Shuttle crew knew debris hit Columbia

Washington Times ^ | 2/06/03 | Frank J. Murray

[kattracks]

Columbia's crew was aware through most of its 16-day flight that debris that hit the underside of the space shuttle's left wing at launch posed a danger, but it never mentioned it during public transmissions, NASA said yesterday.

NASA officials yesterday abandoned the theory of insulation foam hitting wing tiles as the cause of the disaster. Earlier this week, NASA had called the launch mishap "the leading candidate" for what caused the shuttle to break apart upon re-entry to the atmosphere.

[TLBSHOW]

Bookmarked! For the risk takers!

[Diddle E. Squat]

In another development yesterday, Mr. Dittemore rejected as "impossible" the claim by astronaut David M. Brown's brother that the crew was so concerned about the damaged left wing that astronauts took photos of it. The claim was relayed by Sen. George Allen, Virginia Republican, in a Senate floor speech Tuesday. Mr. Dittemore said the wing is not visible from the shuttle windows.

[Timesink]

*getting out lawnchair*

*grabbing beer*

*getting comfy*

Okay. I'm ready. Commence tinfoil flamewar!

[TLBSHOW]

I don't plan to retire my tag till the truth comes out.

[AFPhys]

In another development yesterday, Mr. Dittemore rejected as "impossible" the claim by astronaut David M. Brown's brother that the crew was so concerned about the damaged left wing that astronauts took photos of it. The claim was relayed by Sen. George Allen, Virginia Republican, in a Senate floor speech Tuesday. Mr. Dittemore said the wing is not visible from the shuttle windows.

I am so very happy that NASA took the time to rebut this silly claim by a dimwit lawmaker. Somehow I don't can't even believe this idiot made such a comment. Anybody with half a brain can look at a shuttle model and realize how stooopid such a comment is.

[WhiskeyPapa]

NASA officials yesterday abandoned the theory of insulation foam hitting wing tiles as the cause of the disaster.

I know I am cynical and doubt everything the government says.

But if this -were- the cause, wouldn't that mean the shuttle was just too dangerous to fly? You couldn't possibly guarantee it wouldn't happen again.

The Bigs have had enough time for that to soak in, and now some other cause will be found -- one they know they can fix.

Walt

[illumini]

The whole scenario fits.

As the craft encountered more atmosphere, larger sections of tile might have been forced away as the autoflight systems fought to overcome the yaw moment. As the heat destroyed structure, wiring harnesses would have burned through causing loss of elevon, gear position and other systems - including control of the fly-by-wire elevons, without which the craft would quickly tumble violently and break apart.

One video taken from Ft. Worth shows a large "something" falling away without a contrail shortly before the craft split into numerous sections (as indicated by contrails). This may have been the tail, a wing, or cargo doors.

I bet the left wing is in one of the counties just SW of Ft. Worth. Maybe one of the lakes. Any takers?

[Keith]

...sounds right to me...

[Gary Boldwater]

Suppose the Chinese have been putting up space junk just to derail America's program? They have had several launches recently and could have released BB size pellets (remember "Brilliant Pebbles"?) that can't be detected by ground based radar.
The fact that the left wing was struck by debris on launch, and with the present knowledge, is the area were the trouble occurred is purely coincidence.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Here is one reason the astronauts were concerned:

click here for 700K picture of Columbia's OMS pod tiles.

No large chunks were seen hitting the OMS pod tiles, but the gashes and craters are worse than I recall ever seeing. Extrapolate this to the bottom of the wing (where we know something hit).

[al_c]

I bet the left wing is in one of the counties just SW of Ft. Worth. Maybe one of the lakes. Any takers?

If that's where the problem started, there's probably not much left of it at all.

[mhking]

I've got some Orville Redenbacher...want some?