Live Thread: NASA PRESS CONFERENCE

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

[Howlin]

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

[woodyinscc]

" Does not seem like the wheel well is the problem!"

I am thankful they are not going to take the easy, and most obvious answer. It is very important that NASA maintains the highest credibility.

[NautiNurse]

I was told no

[PhiKapMom]

According to what he was saying it was not going up significantly to have caused the problem so fast. It was 2000 degrees outside on the wing which would have meant the inside should have heated very rapidly not just a 60 degree rise. It was 7 minutes and the temperature did not rise signficantly after the initial rise.

[_Jim]

He doesn't seem to believe there was debris like some people in CA have been reporting either!

He just finished saying that they *are* interested in ANY debris that might be found in CA or elsewhere ... THEY KNOW the breakup didn't just occur over Texas ...

[Howlin]

Does it sound to you like they've been professional, vigilant, whatever you want to call it.

IN other words, they haven't been LAZY as some on here have said.

[Frank_Discussion]

Yes, but anything outside of perfect during launch gets a double take. They were doing there jobs.

[NautiNurse]

That's why I am curious about what "normal" temp is.

[Cboldt]

All of the press conferences made that point clear, the external tank insulation shed event has happened in the past, has been analyzed in detail (so there is a substantial knowledge base). I am impressed that they so openly questioned their deeply reasoned assumption, right from the start.

[Howlin]

Actually, that's not the impression I got from what he said; I thought he meant he had SEEN those reports and they were going to LOOK in the areas where the people say that they "saw" something.......like they were going to prove that it didn't happen.

[winodog]

He is waiting for a piece of tile to be found west of Texas.It will have a # on it that will tell him where the piece of tile came from.

[_Jim]

" Does not seem like the wheel well is the problem!"

Yes - it is a symptom of something else ... with the temp rise so slow in that area it is indicative of a 'breach' somewhere else - like elsewhere in the wing area ...

[Howlin]

Oh, yes! Good thinking!

[justshe]

This may sound dumb...but you would think that if it was a software computer error that caused the shuttle to over-correct the flight path during re-entry, that the computers on the ground would have picked up that same data. Like the shuttle craft computer being linked directly into the 'mother computer' on the ground?

[Frank_Discussion]

Thanks. I'm in my cube-city, isolated from the actual new conference, so I appreciate the details.

[PhiKapMom]

I am so glad they are not taking the easy way out.

The press has been wrong to state that the cause was the tiles and I hope they open up their minds and hear what he is saying!

[Howlin]

BTW, are you doing okay? You seem to be one of the last to see her whole.

[Cboldt]

Don't know where the thermal event is coming from -- wonder if it is computer software giving false readings

IMO, no. The thermal readings are not apt to be incorrect based on software. Perhaps in error based on hardware failures, but not software. But then, the number of high temperature readings, plus consistent, related onbservations, points toward elevated temperature on the left side. The high "bond line" temperature readings are at the top side of the wing.

[PhiKapMom]

Howlin you are 100% correct about what he said about those people west of Texas!

[Howlin]

Exactly!

[Frank_Discussion]

NASA gets a lot of bashing about its inefficiency, but it's really bloated in management. The grunts at the lower levels do tend to work hard and vigilantly.