Senator: Concerned Columbia Crew took Pictures of Damaged Left Wing

Florida Today.com ^ | Februrary 5, 2003 1:20PM | Staff Wire Report

[ewing]

Crew members of the Space Shuttle Columbia were concerned about the orbiter's damaged left wing according to United States Senator George Allen. (Republican-Virginia)

One of the crew members, Mission Specialist David Brown, sent e-mail messages to his brother Doug during the mission, Allen said. In those e-mails, David Brown said that the crew took pictures of the left wing because they were concerned about it, Allen said.

The Senator was only repeating information he recieved from Doug Brown, said his spokeswoman, Carrie Cantrell. There was no phone listing for Doug Brown's home in Arlington and he could not be reached today.

A 2 and one half pound chunk of insulation foam struck the underside of the wing during lifoff as the shuttle sped upwards of 1,900 MPH last month. At the time NASA officials did not think the damage would be a problem, but the agency is now investigating the wing as a possible reason that Columbia shattered on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on Saturday.

[Straight Vermonter]

The wing is barely visible from the crew compartment. The underside is completely unseeable.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

He probably was thinking about "alluded," but his public school education got in the way.

LOL!

[js1138]

The speed is a bit dodgy also, since the foam and spacecraft would be going the same speed. The relevant part of the equation would be acceleration, not speed.

[Sacajaweau]

I opted for space junk early on. While the odds are astronomical, this is an astronomical mission where every part, every computer command, every number, every second is in "at risk" mode.

What man has created here is "known" and like everything we do, we try to control it.

But we penetrated a universe with "uncontrollable" parameters. How brave we are!!

[abner]

If the crew was concerned, that sort of info is something that immediately goes up the chain of command.

Makes perfect sense to me. Not down the chain to the brother on Earth.

[Fred Mertz]

Interesting news article. Thanks for posting it.

[Carry_Okie]

Not a chance.

[KSCITYBOY]

This is likely bogus - email would have to go thru mission control and surely would be censored. Why would they not bring this up in their after crash press briefings - they would know this -

[Ichneumon]

There is no problem that is not made 10 times worse by an attempted coverup...

...and there is no innocent act or innocent mistake which can't be made to look nefararious by false accusations of a coverup.

[concentric circles]

Just wondering if Senator Allen has ever had occasion to make a fool of himself?

[DoughtyOne]

I'm with you. When it comes to eyes in the sky, you can bet your sweet bippy our government can see every quarter inch of near earth space they desire to.

[dasboot]

Gee, thanks, Fred.

Gettin' to be like those North vs South threads!!:^)

I've gotten a lot less gooey front-row at a Gallagher performance. hehe

[DittoJed2]

Came up yesterday with a photo.

[Mo1]

Sen. George Allen, R-Va., said in a televised speech on Tuesday that the brother of Columbia astronaut David Brown disclosed receiving an e-mail from orbit that conveyed the crew's "concern" about the left wing, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch reported in Wednesday's paper. According to the report, the senator said Doug Brown, who lives in Virgina, told him his brother's e-mail said the crew had taken a photo of the left wing.

OK .. the were concerned, I believed NASA did say that the crew was informed of a possible problem

I still don't see how they could have seen or taken a picture from under the wing

[Carry_Okie]

Did they have the robot arm out on this mission? It most likely has a camera.

[r9etb]

If they took photos, then they most likely used a digital camera. I can not imagine that they would take photos that were not downloaded to Houston within minutes (even instantaneously) of taking the pictures. Hello, NASA...

IF they were concerned about the wing and IF they were taking pictures of the wing, then:

1. The ground folks asked them to do it, and they have the pictures.

2. They knew enough about the concern to be taking pictures.

3. If they were taking pics of something they saw on their own, they'd have voiced it down to the ground. That's what they do when they see something wrong.

None of these concerns were noted in the Air/Ground communications -- they would have been noted in the media long since.

This story smells like a month-old beached whale.

[Mo1]

That is a picture of the cargo bay .. not the wing

[Joe Hadenuf]

This is absolutely stunning information. Now lets see the images if they exist, as they would have been sent to NASA immediately from the shuttle.

One of the crew members, Mission Specialist David Brown, sent e-mail messages to his brother Doug during the mission, Allen said. In those e-mails, David Brown said that the crew took pictures of the left wing because they were concerned about it, Allen said.

[Cooter]

The crew was asked to photograph the external tank upon separation.

[r9etb]

This is absolutely stunning information.

This "information" is most likely false.