Another Space Shuttle

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Down.

They had a piece of "insulating foam" come off the external tank during liftoff. I'm wondering if that "during liftoff" means 3 seconds after liftoff, or 30 seconds.

There's a rather significant speed difference between the two.

Man. These guys hate to lose funding, I know. And false alarms are bad PR. But when it gets bad, it really gets bad.

What does everyone else think?

[ February 01, 2003, 16:06: Message edited by: ejsmith ]

 

Since it was about to land, I doubt the 3 or 30 seconds after lift-off makes any difference.

Are there any confirmed reports yet? All I can find are reports of debris and lost contact.

 

Man,all channels are showing the same thing, "avoid debrisses".I wonder how it fell...

 

And to think, there was so much security around the hotel they were staying in, for Gods sake, there were snipers on top of the hotel in case terrorists came! Then this happens.

 

It seems everyone heard this at the same time.

All I heard that it was over Texas, they lost contact and have pictures of debris coming from the sky.

 

When the insulating foam was lost doesn't matter - the fact that it wsn't there to do its job matters A LOT.

If only the average American understood relative risk, let alone stopped babbling long enough to actually apply it. In that case, this disaster would have the right outcome: more funding, not less.

[ February 01, 2003, 20:31: Message edited by: Rallymama ]

 

200,000 feet up at mach 18, not the greatest time to disintegrate into fumes and flame.
Debris scattered over 5 (I think) states.
Next Press briefing at 3 o'clock on CNN, so much for me doing my homework.
I wonder if they can get a better view than the miniscule shot they keep showing, where Columbia looks about as big as a large grain of rice....I hope so

 

A harsh and sad reminder of how truly dangerous space travel is... those poor people.

 

I've been a long time follower of the space program, and aviation and space flight in general. There are a few things I've seen here that are incorrect.

The "insulation" that came off was about 70-odd seconds into the launch. A former astronaut was talking about it on National Public Radio this morning. He has been involved with studying the video of the launch from two weeks ago and he is not sure if it was insulation from the external fuel tank (which never makes it to orbit - it separates after the fuel is used up), or if it may have been ice buildup on the ET that eventually fell off. He also stated that this is normal. The insulation on the tank is used to keep the liquid oxygen cool before launch, so that it doesn't all "boil off"...after launch, it's not really needed, and is very fragile anyway. The outside of the tank gets very cold and Florida is a very humid state. The moisture in the air condenses on the cold surface and freezes, like the condensation on a cold glass of beer or soda. If you can find film/video of the Apollo launches, there are several that show close-ups of the Saturn V liftoff were you can see chunks of ice falling off the vehicle. Again, let me state that this is normal, and always has been.

Anyway, the insulation or ice struck the left wing. There is a possibility that this may have damaged some of the heat-resistant tiles used to protect the shuttle during re-entry. Again, this is a fairly normal occurrence. Nearly every shuttle flight loses tiles at launch or during re-entry, usually just a few out of over 33,000, with no serious effects. In this case, there may have been more damage than originally thought. There was no way to check during this flight because there was no robot arm installed on this flight, since no satellites were being launched. The arm is usually used to inspect the shuttle after it reaches orbit, using a camera attached to it. In this case more tiles than normal could have been damaged, possible causing what is referred to as a zipper effect, or domino effect, causing even more to come off during re-entry.

All reports I've seen or heard have stated the shuttle was at 200,000 feet and traveling at Mach 12, not 18 as was mentioned elsewhere, not that there's much difference. A recent report said that the pilots reported a temperature rise in the left wing, and more specifically, a pressure rise in the landing gear of the left wing. This would be consistent with losing tiles, causing the temperature to rise. Higher temps would cause the air in the tires to expand, possibly bursting the tires explosively, damaging the wing. When Mission Control asked for confirmation of the pressure and/or temp rise, there were a few words spoken, then loss of signal. Note that this was in the left wing, where the "insulation" or ice apparently struck during liftoff.

I am not an expert, but this has been my thoughts on what may have happened. It is strictly opinion and not a definitive answer.

[ February 01, 2003, 21:17: Message edited by: MaxxQ64 ]

 

I heard the shuttle was travelling at 12,000 mph. I am not sure, but doesn't 'mach' mean the speed of sound? If i am right then it would have been mach 18 not 12.

But who cares? the fact is the damn thing blew up. Damn shame really. But then it is a risky job, and as a wise man once said: S**t happens.
And i thought the presidents speech was actually rather good. Very appropriate.

As long as it doesn't get referred to as 1/02.

 

This is awful.

But if it were 7 RUSSIAN Astronaughts, no one would care.

 

I think was Zlayer meant was, the Russian government would have denied they ever existed.

But Z, you realize all that's changed now, right?

The Bay of Pigs is over.

You can order a Russian chick online, now, too.

 

A watchdog group questioned whether the budget cuts in NASA affected the safety in the space program just several days ago. And the shuttle was the oldest in the fleet.
I know it was probably a formality, but the whole administration, Chenney, Rumsfeld, Powell, etc was put on alert. Again, prob just a formality.

 

Boom!

 

Shell, seeing how you're new, I presume you don't know much about the board. Normally I wouldn't hold this against you, but this shows a total disrespect for lost lives. Perhaps you should invest a point or two in the feats common sense and tact.

Edit: Okay, so you're actually Mortensen, and familiar with the board. My point still stands though.

[ February 02, 2003, 12:06: Message edited by: Faragon ]

 

Hey they all knew it could happen. Did anyone show respect for that dog they sent up into space? I'm fed up of having people get more rights than animals

 

When I first heard the report, I initially thought it was one of those "On this day in history" things going back 17 years. The more I listened, the more I came to understand that was not the case. Another one had exploded. Horrible shame.

 

Ok, i just saw this on CNN and it really pissed me off. They were showing a site where one of the pieces had fallen. There were two young women there, with cameras, taking pictures. There were giggling like they were tourists on vacation and taking a picture of some major historical marker. I'm sorry but this is absolutely ludicrous. How much more disrespectful can you get? Another major tradgedy falls on this country and we have to rush out to see the pieces. Good God! Why?
I didn't know any of the astronaughts, but I cried when I heard the news. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of those 7 heros.

[ February 02, 2003, 12:56: Message edited by: Elios ]