Shuttle Tried to Right Itself Near the End, Tapes Reveal

The New York Times ^ | 17 February, 2003 | JOHN SCHWARTZ

[brityank]

... Columbia's flight showed that two thrusters fired briefly in a last-ditch effort to regain control.These scraps of flight information, gleaned from data received in the 32 seconds after mission control lost radio contact, ...

Any help for the analysis?

[Cold Heat]

Not much, I believe they are referring to the aft thrusters. It happened as the craft was losing control.

[PatriotGames]

Another report I read over the weekend says that the right rear two thrusters fired a few seconds prior to loss of contact and that the left front thrusters were actually the ones firing after the loss of contact. I believe that this report must be referring to the left front thrusters.

[brityank]

I'll try to find it, but I thought that the front thrusters had also fired trying to correct the yaw from the left-wing drag. I do remember that both of the Right rear thrusters fired, but I don't quite understand how they would swing the left side forward and mitigate the excess drag.

[Boundless]

> Any help for the analysis?

Well, if the NYT were in the news business, instead of
the propaganda biz, they might have reported a couple
of simple things like:
* which thrusters
* commanded by computer or by crew

If NASA got this much out of the 32 seconds, they might
yet get more.

The primary FR thread on the disaster is:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/835531

[Cold Heat]

Yes, the front left thrusters were firing like crazy. The right rears came online near the end to assist in correcting the yaw.

[Paul Ross]

There are a number of video shots which showed that the ship (over Arizona) had already slewed almost 90-degrees sidewise, and was descending with its left-most wing first. This is odd, since the drag was the greatest on this wing. You would think it would have caused the shuttle to rotate around the other way, and lead with its right wing. At any rate, at Mach 18.5 the ship's vertical stabilizer could not withstand such pressures (taking the full blast against it's side) long before snapping off.

[brityank]

A main engine turbo pump was recovered near Fort Polk, La. The 800-pound pump hit the ground with such force that it was found 14 feet below the surface.

With as much debris that fell with no one hit or major damage to property, it gives lie to the overcrowding claims of the looney environMENTALists!

[grr009]

The thrusters referred to are the thrusters that are used to manuever the shuttle while on orbit. There are several on the the orbiter. I believe there are twenty four on the aft and twelve on the forward portion of the orbiter. I also don't understand why the right side thrusters would fire to counteract drag on the left side of the orbiter..... Any help?

[Cold Heat]

If NASA got this much out of the 32 seconds, they might yet get more.

Nothing that tells them something that they do not already know. It just shows broken up data on the last moments of structural integrity as it broke up.

[Cold Heat]

Right rear tail thrusters were used in combination with the left front nose thrusters to turn the axis back to where it was supposed to be. When they failed to correct the axis, the side of the shuttle was exposed to 3000 degree heat and aero forces that it was not meant to handle.

[grr009]

Ooops! Right side thrusters would counter a drag on the left side of the orbiter if it were the right hand outboard thrusters that fired..... These thrusters are positoned on each side of the orbiter to allow for thrust in three directions... Up, OUTBOARD and down... My bet is the outboard thrusters that fired to counter the left hand wing drag.....

[Cold Heat]

BTW, for some further clarification, the rudder of a airplane normally does this task, however, the rudder is not helpfull at over 200,000 feet. That is why the thrusters are used.

[brityank]

... outboard thrusters that fired ...

Thanks; that makes sense now.

[Cold Heat]

Those angles were done through the normal course of landing. They are called roll reversals.

Yes, the left wing was damaged and when second turn was initiated, the wing got worse.

I donot know what AZ pics you refer to that show the shuttle skewed. The data tranmitted by the shuttle at that time showed everthing normal as to the flight path.

[Paul Ross]

90-degrees orientation of the shuttle athwart its flight vector is not a normal roll reversal. The S-Curves programmed into the flight computers don't call for anything approach such a radical yaw.

[Cold Heat]

The first roll occured as they were approaching California. It was 80 degrees. The roll reversal occured at 13:56.15 GMT and initiated over Utah/NM. The craft never got into a 90 degree attitude until destruction.

[Alberta's Child]

There's been a lot of talk here on FR about that video clip, and we've determined that what appears to be the shuttle hurtling sideways across the sky is actually an image distortion that is common in certain camcorders when the object is out of focus.

Some folks who really knew their stuff about video cameras helped clear that one up.

[Vic3O3]

ping