BREAKING: NBC News finds Jan 30 NASA Memo showing serious concern about tile damage!

NBC News | February 3, 2003 | Jay Barbree

[Timesink]

Developing. Watch MSNBC for latest. Internal memo shows some engineers believe there was up to a 7 1/2-inch gash from the foam breakoff at launch. Memo was serious enough to go out to all NASA centers two days before disaster.

[Kevin Curry]

Yeah. That's what it is. Sheer arrogance. They probably got a perverse thrill out of seeing the shuttle disintegrate over Texas. They probably even had side bets on which counties the debris would fall into. I can well understand your rage.

</ sarcasm>

[BureaucratusMaximus]

And amigo, this isn't "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" -- we ARE the owners, the hands were lost on OUR ship. We have a duty.

BUMP

[tubebender]

AsI said last night. It wiil be no surprise to me if NASA determines that this diaster was 16 days late.

[hchutch]

NASA had a system they tried out (caulking gun), but there was a reduction in the safety margins of the tiles. Still, it might have mitigated the major problems. Colombia would have gotten down, but they'd still have had to scrap the orbiter.

[TLBSHOW]

The shuttle should not of been there in the first place! This mission should of been grounded before it started!

[Kevin Curry]

Heaven save us from our armchair monday-morning quarterback saviors.

[Mamzelle]

I have also read there were no EVA suits on board. Since it costs $20K per pound to transport cargo by Shuttle (Russians spend about $5K), every ounce counts, so they wouldn't have left EVA suits laying around just in case, given how precious is the real estate.

[Normal4me]

If you think NASA knew that there was a no win situation on returning them safely, do you think they would have let it break up over the US instead of changing the flight path?

[rintense]

A gentleman on FNC this morning said that the only way the astronauts could have been saved, if the gash was determined to be unsafe, would have been to send up Endeavor to rescue them- and prep time would have been a huge factor.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Thats BS. They could have went to the ISS and waited for another shuttle to take them back.

Do you read? How many times do people on this thread have to tell everyone the following:

The Columbia was too heavy to achieve orbit with the ISS, and even if it could it was not fitted with the docking collar necessary to dock with the ISS

[Howlin]

You mean to tell me that you have never heard of space walks?

Please pay attention to what is posted on this thread.

They had NO way to do space walks.

A big bin of assorted tiles (that could also be cut to fit) to used as replacements could be stored in the cargo bin.

Assorted tiles? They are all individually cut for the place they go. They would have to take 27,000 tiles with them.

[Kevin Curry]

The shuttle should not of been there in the first place! This mission should of been grounded before it started!

We should have foreseen this debacle in 1957 and cancelled entire space effort.

[jammer]

Hell, anything is better than dying.

As a general observation, that is a sad philosophy. I'm glad that the people who have died for my freedom, among others, didn't feel that way.

[rintense]

Correct. The Columbia is not fitted to dock with the space station, and, the orbits were entirely different.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I'm almost positive I have heard on several accounts, that the crew knew about the suspected debris hitting the left wing area, and had inspected the area. The astronauts ensured those down below that they did not think there was anything major to worry about.

The best possibile scenario after the Columbia was launched would have been to abort their trajectory toward orbit, and immeditely change course toward Africa.

I heard two former astronauts state this yesterday. Once they were in orbit, their choices were slim to none. They needed to reenter the earth's atmosphere at this stage in NASA's years of knowledge & development. This sounds almost unbelievable that more emergency procedures haven't been developed, but no matter, these 7 knew the risks and accepted the challenge.

And as I, myself, (and others) have stated...the astronauts apparently gave the go ahead after their own inspection of the problem. NASA is like a huge family, and I seriously doubt they held these 7 captive as some seem to imply.

[Dave S]

I have no doubt that this crew could have sustained life in orbit for up to 30 days until rescue, assuming efforts proceeded apace from the moment they entered orbit.

And your basis for believing that? Thirty-five years of watching Star Trek?

[need_a_screen_name]

I have also read there were no EVA suits on board. Since it costs $20K per pound to transport cargo by Shuttle (Russians spend about $5K), every ounce counts, so they wouldn't have left EVA suits laying around just in case, given how precious is the real estate.

It's true the space shuttle's cost per pound is more, but the shuttle can carry a 100 tonnes compared to the Russian's 5 tonnes. There is a big advantge for the shuttle...

[Desdemona]

That would have given us almost a month to mount a rescue, if indeed the damage was the problem.

A month? None of the shuttles can stay up there that long without supplies and fuel. That's one. Two, it takes longer than a month to prep a rocket.

No. If the tiles were THAT badly damaged, outside of a full scale repair in space - for which the tiles would have had to be on board and Columbia was almost too heavy to begin with - NOTHING could have been done. Even aborting lift-off after it had started. Once it's up, all re-entry potential problems are still applicable.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Why do I think that someone will be manufacturing a "Bush Knew" out of this?

Because you'ev been reading TLBShow's posts - he's trying to create a self-fulfilling prophecy...

[kellyrae]

...if they did have suspicion that there was increased risk, why didn't they plan to land in California, so that any break up would have occurred over the pacific ocean to minimize the risk of damage/injury/death to the populace by falling debris. The only answer is that those in charge didn't calculate the risk as being great - and to second guess them, without possessing their kind of knowledge and training is ridiculous.

This is my opinion exactly. If anyone thought a breakup was LIKELY, they would have tried to land somewhere else so the debris wouldn't endanger anyone on the ground. To assume NASA has the same sort of I-don't-give-a-damn-attitude as your typical DMV office is silly.