[Fred Mertz]

I am aware they didn't know the foam had fallen off until they reviewed the film the next day.

You don't really believe that, do you? That's their fig leaf for now, and too many freepers are buying it.

[Chad Fairbanks]

And let me guess... that 'fig leaf' is hiding one of NASA's Rockets, and a few rescue bubbles????

[Balata]

Well Fred, they say they didn't see it until the next day. My point is if they don't have the ability to see it and evaluate it in real time then they can't ensure a perfect takeoff which they need due to not having a back up.

[TLBSHOW]

The Shuttle is the only human space transportation launch system that does not have a crew escape module. Instead the crew must rely on a manually activated escape pole system that is difficult to operate and has very limited capability. It requires a manual activation by a flight crew member in the middeck compartment to pyrotechnically jettison the crew ingress/egress side hatch and then manually deploy the escape pole. One by one, each crew member attaches a lanyard hook assembly to the escape pole, and then the crew member slides down the pole and off the end. The escape pole is suppose to provide a trajectory for the crew member’s body so that it will not impact the Orbiter’s left wing. This escape system can only be used during atmospheric flight and vehicle accelerations that allow the crew to operate the system. It takes 90 seconds for a crew of eight to bail out of the Shuttle using this system. In a catastrophic Shuttle explosion, milliseconds can mean the difference between life and death . . . 90 seconds can be a death sentence!
The following is an excerpt from the October 27, 1999 statement of Michael L. Coats, Vice President, Reusable Transportation Systems Lockheed Martin Astronautics before the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science, U.S. House of Representatives. From 1978-1991, Mr. Coats was a NASA Astronaut, flying three Space Shuttle missions, the last two as Crew Commander.

Don Nelson

[bvw]

"As safe as NASCAR"

Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object ...

[Swordmaker]

I am aware they didn't know the foam had fallen off until they reviewed the film the next day.

You don't really believe that, do you? That's their fig leaf for now, and too many freepers are buying it.

Why yes, Fred, I do believe it. The video is not watched in real time. In addition, the foam falling incident takes LESS THAN ONE SECOND. What we see on the replays is about 10 frames of a video that is recorded at 30 frames per second.

Had someone noticed the impact and realized the implications, the launch could have been aborted by releasing the SRBs and detaching the External Fuel Tank and the shuttle could return to Kennedy Space Center. This option is available up to 3 minutes 45 seconds into the flight. After that a Trans-Atlantic abort could be used. When the orbiter has flown too far to land across the Atlantic, then the only choice is Abort to Orbit... but that would require re-entry into the atmosphere to get down... with the catastrophic results we have seen.

[MrConfettiMan]

I am aware they didn't know the foam had fallen off until they reviewed the film the next day.

You don't really believe that, do you? That's their fig leaf for now, and too many freepers are buying it.

Hey, Fred, your starting to bug me now. :) I never said NASA didn't realize the foam had fallen off until the next day.