YOU ARE A REPORTER. What Question would you ask Sean O'Keefe about the shuttle tragedy?

[MSgt Smith]

To my knowledge the tile is the only system on the shuttle that is a single point of failure. When the tile goes its total loss of the orbiter. All the other systems have back ups or have contingency plans. My question would be “ The shuttle program is twenty years old the technology is older then that. Why haven’t we replaced the tile or backed it up with another system”

(I may have the name wrong but didn’t a British man invent what he called star dust I’m sure one of us Freepers will know what I’m talking about and have the correct name. As I remember it is a paste that can be painted on that is impervious to heat)

[Spyder]

"Why isnt there ejection seats for such a problem???"

At first I thought you meant we needed ejection seats for stupid reporters. Wouldn't that be fun? I can just see Rumsfeld gleefully hitting the eject button repeatedly. SPROING!!!!!! "Next question?"

[Spyder]

Oops - sorry to duplicate your joke above - you beat me to it.

[CharacterCounts]

1. How many times has insulation flaked off in the past?

2. Where there any difference in the insulation used on flights that experienced flaking from those that did not?

3. What types of studies have been conducted to determine the cause of the flaking?

[Timesink]

I thought the media did an awful job with the thousands of questions they have asked. Some questions have been asked multiple times.

One of the sad realities of life is that most reporters (not all, but most) are truly less educated than the average intelligent person. Worse, few media outlets still have "beats" any more, that allowed a reporter to become truly knowledgable in his/her field. Instead, they're simply assigned to cover the story of the day as best they can and then moved on to the next completely unrelated event. Most of these reporters never knew any more about the space shuttle than they learned about it in junior high, and certainly haven't had any time in the last few days to study the matter. All they can do is chase, chase, Chase That Story!

There's a reason NBC pulls Jay Barbree out of retirement every time something newsworthy happens regarding the space program: He knows this stuff inside and out, and is more qualified to cover this tragedy than all the other reporters at NBC put together.

[Fair Paul]

Mr O'Keefe, since the rate of black people killed on Columbia (1/7) exceeds the percentage of the black population in the United States as a whole, is NASA a racist organization?

Thank you, Al Sharpton

[1Old Pro]

To my knowledge the tile is the only system on the shuttle that is a single point of failure. This would be a good question in and by itself. I heard that a single loss tile is not catastrophic and indeed many shuttles have lost a tile or two. As for a question: Perhaps we could ask how many lost tiles would be considered deadly?

[1Old Pro]

Mr O'Keefe, since the rate of black people killed on Columbia (1/7) exceeds the percentage of the black population in the United States as a whole, is NASA a racist organization?

That was already asked by Dan Rather, as was "How did Bush cause this"....asked by that old bag who sits up front at the news conferences.

[narby]

Is it possible that the insulation that fell from the External Tank (ET) on launch could have damaged one of the doors where the ET is mounted on the orbiter.

These doors MUST close after launch, and I believe that they are hanging out in the breeze, so they could have easily been damaged.

[End The Hypocrisy]

Now that Jeb Bush has won an historic re-election in Florida, can we finally do something about the $600 million per flight U.S. Space Shuttle monopoly?   NASA, will your bureaucrats and pet contractors continue trying to overlook President Bush's admirable "competitive sourcing" mantra?  Meanwhile, will the Administration finally stop peculiarly neglecting to apply it, or at least explain why only two potential "competitors" were consulted regarding the central planners' pet orbital spaceplane Shuttle replacement project?  Here's our page dedicated to scrutinizing NASA's Space Shuttle's monopoly on human spaceflight from the USA.

[Erasmus]

PhiKapMom:

It is like these so-called "journalist" have been watching too many Star Wars movies

1Old Pro:

Exactly. I would think that they could hire an expert to write the questions for them. Sheesh.

Indeed. It shows not only that they don't know what they're talking about, but also that they don't know that they don't know what they're talking about.

[End The Hypocrisy]

Have you noticed how the protectionist aerospace cabal of contractors, bureaucrats and politically manipulative types haven't let our space program finally fund competitive prizes to reward the first companies that relatively swiftly bring about a replacement for that over-priced, conveniently labor-intensive and central planner-aggrandizing  Shuttle monopoly?  

[narby]

Could the recent change in the foam to use more environmentally frendly chemicals (no freon) have made a difference?

[End The Hypocrisy]

Here's a query:

Why do we continue giving the Space Shuttle a monopoly regarding taking humans into space from the USA? Did you know that a Russian Soyuz mission carrying humans into space costs approximately $20 million, and has a better safety record than NASA's monopolistic $600 million-per-flight U.S. Space Shuttle? Ah, but for decades NASA's bureaucrats have enjoyed preserving the shuttle as a "cash cow" or "full-employment-act-for-bureaucrats" and their pet contractor allies.   However, do you not see now more than ever what such selfish inefficiency has cost our astronauts?   Aren't pro-entrepreneurial reforms regarding space exploration long overdue?   And as for the Shuttle: why not privatize it and let it sink-or-swim on its own? If it can't survive, then why should taxpayers continue having to pay over half a billion dollars per trip to prop it up?    Shouldn't genuinely privatized means of delivering humans into space  from the U.S.A. finally be given a chance?

[RossA]

Proposed questions:

1. Are there any contingency plans to reduce stress-during-reentry on a shuttle wing, if there is known or suspected damage to that wing, e.g., by changing the configuartion of the "roll reversals"?

2. Are there any current or future plans to detect shuttle damage during launch in time to abort the mission and land the shuttle immediately, e.g., in Morocco? Were the launch films reviewed within the abort time window?

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" The stupidest thing I heard was an ABC Radio reporter-ette commenting that "the astronauts have parachutes, and would have to get out the escape hatch".

Perhaps it was the same female ABC radio reporter I heard on Sat afternoon, describing the Shuttle as having " crashed and burned"-not once,but, at least 3 times. Then she couldn't figure out the altitude that this happened-first she said "200,000 miles," paused as she didn't think that sounded right and then said 200,000 feet and when that didn't sound right,she went back to the 200,000 miles figure. Scary to think that she is imparting news to the masses,wonder what else she gets wrong?

[virgil]

Did anybody find any debris, tiles, fuselage, etc., that could have originated from the shuttle orbiter ( not the big fuel tank) itself on the launch pad after launch?

[Jackie]

I would tell Sean that the debris doesn't seem to be smashed beyond damage done while aloft, that there are no craters, and that the debris appears to have floated down to a soft landing, and ask him to explain.

[evad]

Mr O'Keefe, since the rate of black people killed on Columbia (1/7) exceeds the percentage of the black population in the United States as a whole, is NASA a racist organization?
Thank you, Al Sharpton

That rev al really knows how to ax a sensible question :)

[Cooter]

What is the separation rate of the new "environmentally friendly" foam compared to the old foam used on the external booster?