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.

[Karsus]

" They're not airplanes; you can't just open the hangar door and have them off the ground twenty minutes later"

Well, if NASA had built them to the original spec you could have one ready for take of in 24/48 hours...

[Howlin]

Another person said there was no way to get them from Columbia TO Endeavor if, and it was a big if, another shuttle would have gotten there before they were out of air.

[Jack Black]

Sadly...even if true, there is almost nothing that could have been done once launched. I hope we can learn for the future.

That's pathetic govt. employee ass-covering. How about:

leave shuttle in orbit, send second shuttle to fix first then reenter both

send astronauts to space station for pickup by second shuttle

effect ad-hoc repairs via a spacewalk (they carry some tiles one assumes)

We managed to get the Apollo mission home, in part because we tried. This "nothing could have been done" refrain is PATHETIC.

[Howlin]

No doubt. On the first day, in the first hour.

[Mamzelle]

I'm given to understand that most of the heavy lifting in construction of the ISS has been the Russians.

[anniegetyourgun]

Actually, I think the affliction is not risk aversion, but hubris.

[Mo1]

BTW, I just heard the NBC report. It's INCHES, not feet.

I believe they said 7 1/2 by 30 inches .. and not Feet that was posted earlier

[Dave S]

Perhaps nothing could be done to save the shuttle, but the crew could be saved by joining the orbiting space station.

And just how do you get the crew there? Beam them up? Too much Star Trek. The Shuttle didnt have the fuel to get to space station. Its basically a glider. Even if it miraculously got there, there is no way to get from the shuttle to the ISS. There is no docking collar on the Columbia and there is no teether so they couldnt do a space walk (had to make room for all those valuable science fair experiments). There are no space back packs with rockets to shoot you from one vehicle to the other.

[yonif]

"Seeing something like this and then knowing they tried to land it anyway ..... it's tragedy but this looks almost criminal."

I agree fully.

[Howlin]

Tiles fall off on every single shuttle flight.

[SolaScriptura]

Assuming that the image is of the underside of the wing, the image shows the shuttle with its top facing earth and its belly facing space. The only thing that could take that picture would have been either a satellite or the ISS that was further out in space. If the image is of the top of the wing the same holds true, since there are no windows that could give this view. Is there information on where the image was taken from?

[TLBSHOW]

BUMP

it should never of been sent into space to start with 20 days ago.

[Dubh_Ghlase]

Each (unmanned) Soviet supply ship contains a replacement Soyuz escape capsule. They rotate the emergency escape capsule with each supply voyage. One was just sent, so they would have had 2 at their disposal (up to 6 seats?) to return most of the crew. They could have junked Columbia, returned one set and then another set on the latest capsule on the current supply rocket.

Or left the non-essential on the ISS and sent a minimul crew back, just in case.

There were other options...

[Jack Black]

yes, I did not read all the way to post 220 before posting, I see some of these scenarios have been considered.

[Desdemona]

The Russians launched one today.

Yes they did. But the calculations for that transport have been in the works forever. They can't just make a pit-stop.

[spetznaz]

Sure there was. Dock at the space station and return on the Soyuz capsule.

Not possible! First of all the space station was at a higher altitude than the shuttle had fuel to reach ....meaning basically the shuttle could not reach the station.

Secondly (even if it could reach) the shuttle Columbia did not have a docking mechanism to meld witht he station, and there would have been no way for the astronauts to bail ship.

The shuttle was doomed the moment it lifted off.

[anniegetyourgun]

I don't know why they didn't heed your messages with all these solutions. You figure those pathetic NASA employees simply wanted some good snuff video?

[TLBSHOW]

Well this time it burned didn't it. It should never of gone up there was enough warnings about it.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

leave shuttle in orbit, send second shuttle to fix first then reenter both

send astronauts to space station for pickup by second shuttle

effect ad-hoc repairs via a spacewalk (they carry some tiles one assumes

Please educate yourself about the realistic options available and then tell us what could've been done.

(What's pathetic is the number of people who are complaining without even knowing the basic facts.)