For a rescue mission you'd probably only need two astronauts (commander, pilot, both trained in EVA), use of the Canada arm and set up the crew cabin for nine to return.

The total length on orbit would probably only need to be a few days. Columbia might then be placed in a higher orbit for later repairs.

[TLBSHOW]

These NASA talking heads are toast!

[FReepaholic]

>>...Many dont seem to understand that the Columbia is a glider, not a jet plane...<<

I'm seeing a heck of a lot of people online and co-workers (here on the Space Coast who should know better), jump to conclusions based on lack of knowledge about the shuttle program.

They're attacking NASA and proposing all kinds of things "NASA should have done".

It's disheartening.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Or the Black Boxes could have docked with the ISS and waited for a new Shuttle... ;0)

[VadeRetro]

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.

Very good! NASA needs to hire us at once. (Well, you anyway.)

[tm22721]

NASA engineers could have been heroes pulling off another Apollo XIII.

Now they may be cursed.

BUMP

[Fitzcarraldo]

They're attacking NASA and proposing all kinds of things "NASA should have done".

This is what NASA is (or should be) all about. Excruciatingly self-critical and willing to accept criticism from outsiders.

[Poohbah]

From your earlier post, my words in bold italic, yours in regular italic:

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.

And I pointed out that the Shuttle would be crewed for over six weeks...whereupon you said:

Astronaut Hammond thought it could be readied in a week.

Which brings me back to the point that you do not shave almost an entire month off of the launch prep without serious consequences.

You're arguing both sides at the same time, whichever is useful for bashing NASA. Are you a trial lawyer?

[freebilly]

Probablt at least one will say it was God's will because our country is straying from the faith, and another that it has to do with our govts stance on abortion.

....US policies in the Mid East.....

[Chad Fairbanks]

Now they may be cursed? By who? Those seeking a scapegoat long before any evidence is in? All based on a questionable memo, of unknown and unverified validity????

[Dave S]

it's like trying to arrange a rendevous between a car on I-70 and a car on I-40.

Actually its a lot harder since I-70 and I-40 merge on the Poplar Street Bridge in St. Louis. At least here you could stop the vehicles on the bridge or attempt a rescue like in the movie "Speed." Not something that you can do in space.

[myrabach]

I would never set a low bar with this and I seriously doubt that NASA has done that... "back in the days" my Father worked for GE in the Missile and Space Division, and was seriously wooed by NASA. I can assure you that at that time, quality was of the highest standards -- and that is not an assumption.

While the American public may be complacent with the space program, I absolutely doubt that NASA has become complacent. There is just too much at stake, and every person involved with the program realizes that only too well.

To me, raising the bar does not mean heeding the whims of a public that neither knows nor cares about what has been going on with our space program.

I have no doubt the problem will be identified and will be fixed... you may not like the answers; but then when did you begin to ask the questions? We are talking about people who admit to being a tight-knit community whose lives center around these missions. To suggest that they are cavalier about the lives of those in that community, is a totally invalid assumption.

[stuartcr]

Yeah, that too.