Live Thread: NASA PRESS CONFERENCE

http://www.freerepublic.com ^ | February 3, 2002

[Howlin]

NASA press conference today........in 15 minutes!

[mikegi]

2 of the 4 yaw jets were firing on the right side...

Why would the right jets fire if the left side had drag. Wouldn't the drag on the left turn the shuttle left and thus the left jets should fire to turn it right?

[PhiKapMom]

Temperature would be higher in the wheel well if there was a breech in structure. I wondered about that. If it was 2000 on the outside, the temperature would have seemed to be more than a rise of 60 degrees inside the wheel well.

[Dog]

That is what the man said...

[NautiNurse]

Have they explained what the normal temps in the wheel well, etc., normally would be at this point?

[Dog]

No.

[Howlin]

First film review on the 17th. First engineering meetings on the 20th.

Final engineering reviews on the 23 and 24th.

More discussions with Mission Mangement Team.

Conclusion: the debris did not represent a harzard to the vehicle.

[Dog]

If I am writing the headline from this today so far....it would be....

Problem on Shuttle began over CA..

[Howlin]

20X16X6, weight 2.67 pounds.

Size determined in two ways: looked at film and estimated.

Secondly, utlilized information from 112 -- they had the film the flight crew took as the ET separated from the orbiter.

[PhiKapMom]

It only went up 60 degrees is what he said and not outside the realm of change it looks like. Just something to look at but not alarming.

He seems to be slamming the press about the size of the foam which has grown by the hour. It is not feet as reported by Fox, it was inches and weighed a couple of pounds.

[Howlin]

That is their estimate based on their viewing of films of 107 and 112.

[PhiKapMom]

Don't forget inches not feet as some networks have been describing it in feet not inches.

This guy is doing great IMO!

[PhiKapMom]

I hope Cavuto who said this was most likely the cause of the crash is watching!

[Frank_Discussion]

If the ship were turning left, the right rear jets could fire to counter the motion. Or, if the drag was producing lift on the left side and turning the ship to the right, the right front jets could fire. The control systems are distributed on the shuttle.

[Howlin]

Right......I left off the " marks.

[Dog]

Just remember this was a FROZEN piece of foam ....striking the shuttle at a high rate of speed.

This sounds like a one in a million type accident.

[PhiKapMom]

No problem -- I just didn't want what the press was reporting "feet" to be picked up by our tinfoil hat crowd here!

[Howlin]

I hope everybody realizes all this work was done by the 24th of January.

Sounds like they looked at it from every angle they could imagine.

[PhiKapMom]

Listen to his explanation -- we have lost tile before -- this would not be enough to cause a catastrophic event.

[PhiKapMom]

His explanation was very good and it shows that this foam could not have caused the damage that would have brought down the shuttle.

[Howlin]

It sounds like they took the highest numbers that they could find (as outside numbers) and worked it from ALL the angles.