Posted on 02/03/2003 7:02:42 PM PST by Ichneumon
Here's the original picture from an Israeli newspaper alleged to be the damaged "wing" of Columbia, shot during an in-flight interview with the Israeli astronaut:
Besides the obvious problems (you can't see much of the wings from the shuttle windows, the wings have no "stovepipe" structure as seen in the photo, no tiling is visible, etc.), the main problem with the photo is that it's of a different portion of the shuttle entirely -- it's the inside front edge of the open cargo bay.
The "stovepipe" object is one of the "lugs" that the cargo doors clamp onto when they close in order to form a firm seal, like the door latch hardware on an automobile door.
I knew the "stovepipe" couldn't be part of the wing, so I started browsing NASA photos looking for a match elsewhere on the orbiter. I knew I had struck paydirt when I found this panoramic view of the payload bay:
Note the "stovepipe" on the far right, identical to the one in the Israeli photo, including the black "post", the black square mounting flange, and the fact that it's mounted near a curved edge (which even has thin black edging in both photos).
Because of the "fisheye" curving effect of the panoramic camera view, it's not immediately obvious, but the "stovepipe" is mounted on the back face of the shuttle crew compartment (i.e., on the forward wall of the payload bay).
Here is a Quicktime VR shot of the same view in higher detail, which you can rotate around using your mouse: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/Shuttle/lms/vr/bay_vr4.mov. It makes the physical positions of the different parts of the panorama much more clear, plus lets you zoom in on the "stovepipe" area (use the Ctrl and Shift keys on your keyboard to zoom in/out, and drag-and-drop portions of the picture to rotate the view around).
Here's a better shot of that bulkhead, although the "stovepipes" are fuzzier (they're the 3 black squares which ring the edge):
This photo was taken from inside the payload bay, facing forward, towards the crew capsule at the front of the shuttle. The larger black rectangle is one of the two windows that the crew uses to look back into the payload bay (the edge of the other is partially visible to the right of the other). The airlock which the crew uses to enter the payload bay from the crew compartment is below the bottom right corner of this photo.
Another view:
There's a camera mounted on this same bulkhead, inside the payload bay, and it's the one which takes most of the photos you see of activities in the payload bay. It usually takes photos facing the rear, which is why so many payload photos show the tail of the shuttle, like this one:
But it can be rotated to look "up and out" at satellites as they are deployed, or to get images of the Earth. That's clearly what was done in the Israeli photo, and it was cranked "upward" so much that it caught part of the bulkhead it's mounted to along with one of the "stovepipe" lugs that the big payload bay doors latch to when they close, as well as some of the fabric-like insulation which covers that bulkhead.
That camera is controlled from the Aft Crew Area, the Israeli astronaut must have been there controlling that camera and feeding its video signal to the folks on the ground he was talking to. They mistakenly believed they were seeing a shot out one of the windows, but actually the windows in the shuttle are small and give cramped views of the Earth, like this one:
This, by the way, is an actual photo taken aboard STS-107 -- Columbia's last flight. Nothing obviously is wrong with the wings, or at least the portions which can be seen.
Note also what a limited view of the "wings" is actually afforded by looking out the windows (this is the *best* window to see the wings from -- in fact, probably the only window they're visible from). Also note how different the visible portion of the wing is from the alleged Israeli "view".
Finally, scroll around this *very* detailed scrollable VR view of the entire Columbia payload bay (taken during ground-based operations, so there's a lot of scaffolding and stuff ringing the bay). Rotate around to view the same bulkhead, then zoom in to the area around the windows. You'll see that there's a ridge of insulating material about a foot inside the outer edge of the bulkhead (and inside the ring of "stovepipe" lugs), which corresponds extremely well to the cloth-like "ridge" running vertically along the right side of the Israeli photo.
I didn't hear that segment this morning, but I agree totally.
I'm neither a reporter nor a scientist; but, although I had no idea what it was, even I could see that it wasn't at all the right shape to be the wing. The least Fox could have done was asked someone knowledgeable about it or gone to the NASA site like Ichneumon did.(Great job BTW, Ichneumon!)
I expect sloppy, irresponsible "news stories" from tabloids. I do not expect them from TV "news" channels. Maybe Fox should stop worrying about being "fair and balanced" and just try to be accurate and responsible for a change.
Actually, the "cracks" are real, but they're just seams where the interior fabric-like insulation panels meet, and so don't matter. They're *inside* the shuttle when the cargo bay doors are closed, so NASA properly never cared about how smooth they were, or whether they were aerodynamic.
AARRGGHH!!
Read post #51 again. There are no "cracks".
If you're talking about the seams on the right-hand side of the image, those are not "cracks", they're just places where insulation panels meet.
If you mean the darker line that appears to have tape over it, that's an electrical wire taped in place, presumably to read signals from a sensor placed at the top of the payload bay. As the video pans down the edge of the bay, you can trace the path of the wire for at least 8 feet, with tape strips every few feet to hold it in place. It's NOT A CRACK.
Nothing in the photo, or the whole video, is "cracked".
I'm not sure I can say the same for some posters, however.
An inspection tool which all Orbiters should have, is a "li'l buddie," a tethered camera which is remote-controlled and has maybe 6 small CO(2) bottles as fuel for its mini-thrusters, so that it can maneuver around the outside of the vehicle.
It would be relatively easy to develop that inspection tool.
You could probably have a mini-space race contest to see who comes up with the winning design.
I think there'd be a lot of entries.
No doubt, some rocket scientist comedians will create a miniature jet-pack for G.I. - now - Astronaut Joe, but if it works, hey!
Max weight of, say, 20lbs and about a 150 ft. long tether, so that it can be reeled in if necessary; maybe set a limit on "trip fuel" to those 6 or so CO(2) bottles?
What say you?
To the NASA-can-do-nothing-right crowd, this is merely evidence the crack was present when the Payload was loaded and some technicians at NASA tried to "fix" the crack with the universal repair tool, duct tape, and callously sent the "broken" shuttle up anyway. Now removing tongue from cheek.
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