Local Aviation Expert: Terrorism A Possibility

CBS KYW ^ | 02/01/03 | NA

[aculeus]

.... are we to be the National Enquirer of the Internet?

Yes! I nominate Michael Rivero as our editor-in-chief.

Come home, MR, come home.

[tiki]

I have thought that the coincidence of the I sraeli astronaut was eerie and have thought the worst but I hope it was not. But...if it was-there should be hell to pay.

[dfwgator]

If it was terrorism, someone would have claimed responsibility for it by now. As far as I know that hasn't happened.

[MamaLucci]

FYI

ChiCom/Clinton connection?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Twenty years from now the next generation might well look back on this catastrophe and say "how could anyone not have seen it for what it was?"

First Israeli astronaut who bombed Iraqi nuke plant, on the eve of Saddam's annihilation, over Palestine, Texas, with all the world watching.

The WTC fell at 9 a.m. too. They like a show.

[general_re]

I nominate Michael Rivero as our editor-in-chief.

Why? It's just a matter of time before "Vaccination Man" shows up again ;)

[Polycarp]

It was damage at liftoff:

Gash possibly 7 1/2 FEET long, 7 1/2 INCHES wide.

Did NASA know there was a problem? PIC and Excerpts from an Israeli Article

BREAKING: NBC News finds Jan 30 NASA Memo showing serious concern about tile damage!

[PhiKapMom]

There is an Accident Investigation Board that is being assembled and their job is "not" to rule anything out before they begin. To do so would be an injustice to the investigation IMO. As Senator Allen (R-VA) stated this morning on Fox and Friends you cannot rule out terrorism when looking into this tragedy even though it doesn't look like that could be the cause.

For anyone that thinks security in NASA is fool proof, think again. If someone wants to sabatoge something or load code that may have a glitch that could cause catastrophic damage, they will find a way. Not saying this happened but you can not start an investigation by ruling it out.

Short memories by the press corps in the fact that during eight years of clinton security clearances were a joke and those same people could still be in the Government or working for a contractor. Security at NASA does not compare to security on AF bases IMO except where the shuttle is located at Kennedy, and yet there are breaches on AF bases. We have Government employees, civilian and military, that are arrested on selling our Secrets and they all had security clearances.

Or how about the people that I have seen state that the software could "not" be a problem because it is checked and rechecked. Tell that to our AF pilots that have had computer glitches on their aircraft. Nothing is foolproof.

Then we have the press that is stating that it had to be the insulation damaging tiles on take-off. Then some so-called expert on here asked why didn't an SR-71 fly by and take pictures -- the plane takes pictures of the ground. This morning I heard the press talking about an escape pod and why we didn't have one. How are you going to do an escape pod at 200,000+ feet -- have it land with parachutes that would burn up. Or how about repairing the tile with new tile? These heat tiles are custom made to fit individual parts of the shuttle and individually glued on -- not to mention how they would attach them under the wing if they had them. Space walk is not something out of Star Wars.

The press needs to chill out and let the investigators do their job instead of having every expert and not so expert on TV they can find come on their shows to then ask some of the dumbest questions I have heard. With Fox and Friends this morning, it was obvious they had done very little research before asking their questions.

Not saying that I believe this is sabotage or terrorism, but to rule anything out before the investigation starts would be foolhardy. And for the press to keep harping on the same thing that they "think" caused the accident is not being responsible journalism IMO.

[ArrogantBustard]

I do not for one instant believe that picture to be genuine. The color is wrong, the angle of that yellowed looking thing is far too acute for it to be an orbiter wing, and that black cylindrical thing is not present on a orbiter wing.

I don't pretent to know what it is, but I do not believe it to be from the space shuttle. I further believe that the Israeli tabloid which first presented it showed incredible irresponsibility in doing so.

[Mike Fieschko]

There is a long thread where numerous freepers point out why that photo is most likely a fake.

Here.

The curvature of the Earth is much too great, if the photo was taken from Columbia's orbit.

There is no portal from which the wing is visible, where a shuttle astronaut could have take this photo.

There are other reasons. Those are the ones which came to mind off the top of my head.

[Desdemona]

Uh, no. Don't think so. That's not from the shuttle.

[al_c]

That's not a shuttle wing.

[al_c]

They aren't supposed to fly that high, it was a nice day, could it be a freak occurance?

It was also a very windy day. I doubt they launched any baloons in windy conditions.

[nina0113]

The Israeli planted a (suicide) bomb to advance the Palestinian cause.

That's not what happened at all. Al-Qaeda infiltrated Area 51, stole the alien starships that the government has been hiding since Roswell, figured out how to fly them and use the weapons systems, then shot down the shuttle.