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

Maariv ^

[yonif]

The left wing of the shuttle picture taken from the window of the shuttle.

Main Issue in the Article

Did Nasa know about this and therefore kept their silence, not telling the astronauts?

-The photo was revealed on Channel 1 of Israel. This pic was taken during an interview the Channel had with the Israeli astronaut.

[CarolAnn]

You're right. There's no way the shuttle can have anything protruding from it's wing like is shown in the photograph. Those cracks don't look real anyway.

[yonif]

So you are saying that NASA did the right thing to "leave their fate up to God" in trying to land them?

[txradioguy]

That looks like a Hebrew version of the National Enquirer.

[Howlin]

No way.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

The Headline: The Wing of Death

Wow, that headline just OOZES credibility.

This is a hoax. I'll eat my words if I'm wrong.

[shadowman99]

This pics looks like a (poorly) photoshop-ed fake. That "wing" has features that do not corespond to the wing of the shuttle.

[Swordmaker]

I can only wonder why they didn't send them to the space station until they could send another shuttle up to get them.

It was not an option. The ISS is 115 or so miles higher and in a completely different orbit pitch. Columbia did not have the Delta V (the ability to change velocity and vector) to reach the space station.

[Howlin]

You cannot possibly be serious. That is NOT a picture from the shuttle.

[Lancey Howard]

I am not sure if that is evil. Why make them worry? There was NOTHING they could do about it.

Sorry, no sale.

Dock or not, they could have found some way to get into the ISS. I bet that place has some extra EVA suits lying around. Or, stay in orbit for a couple of weeks and try to get a Russian ship up there. Or another shuttle. Keeping your fingers crossed and playing the odds is not the way to go.

[txradioguy]

They had nothing else to do. The ONLY place tiles can be replaces is on earth. The curing process can't be done in space and each tile is custom made to fit that specific place on the aircraft. They were merely playing the odds by thinking "well we've lost tiles before and got them home safely" No matter how good a gambler you are, the house does still win sometimes as they did this time.

[jwalsh07]

Ya think?

[abner]

Yonif, I met you this last weekend and you seem like a really nice young man. Do you believe this theory that these people are formulating?

[yonif]

Hey. It was nice meeting you to. Which people are you referring to?

[Alberta's Child]

It has been reported widely over the last couple of days that there was no way the shuttle could have docked with the International Space Station. For one thing, such a docking requires a special module to be brought along on the shuttle (the Columbia did not bring it). Also, because of some other issue the Columbia was incapable of docking with the ISS under any circumstances on any flight. I believe the Columbia (because it was the oldest shuttle) was too heavy to be launched to the altitude that was necessary for a docking with the ISS.

[Howlin]

I don't see any YELLOW on there or stove pipes, for that matter, do you?

[SierraWasp]

yeah! Like hey man... That's Abe's HAT!!! (This is right out of an old episode of STARTREK! (Grin))

[Jhoffa_]

That looks like a Hebrew version of the National Enquirer.

You got that right..

(You know, people [myself included] climb all over RCW2001 when he posts wild, inflamatory stuff like this..)

[abner]

The people that have put forth this article and photo that is NOT part of the space shuttle Columbia. Those people.

[txradioguy]

"Dock or not, they could have found some way to get into the ISS. I bet that place has some extra EVA suits lying around. Or, stay in orbit for a couple of weeks and try to get a Russian ship up there. Or another shuttle. Keeping your fingers crossed and playing the odds is not the way to go."


Sorry. But the shuttle carries a set amount of fuel no matter where they are going. Getting to the ISS depends on that angle of the launch and the launch only. Second, as jerryf pointed out, Columbia is the heaviest of the shuttles it doesn't dock with the ISS it doesn't even carry the docking collar. It's too heavy to dock with the ISS as well.

[Tennessee_Bob]

1. Nasa Did not make any effort to investigate the outside of the ship for serious damage, even after seeing that panel fall on the wing. They could have used a telescope or a spy satellite to do so.

Errr...which telescope? Ground based or the Hubble? A spy satellite? No - I don't think either of those would work.

2. Therefore the shuttle could have flown to the space station and waited there for another shuttle

Depends on the fuel load that they had on board (at least according to another post). They were in a different orbit than the ISS, and would have had to make a major burn of fuel that they didn't have in order to reach it (at least, according to one of the many posts).

3. Repeat that the Columbia crew was not told of the problems, so they had no chance to investigate or try to fix them (A BIG THING)

Reckon it's possible that the ground guys did see the unknown item (ice, insulation, what-have-you) fall at launch - as has happened before - and determined that it was nothing of major concern? Granted, at this point, they're looking at everything.

4. Correction: The pic is a still photo from the press conference Israel had where the Prime Minister Sharon had a talk with the Israeli astronaut. This photo was revealed on Israel Television the other day.

Meaning? That this really isn't a picture of the leading edge of the left-hand wing, and it's quite possible that this newspaper is engaging in what every other media outlet is doing - hypothesizing about something that they really don't know anything about??

Nah - couldn't be...