4 ways Columbia could have been saved. From NASA's Kennedy Space Center Home Page

NASA's Kennedy Space Center Home Page ^ | 04 February 03 | Mitchel Tighe

[fatima]

Mitchel Tighe,Who are you?

[Mitchel Tighe]

No Tennesse, I'm not name calling, and it is not my first time here... My old PW under the diminuative of my name, as I logged in prior didn't work.

May I ask where your quote came from?

And I'm no conspiracy theorist. If the Scientists at NASA can explain away this, that would be ok. I'm just curious.

And your one day later quote may be right

[AnalogReigns]

NASA has repeatedly said they did not see the foam falling off until the taping of the liftoff was reviewed.... well AFTER Columbia was in orbit. Nothing could have been done at that point...unless the bottom of the shuttle was inspected--which for the shuttle crews is impossible, they could not have known of the suspected damage.

Even if damage had been seen from ground telescopes, it was irrepairable up there; the shuttle and crew had no choice but to come back down--as they'd of run out of air before anything could of possibly gotten to them, and the space station was impossible to reach--at a much higher orbit.

Everything appears now like God had better things for them to do other than in this world....

[snooker]

docking collars anyone?

oops we left ours on the ground and filled the shuttle bay with experiment modules.

snooker

[Howlin]

[Jewels1091]

They DIDN'T look at the tape of the lift off until the NEXT day...it was way too late. Had they seen this as it happened, they could have landed at one of their emergency sites.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I bet this new guy snaps before 200 posts? Wager anyone??? ;0)

[Brett66]

They just recently tested a shuttle cam that rides on the external tank and gives video all the way to orbit. Why not position a couple of these cams closer to the wing areas on future flights? This would give them a much better chance of seeing potential problems on the way to orbit. It could've been beneficial in this instance.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?

[Chad Fairbanks]

You thinking retread????

[Fpimentel]

Welcome to FreeRepublic. : )

[Mitchel Tighe]

Nope Margaret, MPA...regrets

If all of you are ok with the "review next day, then that is ok by me. I hope that is the case and that the brave 7 did not die in vain.

[Brett66]

They would have to go eva to get the supplies. I'm not thinking of conventional solutions here, I'm thinking of something that would be attempted in desperation.

[Tennessee_Bob]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/867926.asp?0sl=-10

[Howlin]

and it is not my first time here

Who were you?

[Tennessee_Bob]

who who who who...

Oh, wait, did that one already.

[Fred Mertz]

You ask a good question. Go with the flow, dude.

[nvskibum]

I have read a post from one Freeper, a former NASA executive, suggesting that one problem may have been the heavy weight of the Columbia vehicle. Columbia, being the oldest shuttle, was considerably heavier than newer shuttles. The post stated that heavy re-entry weight would tend to create more stress and heat upon re-entry. If this is true, and if NASA knew that the vehicle sustained damage which would make re-entry more dangerous, might the situation have been improved if the crew were instructed to toss out all unessential items, such as experiments, unneeded equipment, everything in the cargo bay, etc., before initiating re-entry, in order to reduce vehicle weight and stress?

[Tennessee_Bob]

Hmmm....don't know...at this point...could be