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.

[TLBSHOW]

ok! I just got back from the doctor my kid is sick!

[JCEccles]

Mertz can be your Deputy Director of Safety. You may entrust him with a badge and one bullet at a time.

[oldcomputerguy]

Don Nelson helped design the shuttle and has been involved ever since, is that qualifications enough?

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

You may entrust him with a badge and one bullet at a time.

What are you crazy???? A bullet???? I'd stick with a slingshot and pea shooter for both of them to share.....nothing more.

[justshe]

Spitwads.....lets keep it safe.

[ET(end tyranny)]

He also wanted escape modules as mentioned in this brief interview.

[oldcomputerguy]

Space walks are often or only done with the robot arm
as a tether. The robot arm was not installed for this flight.

[TankerKC]

Don Nelson helped design the shuttle and has been involved ever since, is that qualifications enough?

No. What does "helped design" mean? How was he "involved"?

[TLBSHOW]

I saw that, if anyone would of listened these 7 people would not be dead!

[JCEccles]

Well, I did say "bullet." I don't think we should trust him with the brass, powder, and primer to go with it.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

ROFL !!!!!

[TLBSHOW]

36 years of service trumps the Clinton corn balls!

[oldcomputerguy]

C-130's may not have parachutes but they can fly on one engine too.

[ET(end tyranny)]

If they would have implemented his idea of an escape module, they could have separated themselves from the shuttle after re-entry.

[Alberta's Child]

I can't believe the # of people who assume this was hopeless from the git go. Crap, something could have been tried, even if the odds were long . . .

I think you misunderstand a lot of what is being said.

The point was not that the re-entry was "hopeless," but that the odds of a successful re-entry were thought to be better than the odds of any other "something" that NASA could have tried.

[TLBSHOW]

Bingo and that is why this shuttle should never of lifted off until that was done.

[oldcomputerguy]

"but I think NASA had no choice but to roll the dice....and they lost."


I think that captures it pretty well. The culpability is that NSAS knew it had a foam problem as it apparently started after an environmentally friendly type was used in conjunction with less of it. Foam has come off on 6 or more previous flights and they obviously have not fixed
the problem yet though this was an old tank.

[ET(end tyranny)]

Don Nelson was at NASA for 36 years, part of the team for shuttle’s initial design and upgrades until he retired in 1999. Ah forget it, still probably not good enough for you.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

~SNICKER~.....but think about where that spit has been. EEWWWWWWWWW !!!!!!

[justshe]

Spit happens? ROFLMAO!