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.

[George W. Bush]

I beleive that one (Buran) was destroyed by a hanger collapse about a year ago? That leaves the restaurant and I think another was an exhibit in Australia?

The damaged one is the one they repainted and sent to the Olympics for display. It's also the one that is up for sale at $6 million. Yes, you can still buy it.

Apparently, there are still two new Burans but they are not being stored properly and would require quite a lot of work if you wanted to fly them. But they are still there.

I'd love to see them fly. I'd even like to see Europe put together a consortium to fly them. But then, I'm a SR-71 Blackbird freak too. You could probably spend half the U.S. GNP on these things and I'd just cheer.


Look at that big beefy hardware. My idea of a wet dream would be to launch 200-ton Burans while using SR-71's as spotter planes. I know, it's just an aerospace fantasy. But I still love all this stuff. And the Saturn and Jupiter rockets.

[Bob]

Palestine is pronounced Pal-uh-steen here in TX. >>>>>>>

Yes, I know......I'm only 5 miles away...
Some seem to be taking offense that debis is being found here....

I don't think that the offense was taken because debris was found there. It was probably more that news coverage was highlighting Palestine's name (as if it were of some special significance) rather than any other towns in the general area.

[RummyChick]

I have to say that if BIG HORN DOG was President right now not even I would claim that he was behind this disaster today. Some of The rats are demonic

[Terriergal]

Oh I know... but still, the coincidence is odd and being human and having an active imagination, I think about those possibilities.

[habaes corpussel]

My prayers go out to all the family members....

[larryjohnson]

cedar

[The South Park Republican]

I agree. There are just SO MANY things that can go wrong. I honestly didn't even think about sabatoge or terrorism until I saw someone mention it here. And then I rolled my eyes.

[lodwick]

I hope you linked to dep's newspaper article - the Challenger cover-up was a government classic: moving the bodies in garbage cans in the middle of the night; Presidential orders for no local guys to do the autopsies; off the wall death certificates.

It was more than enough to convince me that our astronauts died in the ocean and not in the sky as we'd all been told, and had hoped.

[txdoda]

Yes, I was just trying to state to them that there is no big coincidence. I am near Bmt. >>>>>>>>>

Most have figured it out, but you know there's always a
*few*........

Right now Dallas (CBS) news is here, with our local laws
& politicians being interviewed......so far at least 30
pieces have been located.....but they believe more will
be found in the rural areas.

[Timesink]

So-so time-lapse animation of the local weather radar showing debris dispersion.

[The South Park Republican]

THIS IS THE BEST ACCOUNT I HAVE SEEN CONCERNING WHY/HOW SHEP WAS PULLED OFF FOX...(It's not my account, I'm just passing it on from an email)....

Sorry to bother, I heard Shep's initial reading of the names, and bio. I was shocked about the words about the Indian gal (I was not watching).

Later I heard Shep apologize claim that he has been hearing/reading an AP reports and that it was wrong for those words to be attritbuted to her.

Shep seemed to be focused on maintain control as though he was upset that he had been given that info or that someone there had given it to him with those words, in.

From the way I heard all this it almost seemed either through ignorance the info was not read before reading on air, or someone there was seeking to "get" Shep.

I did not follow closely enough to be able to say for sure exactly what happened but apparently it was an AP release.

I have very disappointed with Fox today, it seems as though a bunch of teenagers were in charge of reporting a very sad, horrible news. Although Tony Snow and Shep were there parts of the day, they were in my opinion not being presented with the seriousness of the situation.

Shep is back on.

[OReilly]

The 16 minute point where they lost radar contact and telemetry, the onboard computer control is supposed to execute the first of the S turns with a 57 degree bank.

That maneuver is quite sharp and abrupt. It is designed to expose the underbelly of the Shuttle to the atmosphere. In this case the underbelly is not the soft part (but rather the extremely hardened and thermally re-radiative, Carbon Fiber Hi heat tiles)

[SteveH]

Here is that DU thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/duforum/DCForumID60/32827.html

referring to leadpenny's as-it-happened FR narrative thread

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833885/posts

interesting...

[txdoda]

. It was probably more that news coverage was highlighting Palestine's name (as if it were of some special significance) rather than any other towns in the general area.>>>>>>>>

Yes, I know........but if the news reported this happening in Pert, no one could have found it.....I don't think it's
on the map.

[virgil]

We strap people on top of large amounts of explosives, shoot them into space, and you expect no losses?

This is what I don't like about the shuttle. After all this time, you think we could come up with something better than a vehicle that requires these huge gas tanks and has a less violent re-entry. Instead we build a white elephant like the ISS.

[OReilly]

That maneuver is quite sharp and abrupt. It is designed to expose the underbelly of the Shuttle to the atmosphere. In this case the underbelly is not the soft part (but rather the extremely hardened and thermally re-radiative, Carbon Fiber Hi heat tiles)

That is also where the Landing Wheels are housed and to avoid problems with exploding wheels both here and in space, the wheels are deflated till just before landing. Some one of the astronauts sent a text message that there was a problem with tire pressure. Houston acknowledged that message and said your last voice transmission was not clear. That was the last transmission.

[lodwick]

Thanks much for the Challenger information.

[Kip Lange]

Shuttle was about to be phased out as it was for just that reason.

[reg45]

I don't know how many hours ahead Israel is, but the new day begins at sundown

Israel is about nine hours ahead of 08:00 CST so that would be about 17:00. At this time of year in the northern hemisphere, that is about the time of sunset! You are either correct about Shabbat being over or very close!

[Bob]

Yes, I know........but if the news reported this happening in Pert, no one could have found it.....I don't think it's on the map.

Heck, I thought that everybody knew that Pert is about midway between Brushy Creek and Todd City, and a bit northwest of Neches.