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.

[need_a_screen_name]

That may be true, but the Russians can only produce 2 Soyuz rockets per year. They have been using smaller ones on the resupply missions.... Interesting read here:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=375103

[yonif]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/834673/posts

[Dave S]

With no purpose for telling them, I think NASA did the right thing to withhold the information.

I feel so much better knowing that...don't you? Wonder what would happen if a nuclear/biological attack was immenant..say in your area...and you could have taken measures to preserve your life and the life of your family, but YOU weren't provided any information? Oh...thats right, you wouldn't know the difference anyway...cause you'd be dead.

You are assuming with the nuclear/biological attack there were measures you could take. With the Columbia, the best they could hope for was to get within transporter range and beam down.

[hchutch]

It probably means payload will have to be sacrificed on furute missions so that there is enough gear for a spacewalk for such a repair mission.

[HairOfTheDog]

It's amazing how people are willing to believe the absolute worst of human beings, isn't it?

I see a lot of the best here though. I logged on "mad at the news" this morning.... angry about the hatchet job MSNBC was doing against Americans at NASA that have value to me.

I am so glad I did not only find more of the same here. Some here are jumping in on the hatchet job, but a lot of people are giving NASA the respect and loyalty they deserve from us at this dark hour. And that is heartening.

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens...Tolkien

[Howlin]

Heads should roll if the information about possible damage and dissenting opinions in the agency was quashed.

What do you mean quashed? We're reading it right now, aren't we? Or do you mean YOU personally weren't notified?

Most of us only heard about the falling insulation problem one hour after Columbia's demise.

What reason would there have been to contact US?

There could have been a tremendous amount of constructive support for mounting a rescue had the "owners of the country" been given the word.

Constructive support for something that couldn't have been done?

If this thread is any example, I'd rather YOU not help in rescuing me; you ignore facts that don't fit your agenda.

[Dave S]

There is a huge amount that could have been done.

Define "huge amount" and then itemize what their options were. Oh by the way using the teleporter to transport to the surface is not an option.

[MJM59]

Is it just me or does this photo look like something that the Enquirer would print. It really looks fake and cheesy.

[Jim Noble]

>>1) we could have sent up Atlantis to get them, which would have been capable of launch, 2) we could have kept them up there an additional week or so until a contingency plan was developed, or 3) we could have developed a plan to hitch them a ride on the international space station<<

1) Not while they were alive, you couldn't.

2)No, you couldn't.

3) Insufficient delta-V on the Shuttle.

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

[lstanle]

"The shuttle was doomed the moment it lifted off."

Sadly, in this case that seems to be true. One possibility, if the damage could have been analyzed very quickly and a determination made that the shuttle couldn't reenter the earths atmosphere they could have aborted and landed back at the cape or another site. In this case this was not possible because the potential damage was not noted until the video tape was analyzed the next day.

[TLBSHOW]

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe said Columbia broke up in flames as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere


FIERY DESCENT

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe said Columbia broke up in flames as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, spreading debris over hundreds of miles of Texas, just 16 minutes before the 100-ton shuttle was to have landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It is possible the seven astronauts on board were alive through much of the shuttle’s descent and breakup and is unlikely they were killed instantly, a NASA official told NBC News.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/857733.asp?0cl=c2

[Kozak]

One fragile tile snaps off and that all she wrote for crew and ship.

Thats NOT the case. EVERY mission some tiles get damaged on launch or reentry. There is a certain amount of robustness in the system. Evidently THIS time some critical limit was exceeded.

[PhiKapMom]

I can see your frustration at some comments on here (mine is also from the media) is matching mine.

Too many people have watched too many space movies and have unrealistic expectations of what the Shuttle can and cannot do including sending a rescue shuttle up. And too many "so-called" experts have hit the airwaves with all kinds of theories.

On another thread someone pointed out that ABC radio wondered why they didn't parachute out -- 200,000+ parachuting out! Give me a break!

[BureaucratusMaximus]

I'm beginning to think that some here consider ANY criticism on apart of NASA, much less any gov agency; is a direct slap in face to GWB. It seems to be believed that somehow incompetence in government has somehow ceased. Through reading through some of these individuals posts, you think that either could do no wrong.

[Miss Marple]

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

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

THEY ONLY HAD ENOUGH OXYGEN UNTIL WEDNESDAY. IT TAKES AT LEAST A WEEK TO GET A SHUTTLE READY, AND THAT IS IF THEY SCRAP ALL SAFETY.

send astronauts to space station for pickup by second shuttle

THEY COULDN'T GET TO THE SPACE STATION, NOT ENOUGH FUEL. IF THEY HAD GOTTEN THERE, THEY HAD NO WAY TO DOCK. THEY HAD NO TETHERS FOR A SPACE WALK.

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

THEY DO NOT CARRY TILES. EACH TILE HAS TO BE INDIVIDUALLY FITTED. THEY HAD NO MEANS TO DO A SPACE WALK, AND THERE WAS NO TETHER OR HANDLES OUTSIDE.

I am sorry to shout, but every single one of your suggestions has been discussed in this thread, and you are obviously not paying attention. I am certain that we all wish there had been a way to effect a rescue, but wishing doesn't make it so.

[sharktrager]

Annie, you nailed it. There was a Freeper on Saturday who works for NASA and made that very point. There was no way to repair any damage. If they went to the space station (if even possible) there weren't enough supplies to handle the crew, and there was no way doiwn from there short of sending another shuttle to get them.

I am leaning towards believing that what happened was not terribly surprising to some at NASA. I think they knew of the damage, and also knew they had no choice but to attempt to land and pray for the best.

One thing that makes me believe this is the failure of the Israeli astronaut to observe the Sabbath the first Friday in space. His celebration of the Sabbath had been a major story before the flight. I find it hard to believe that the astronaut, his 6 fellow crew members and the entire NASA staff just "forgot". Let's be honest.

The experiment he was doing did not require his constant attention. It has been widely discussed that there was not a single experiment on-board that actually required a human to perform. If he was preoccupied, it was something else entirely that had his attention.

[FReepaholic]

>>...Too heavy?...<<

Takes more energy to reach the orbital inclination of the ISS. Columbia is too heavy for the amount of thrust the Shuttle stack provides.

[PhiKapMom]

Tiles fall off on every single shuttle flight.

Have you kept track of how many times you have had to repeat that?

[Howlin]

I suggest everybody read that entire thread; your picture was totally debunked.

Whatever it is, it is NOT the shuttle.

[Man of the Right]

A pitiful attempt to sensationalize the obvious. A space craft may burn up on re-entry. You may drown in a swimming pool.