Shuttle Contact LOST-No Tracking Data During RE-Entry!

Nasa TV | 02/01/03 | GRRRR

[GRRRRR]

Shuttle has NOT been heard from or seen on tracking radar since 0800Hrs CDT. No contact at Merrit Island tracking station, no voice comm...DEVELOPING.

[discostu]

Probably more caused by rotation of the earth (viewed like God the planet rotates from west to east). 200,000 feet is a LONG way to fall (more than likely some small pieces will never come down) and the planet shifts 1 degree every four minutes (dregging from ancient childhoood astronomy hobby). So if it takes something an hour (not that crazy since you've got small pieces wafting down close th 20 miles) to fall that's 15 degrees worth of shift, which is 1/24 (I always go to easy math in the morning) of the entire circumfrence of the earth, or one whole time zone. The bad news is that in another 15 minutes or so the debris will be landing in the Pacific.

[Gracey]

You don't know what you're talking about re ice.........bla bla

[Alberta's Child]

That's an excellent observation -- NASA can't shut down the shuttle program until they get those three back to earth first!!!!

[JohnHuang2]

Darn, I missed it. Maybe it'll be posted at their website? Gotta run for a few -- be back soon.

[txdoda]

Ron Jackson, Fox weather guy, said he is amazed that debris is still showing up on radar. A lot of debris still in the atmosphere>>>>>>>>

Have seen larger piece found in Nacodoches also...

In-Laws live @ Lake Palestine, near Frankston, they have
been hearing sirens, but have seen nothing......maybe
local Tyler news will have something....

[The South Park Republican]

Oh God.....

I told her to "Back the "F" off" because Admin Moderator said links were OK today.

And I did this after about 3 or 4 of her harping emails TELLING me to stop.

[DoughtyOne]

This is a photo of the shuttle that was lost today. You can right click view to see it full size.

[spetznaz]

It is always possible that it might be terrorism but i doubt it. If it turns out to be terrorism it will probably be due to sabotage ....but even that is kind of improbable.

And then if you consider the following picture from CNN that shows a piece of insulation falling off during take-off it starts to look like an accident that precipitated from that event.

For the shuttle to be brought down at that speed and altitude extremely advanced tech would have to be used, and the only nation that currently deploys such tech is Russia (they have an ABM defnse system around Moscow ....which is too far away for such an attack and anyways a launch would be easily picked up) and the US (and we have not yet perfected shooting down high-velocity objects). No terrorist group would be able to bring down the shuttle unless they messed with it before it went up.

As for the Challenger explosion in '86 that was due to a series of mistakes by NASA where they went ahead with a launch even when the freezing weather had caused severe problems with the launch vehicle! Heads rolled, and the blame rests solely on NASA for that particular case.

This one i think is an accident (after all once the shuttle went up there was nothing they could do about the fallen insulation).

I pray for the families.

[ladysusan]

Fire at Park and Shiloh , East side of Plano, Texas, unit 303. Eyewitness said both floors of unit burst immediately into flame; no smoldering.

[mikegi]

We are getting reports from Central California from photographers are telling us that they saw a couple small objects flying free of the shuttle's streak across the sky.

I guess the important question is whether this is normal (stuff burning off the shuttle). BTW, where are you getting the updates?

[DoughtyOne]

On behalf of posters on Free Republic, I post this with deepest sympathy for the crew and their families.

[RobFromGa]

I think the DU posts are eye-opening and I'm glad you and others posted them. I would've never looked on my own. And, I don't think you are a closet DU'er. Thanks.

But you should stop replying to or posting anything about or to Howlin. And she to you. It will blow over soon.

[The South Park Republican]

Yeah....I found the definition of a "South Park Republican" eerily close to my true feelings and positions so I changed.

If you're interested, click on my profile. Maybe the definition I have bookmarked will explain it better.

[rbmillerjr]

A Message that Ronald Reagan would surely want to deliver to our children if he wasn't in ill health (It's a shame we can't have Reagan the statesman - what a loss.

"And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them..."

Ronald Reagan

[snopercod]

Pointing fingers at Palmdale is totally poor.

I didn't realize that you have some connection to Palmdale and/or Rockwell.

This may have absolutely nothing to do with the loss of the Columbia.

BUT, I have personally been in the midbody of the shuttle and seen with my own eyes the "professional" work done by the Palmdale people - the stepped-on boron struts, intercostals, wiring harnesses, and tubing. I have personally viewed the IPR log when the Columbia came back from Palmdale. I have personaly knowledge of the months of additional processing time required to repair all the damage they did out there.

Facts are facts. The Palmdale workers butcher the shuttle every single time they get their hands on it.

[lodwick]

A quick search for the Challenger Transcript will give you enough information to question the official NASA line. NASA's tape indeed ended with the explosion, but McAuliffe's personal recorder kept working until the end.

[IronJack]

No Cockpit Voice Recorders exist.

No, but mountains of telemetry data are available. I suspect the problem right now is not a dearth of information, but an abundance of it. In fact, I would wager that NASA already knows what happened, even if they don't know why.

[The South Park Republican]

But you should stop replying to or posting anything about or to Howlin. And she to you. It will blow over soon.

Good advice. Thank you.

[Howlin]

And I did this after about 3 or 4 of her harping emails TELLING me to stop.

That's a flat out lie.

[Texas_Jarhead]

unless I missed it, you should have posted a date with that article.