Posted on 06/12/2007 4:48:53 PM PDT by XBob
Space Shuttle's Left Wing May Be Damaged Meteorite, Space Junk May Have Struck Panels
POSTED: 5:13 pm EDT June 12, 2007 UPDATED: 7:00 pm EDT June 12, 2007 Email This Story | Print This Story Sign Up for Breaking News Alerts WASHINGTON -- A meteorite or space junk may have struck Space Shuttle Atlantis' left wing, according to NBC News space correspondent Jay Barbree.
NASA recorded a hit on reinforced carbon panels 7 and 8 on the left wing. The panels keep heat from re-entry from burning the spacecraft.
...
This is the same area where foam damaged Columbia's left wing and caused it to break up, killing its crew on Feb. 1, 2003.
“Because it costs too much and there seems to be little benefit.”
Left-wing hippie freaks were saying the same thing in the 60s.
I find it amazing the way history repeats itself.
Unfortunately they must stop use of the current shuttles by 2010 - however the so called CEV or “Orion spacecraft” is now not expected to be ready or usable until something like 2016 - so we have a 5 to 6 year gap....
I think they are going to need to send up Endeavour or Discovery with replacement parts.
True.
It’s expensive, worthless and most of all, dangerous.
Yeah. Too dangerous for us. Let the Chinese do it.
John Glenn had a pair huh
There was a fire alarm in the FGB aboard the station today at 4:23 pm CDT. False alarm — software error. These things happen. No reason to stop exploring.
Hell, the shuttle can’t go into space, technically speaking.
Shuttle Impact Warning Routine, NASA Says
NASA said during a mission status briefing for space shuttle Atlantis on Tuesday that reports of a possible impact on the shuttle’s right wing are not too troublesome.
Mission management team chairman John Shannon said that an accelerometer detected a 1G change at one part of the wing’s leading edge. However, while NASA does not know what caused the reading, it is not unprecedented.
He said that NASA does not believe it was an actual impact, because no other sensors recorded the event.
The leading edges of the wings are sensitive because that was the area damaged during liftoff of shuttle Columbia’s flight in January 2003. The craft was destroyed on re-entry Feb. 1, 2003, when hot gasses entered the hole.
After Columbia, NASA provided new equipment and procedures that would allow astronauts to inspect any possible problems. Shannon said that late inspections of Atlantis before it returns to Earth would catch any problems.
Mission managers also said Tuesday afternoon there was a false fire alarm on the space station that crew members were dealing with. NASA’s Joel Montalbano said that was related to problems with Russian computers on the space station which are not working properly.
That has also led to some issues with how the linked spacecraft can move, meaning there’s slightly less power to the station.
http://www.my58.com/technology/13491093/detail.html
Which would make more sense given the state of today's technology: to send three manned missions to the moon without using any probes first to find the best spots, or to send ten probes to spots that seem like they might be interesting, followed by two manned missions to the ones that appear the best?
So are our current day explorers.
Ever heard of manifest destiny or the Age of Exploration, Magellan’s Voyage.
What about scientific exploration.
What about NASA spin offs:
1. Computer Technology
2. Consumer/Home/Recreation
3. Environmental and Resource Management
4. Health and Medicine
5. Industrial Productivity/Manufacturing Technology
6. Public Safety
7. Transportation
Don’t believe me check this web site out:
The official NASA spin off page: http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/
Or an independent page: http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html
wow, true huh, Russia still capsules down huh
Quiet Sun right now with low flare probability, so radiation won’t be too bad (NASA had to revise the OSHA radiation worker limits by a factor of at least three to meet the doses the astronauts get- for me and you it’s 5000 mr per year, for them 25,000).
http://radiationbiology.arc.nasa.gov/activities/RadiationLimitsforAstronauts.pdf
Page 3 of the link has info on astronaut exposures.
A senior NASA official told Barbree that they do not believe the strike did any damage, but will check the area to make sure.
Why did you leave this out? You skipped right over this and posted the next sentence.
If you are going to excerpt please don’t leave out something in the middle.
“We need to stop putting people up there.
It’s expensive, worthless and most of all, dangerous.”
Yeah, just let the Russians, Chinese and Indians take control of space. Yep, head in sand, yep.
One of the Apollo missions - they got so good at plotting the landing area that the capsule would land in the ocean, there were at one point some serious concerns they were going to hit the aircraft carrier tasked to pick them up, which of course would have been a disaster.
I find it amazing the way history repeats itself.
Hippie freaks (all Liberals) love spending other people's money.
Please lay out your cost benefit analysis. As a starting point, use the cost per occupant of the International Space Station.
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