Posted on 02/01/2003 6:56:54 AM PST by kattracks
Edited on 04/13/2004 1:40:20 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
CAPE CANAVERAL (AP)
(Excerpt) Read more at usatoday.com ...
Instapundit is on the job:
http://www.instapundit.com/archives/007196.php#007196
Rand Simberg is also on the job:
http://www.interglobal.org/weblog/archives/002063.html#002063
NOAA's weather radar image of the Columbia break up
http://weather.noaa.gov/radar/latest/DS.p19r0/si.kshv.shtml
KHOU has pictures of the Shuttle Debris on its web site here:
http://www.khou.com/topstories/khou030201_ds_ShuttleDebris.10bac482.html
And the Winds of Change.net web log:
Of course, everyone should remember that this link is to a *live* image and is constatntly being updated ... so slowly the depiction of a track from northwest to southwest (as is currently being shown as of this writing) south of Shreveport will continue to change ... also note: on the 'looped' version of this image the entire track continues to move east.
Four people are reported to have checked in to Nacdoches Memorial hospital ... no further details ...
Local paper for Nacogdoches, Tx:
On landing the shuttle is a great big glider, and not a very agile one. Little or no fuel as such is in play or on board. Computers keep it aligned during all the critical phases, when heat and pressure are worst danger. Any lapse in that alignment greatly increases stress and any sudden loss of integrity (wheel door bulging or being bumped open?)could cause large sections to grab air and begin to tear away. Once started, no way to recover and shuttle would break up much as it appears to have done.
Almost no chance of terrorism or sabotage. Carelessness maybe, freak event probably, time to come up with a new shuttle design - about ten years ago.
1) It’s Bush’s fault.
2) The Palestinians are dancing in the streets – another Jew is dead, Americans are dead, another blow to the infidels.
3) It’s Bush’s fault, because of tax cuts.
4) If incompetence is found, it’s the fault of the Republican agenda for not supporting our public schools.
5) It’s Bush’s fault, because of tax cuts, and for not supporting our public schools.
6) It’s Bush’s fault. And, how dare we be so unseemly to even consider aggression against Iraq at this time of national mourning?
7) Funding for science and technology should be for progress, not for war. It’s Bush’s fault. It’s his fault because of matter of perspective. Because of values, about the direction of science and technology. That’s why the shuttle blew up. Because we value war.
8) But, maybe this is all for good. We have to ask ourselves, what did we do to cause this? Of course, there will be an independent investigation to find this out. The focus of the investigation will be two sides: the side saying it’s Bush’s fault, and the side which will be pigeon-holed into saying it isn’t Bush’s fault and they don’t beat their wives. After the report is filled, no one will read it.
9) The Black Muslims will say it was the great wheel in the sky that brings down fire on the blue-eyed devils who are the enemies of Islam. This is the same great wheel that was suppose to come down in 1968 in a field not far from Chicago, where thousands of blacks were bused from all over the North East came and awaited for the wheel which would pick them up, and on the way out to space would kill all the blue-eyed devils with the death ray. None of this will be reported, but somewhere in all of this the leader of this domestic terrorist group, Louie the accordion player, will be called a “statesman”. It’s all Bush’s fault, and Louie is a statesman.
10) The statesman Jimmy Carter revels that it’s all Bush’s fault.
11) The statesman Nelson Mandella will revel that it’s all Bush’s fault. That the greatest perpetrator of murder is America. That Bush can’t think straight. That’s it’s all Bush’s fault. He will be called a statesman for saying all of this, but you won’t hear any of Nelson’s direct quotes in the media. Except, he’s a statesman, and Bush is not. And now this has happened. And, it’s Bush’s fault.
12) The statesman Al Gore revels that it’s all Bush’s fault.
13) The Republican statesman McCain will revel that it’s “sort’a” Bush’s fault.
14) All statesman agree. It’s Bush’s fault.
15) There are no illegal aliens involved.
16) The Black Muslims may have some answers to our problems in America. This is only one revelation. Now is the time to dance in the streets with the Palestinians. And, to divest Israel. Because, it’s, well, Israel’s fault. And Bush’s.
God, this is terrible.
"It's going to happen again someday."
I believe that they were correct.
I seriously doubt it. Considering how expensive and valuable the space shuttles are, I bet there is as much security surrounding them as there are around nuclear weapons. If terrorists were able to penetrate the security of the space programs, I'm sure they would also be able to have penetrated the security of bases where nuclear weapons are stored.
I stand corrected.
At the time, I figured it was a ruse to dissuade people from grabbing "souvenirs", and I thought it was an inappropriate thing to be concerned about given the scope of the tragedy.
Turned out it was no ruse - - some of the debris could indeed have toxic residue.
Regards,
LH
I did too as more info came in about the circumstances....
However, I have just learned, as reported on FoxNews Channel, that Ilan Ramon was one of the pilots involved in the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear plant.
I am now again, suspicious. Too many coincidences.
My oldest son lives in Paulden, AZ. His wife called this morning to tell me that they saw it begin to break up over Arizona. He called 911 and reported what details he could give them.
We are praying for the families of these heroes. May God be with them and give them comfort.
I would agree but I own an '85 Chevy Astro Van and have taken it on several LONG trips from Florida to Ohio and back.
The odds of my old van breaking down are GREAT, yet it has always gotten me there, and on the way we passed several NEW cars broken down at the side of the road.
So I would say the ODDS do not worsen.
Well now I don't think a bomb. I'm leaning toward loss of one or more leading-edge (black) tiles on the wing and catastrophic melting leading to failure. In other words the thermal loads with lack of tiles.
This was inevitable; the shuttle fleet was ageing. Remember the "jokes" that said you don't want to be on the first 5 flights (infant mortality) or the last 5 (airframe age)? Trouble was, nobody knew how to figure out how many actual flights were the "last 5". Now we have 3 vehicles and they will be lost one by one as they age.
Memo to NASA: maybe now is a good time to think about replacing the STS. Maybe rethink man's role in space. Personally--and it rips me to say it--I have come to believe we are better off not risking human life unless we are going to send people to Mars or the Moon. We need to stop "studying" replacements and get serious about retiring the fleet.
--Boris
I'm a liquid-rocket person. After Challenger, a colleague reported to me that a Thiokol guy had made a remark at a technical meeting: "This is the end of liquid rockets."
"Huh?"
"Well, if you guys didn't have that big explosive tank of propellants hanging there, the solid leak would be no big deal."
"Uh, let me get this straight. Suppose one of the SSMEs had flung a turbine blade and it penetrated one of the solid boosters, causing a catastrophic failure. Whose fault would that be?"
"Yours." (liquids).
"I see. So all failures are the fault of liquid engines, right?"
--Boris
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