Video shows shuttle may have shed debris over Arizona - check out this video taken by amateurs

The Dallas Morning News ^ | February 3, 2003 | By BYRON HARRIS / WFAA-TV

[MeekOneGOP]

I understand. Very nice graph. Thanks...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for the comments.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for the insider's comments on the tiles. I appreciate it.

[MeekOneGOP]

My pleasure. Thank you.

[SarahW]

If true, that's just wrong, unaceptably wrong.

There should always be a plan "b". But even failing that,

All the comments about they being unable to survive the time it would take to get another shuttle up there are based on the problem being discovered after most of the mission was over, just prior to re-entry.

If the damage had been visualized earlier, extra weeks of time to come up with some plan for rescue would have existed. rationing of power, oxgen, water and food kept them alive until a rescue mission could get extra supplies up there or rescued some or all crew. They might have perished anyway, but they should have perishes trying, and with the benefit of prayers of rest of us as well as the best efforts of NASA.

It astounds me there was no meands to inspect the shuttle craft. This isn't 1983, it's 2003. They should have a tethered manueverable webcam or botcam to view any portion of the ship. It's unacceptable to me that they were unable to inspect the ship in space.

[TigersEye]

Great video. Thanks.

FWIW I can identify three separate pieces of material falling away from the upper part of the main tank. It appears that the first disappears from view then two separate pieces appear then one seems to strike the leading edge of the wing. Watching the trailing edge of the wing as the video plays a small cloud of debris or vapor appears just before the most significant cloud. The second big cloud of debris then disperses and as some of it crosses in front of the solid fuel booster it appears to be orange and two rather solid pieces track across in front of the white background of the booster. They appear as two orange streaks.

Now for speculations about that. The orange color could be reflection of the flame of the booster, especially if it is water vapor. One of the second two pieces of debris looks like it hits the leading edge of the wing just before the big cloud of vapor/debris. Could something have hit the leading edge of the wing traveled under the surface or inside the wing frame and then resurfaced out of the center of the wing? At any rate it seems that at least two objects struck the wing.

It doesn't change a thing, God rest their souls.

[SteveH]

It astounds me there was no meands to inspect the shuttle craft. This isn't 1983, it's 2003. They should have a tethered manueverable webcam or botcam to view any portion of the ship. It's unacceptable to me that they were unable to inspect the ship in space.

Perhaps it is another byproduct of the goal to "humanize" the space effort (manned instead of robotic emphasis). With EVAs, there might not have been the impetus to develop such robots as one might ordinarily expect. After the cost of EVAs and shuttles went up, the issue might have gotten lost in the shuffle, or suffered from budgetary and management benign neglect-- to the extent that bringing it up would have been a good way to become unpopular. In any case, they've had analogous technology for undersea exploration for at least 2 decades now...

[facedown]

bump

[Joe Hadenuf]

Bttt.

This is extremely revealing, and critical to the investigation.

[MeekOneGOP]

You're welcomed.

God rest their souls.

Amen...

[Cold Heat]

It's unacceptable to me that they were unable to inspect the ship in space.

Yes, it does seem a bit primative.

The shuttle flies on the edge of failure every trip. Any one of a thousand things can cause a disaster.

On this trip they had no possible way to go out side at all. No docking collar at all and no way to get re-supplied.

There were in fact, no options. They were caught with their pants down and have admitted it. It was very unfortunate and I suspect it will be addressed for future flights.

[dtel]

What is your problem?
Do facts upset you?
Deal with it.
They were screwed buddy.
Bleed your heart out, it won't accomplish squat, but don't direct your rants at me.
I didn't design the effing POS.

[NCC-1701]

What gets me is why there is so many tapes of this re-entry. If spaceflight is supposed to be so mundane by now, why were so many people rolling tape of THIS flight. I have never heard of this much interest in a return to eath in a very long time, especialy during the Shuttle program. I'm glad they did it. It might help in this case. As far as detailed photos, after thr return-to flight, maybe NASA could train some sattelites to get clearer images of the shuttle on orbit. No atmospheric disturbance at all. And some of those birds have better optics than most ground based devices. This may have been tried on earlier missions. Might not be a bad idea. The earlier in the flight this is done, the more time would be allowed to come up with some sort of plan to bring the next orbiter back that has a problem like Columbia apparently had. Just a thought. May the STS-107 crew rest in peace.

[Dog]

fyi...

[valleygal]

Wupatki Natl. monument is an Indian ruin. Been there many times. Lots of Indian ruins up north. The first thing I envisioned was someone working at one of these monuments saying, "Don't touch it, it's a piece of pottery!"

[Joe Hadenuf]

Even though some are dropping this story like a bad habit, I find it incredible and I find these reports and mounting evidence very interesting to say the least.

Thanks Dog!

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks...