Space Shuttle Columbia

Dr. Spec · February 2003

May God be with that crew.

Russ - anything on your end?

RuSsMaN · February 2003

Just everyone watching the sky man, this is weird.

George Grand · February 2003

Watching through teardrops.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

HBombToo · February 2003

Tragic!

geekmedic · February 2003

My heart goes out to the families of these heroes.

joe6pak · February 2003

Those people are truly extraordinary individuals. What a loss!

joe

rskarvan · February 2003

First Challenger going up... now Columbia coming down. Sigh.

Space travel is dangerous business.
Because the shuttle is "fly by wire"... I wonder if most of the missions could be accomplished via remote control from Houston.

Its hate to see these brave individuals and talented scientists/engineers take such incredible risks with their lives.
Maybe the technology just isn't developed enough (yet) to risk carrying people. The loss to the families is completely tragic.
Very sad day for everyone. Horrible recovery for surviving family members lies ahead. <sigh>.

hotwheelman · February 2003

I remember watching the challenger in 86 and I am at a loss for the right words to say, I'm going to give it a shot anyway. My god be with each and every family member, and that non of us forget that the astronuats we lost today will be remembered as true american heroes. Their spirits I believe were as close to god as they could possibly be, I think they will always be there now and in the future watching out for other fellow astronuats that come their way as the envelope continues to be pushed to the limits by these brave men and women. I feel so empty when a tragic thing such as this happens to our country, its such a hollow feeling, almost like being totally alone.
I know this has to be equally as hard on the members of ground control and others at the space center, my heart goes out to them and their familys as well. The timing for all of this comes at such a bad time for our country with all of the troops we are deploying, I hope god will be with them also on this day as I am sure this is hard for them to swallow as well.

God bless you all,
Mike

F1nut · February 2003

A very sad and tragic event. My heart and prayers are with the astronuats families.

jdavy · February 2003

Was this the shuttle mission that had the back up teacher to Christy M. that died on the Challenger in 86? Have we lost two teachers now?

scottvamp · February 2003

I'm shocked. I did a huge extensive science fair report/project for the Challenger tragedy. Sort of bummed now. I heart goes out.

nadams · February 2003

My heart goes out to the family members of the astronauts. I wonder if we will ever find out what happened? Do these things have black boxes like airliners?

And, how about this story put on the net 48 minutes before the scheduled landing?

nadams

GZ · February 2003

Yet another truly sad day for all Americans. These brave souls are now with the Supreme Commander.

RuSsMaN · February 2003

http://www.alighthouse.com/flag.htm

Just something to enjoy.

madmax · February 2003

What really bummed me out was they showed video footage of the crew walking down the hall getting ready to board. (at least I think that is what it was). They were happy and excited. That really placed people with the names for me. Very sad.
madmax

shack · February 2003

These seven along with many other are true heros...They knew the risks were high and they still volunteered for their countries, science and the spirit of exploration. May God comfort and bless thier families and loved ones.

Frank Z · February 2003

"High Flight"

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

God Speed to the crew of Columbia.

geekmedic · February 2003

The backup teacher was not aboard this flight, but they were scheduling her to go up. Matter of fact, I think she was in training. They typically train for 2 years before their shuttle flight.

Regarding sending up unmanned shuttle flights: Keep in mind that the purpose of space flight is to mainly conduct research to further analyze long-term space survival, use microgravity to assemble proteins (that can't be assembled in gravity situations because they induce different folding patterns), etc. So manned spaceflights are a must.

Technology has a long history of being costly with peoples' lives. However, I think the only way we humans will advance to our max is to continue to venture onward.

The lives of the Columbia astronauts shall forever be in our memory. I am sure that each of them would want the space program to continue.

I have always had an interest in the space program, and in fact, I have written NASA's JSC numerous times regarding their uncorrected vision requirements for mission specialists. Hopefully they will release these requirements so I might be able to apply one day. At least if I get turned down (chances are I will get turned down), I would still have the satisfaction of applying. Right now I can't even apply because my uncorrected vision is worse than their requirements, but is correctable to 20/20. I'm not asking to pilot the shuttle -- only to be a mission specialist. I fail to see why uncorrected vision requirements are in place for mission specialists.

This truly is a tragedy. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families, friends, and the NASA community for the astronauts lost in today's tragedy.

joe logston · February 2003

i been sad all day, its a tragedy my heart gose out the heros familys

nellis8166 · February 2003

ditto to everything that has just been said...kind of at a loss for words...

mantis · February 2003

IT'S A TERRIBLE DAY.Sad,I was watching it all at a customers house this morning.Very sad.

rskarvan · February 2003

Geekmedic,

Would Lasic surgery correction work for you to meet NASA's vision requirements? I can understand the 20/20 vision requirement.
You don't want to have to fuss with glasses/contacts with high G-forces. Ick. It is a bummer though. I gave up a wish to be a pilot for the same reason.

Its a simple supply/demand requirement. There are enough "perfect" people in the world to choose from. The same vision criteria also applies for the armed service academies (I've been told). They want perfect human specimens as an entry requirement.

pensacola · February 2003

With surface temperatures of 3,000º, traveling at Mach 18 (12,500 mph) and
at 39 miles high, at least they didn't feel anything.

geekmedic · February 2003

Originally posted by rskarvan
Would Lasic surgery correction work for you to meet NASA's vision requirements? I can understand the 20/20 vision requirement. You don't want to have to fuss with glasses/contacts with high G-forces. Ick. It is a bummer though. I gave up a wish to be a pilot for the same reason.

Any type of eye surgery will disqualify you automatically. Any incisions on the cornea don't actually fully heal. Low air pressures (such as those that you are exposed to with extravehicular activities -- the suits aren't pressurized to 1 atm) will cause blindness. In fact, if you've had LASIK surgery and you go to extreme altitudes -- like the alps -- you will literally go blind after time there. I forget the highest altitude you can be exposed to before the atmospheric pressure drops so low that it causes problems.

I can see where losing a contact would be a problem in a EVA suit. You can't just put it back in. In those instances, one could wear glasses with headbands to hold them in place. The EVA suit has such a low moisture level inside that your glasses would not fog up. Astronauts have worn glasses in EVA suits before.

When you are being exposed to extremes in gravity (launch, re-entry), the mission specialist wouldn't have a critical role in those processes. So if one does lose his/her glasses or contacts, there would be no reason to reinsert them during the process. In fact, you wouldn't be able to as the astronauts wear pressurized suits during launch and re-entry.

pensacola · February 2003

16Jan03:

pensacola · February 2003

.

HBombToo · February 2003

In the recent past our country has experienced and is enduring some real tough times. The members of this site are a true indication of why our country is so strong and we as a nation will overcome any adversity which I'm glad to be part of.

Watching the news yesterday brought back a flood of memories of 1986. I was 18/19 years old assigned to a remote communications site on a mountaintop in South Korea. We had a backhaul for the American Forces Network and for monitoring purposes a little 9" black and white crt attached. In the very early morning the Korean Nationals on the graveyard shift came running into the barracks and dragged us over to the operations center to listen see first hand tradegy. Every GI and Korean National was glued to the monitor for hours where many of us wept including the Koreans in seeing this Horrer.

Our Nation is strong because of the strength of us individuals comeing together in the face of adversity. We will press on! The only thing that could possibly destroy our Nation and its accomplishments is US ourselves.

May God Bless US

HBomb

MxStYlEpOlKmAn · February 2003

Investigators quickly focused on the possibility that Columbia's thermal tiles were damaged far more seriously than NASA realized by a piece of debris during liftoff.
Just a little over a minute into Columbia's launch on Jan. 16, a chunk of insulating foam peeled away from the external fuel tank and smacked into the left wing, which like the rest of the shuttle is covered with tiles to protect the ship from the extreme heat of re-entry into the atmosphere.
On Saturday, that same wing started exhibiting sensor failures and other problems 23 minutes before Columbia was scheduled to touch down. With just 16 minutes to go before landing, the shuttle disintegrated over Texas.
Loose, damaged or missing tiles can change the aerodynamics of the ship and allow heat to warp or melt the underlying aluminum airframe, causing nearby tiles to peel off in a chain reaction. If the tiles strip off in large numbers or in crucial spots, a spacecraft can overheat, break up and plunge to Earth in a shower of hot metal, much like Russia's Mir space station did in 2001.

MxStYlEpOlKmAn · February 2003

Heres the whole article...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Feb. 2) - Countless clues left investigators with few answers as they probed what caused the breakup of space shuttle Columbia after the deadly disaster spewed debris across hundreds of miles.

In addition to examining the wreckage, NASA was analyzing transmissions from the crew, records from the shuttle's sensors and data from military, government and commercial satellites.

``We will be poring over that data 24 hours a day for the foreseeable future,'' NASA shuttle project manager Ron Dittemore told a Houston news conference Saturday, hours after the tragedy.

The space agency put a hold on all shuttle launches until the cause of the accident involving the oldest ship in its fleet could be determined.

Investigators quickly focused on the possibility that Columbia's thermal tiles were damaged far more seriously than NASA realized by a piece of debris during liftoff.

Just a little over a minute into Columbia's launch on Jan. 16, a chunk of insulating foam peeled away from the external fuel tank and smacked into the left wing, which like the rest of the shuttle is covered with tiles to protect the ship from the extreme heat of re-entry into the atmosphere.

On Saturday, that same wing started exhibiting sensor failures and other problems 23 minutes before Columbia was scheduled to touch down. With just 16 minutes to go before landing, the shuttle disintegrated over Texas.

``As we look at that now in hindsight ... we can't discount that there might be a connection,'' Dittemore said. ``But we have to caution you and ourselves that we can't rush to judgment on it because there are a lot of things in this business that look like the smoking gun but turn out not even to be close.''

A day earlier, NASA had given assurances that its analyses showed the launch-day incident was absolutely no reason for concern.

For months, former NASA administrators had voiced concerns about the safety of the shuttle fleet. In April, Richard D. Blomberg, former chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's aerospace safety advisory panel, warned of danger ahead, saying, ``I have never been as concerned for space shuttle safety as I am right now.''

Blomberg said budget cuts kept the agency from adequately upgrading the aging shuttle fleet. Columbia was built in 1981.

Other officials insisted the program was safe, saying the shuttles receive regular upgrades and have a long life span.

Jose Garcia, a retired NASA technical assistant, said budget cuts throughout the 1990s resulted in the elimination of many safety checks during launch preparations. He went public with his concerns, all the way to President Clinton, but said nothing changed.

``The managers always say, `It's safer than it's ever been. Safety first.' All those words come easy,'' Garcia said.

After Saturday's disaster, President Bush invoked his emergency powers to authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to spend whatever federal funds are needed to help with debris recovery and otherwise pay expenses in Texas and Louisiana related to the incident.

Dittemore warned that determining the cause of the crash could be a formidable task. ``Some evidence may have burned up during re-entry,'' he said. ``Other evidence is just spread over such a wide territory that we may never find it.''

Dittemore said the problem could have been caused by a structural failure of some sort, but did not elaborate. NASA said that until the problems with the wing were noticed, everything appeared to be performing fine.

Law enforcement authorities said there was no indication of terrorism; at an altitude of 39 miles, the shuttle was out of range of any surface-to-air missile, one senior government official said.

If the liftoff damage was to blame, Dittemore said there was nothing that the astronauts could have done in orbit to fix the damaged tiles.

``My thoughts are on seven families, children, spouses, extended family. My thoughts are on their grief,'' Dittemore said. And he added: ``My thoughts are on what we missed, what I missed, to allow this to happen.''

The shuttle has more than 20,000 black, white or gray thermal tiles that are made of a carbon composite or silica-glass fibers and are attached to the shuttle with silicone adhesive.

Loose, damaged or missing tiles can change the aerodynamics of the ship and allow heat to warp or melt the underlying aluminum airframe, causing nearby tiles to peel off in a chain reaction. If the tiles strip off in large numbers or in crucial spots, a spacecraft can overheat, break up and plunge to Earth in a shower of hot metal, much like Russia's Mir space station did in 2001.

In Columbia's case, the shuttle broke apart while being exposed to the maximum re-entry heat of 3,000 degrees on the leading edge of the wings, while traveling at 12,500 mph, or 18 times the speed of sound.

``I would say that the tiles are the No. 1 candidate'' for causing the disaster, said Norm Carlson, a retired NASA test chief and former launch controller.

Dittemore said that even if the astronauts had gone out on an emergency spacewalk, there was no way a spacewalker could have safely checked under the wings, which bear the brunt of re-entry heat.

The shuttle was not equipped with its 50-foot robot arm because it was not needed during this research mission, and so the astronauts did not have the option of using the arm's cameras to get a look at the damage.

And even if they did find damage, ``there's nothing that we can do about tile damage once we get to orbit,'' Dittemore said. ``We can't minimize the heating to the point that it would somehow not require a tile.''

It was the second time in just four months that a piece of fuel-tank foam came off during a shuttle liftoff. In October, Atlantis lost a piece of foam that ended up striking the aft skirt of one of its solid-fuel booster rockets. At the time, the damage was thought to be superficial.

Dittemore said this second occurrence ``is certainly a signal to our team that something has changed.''

02/02/03 08:42 EST

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

brettw22 · February 2003

Originally posted by nadams
Do these things have black boxes like airliners?

According to CNN's reports and interviews, no, the shuttles don't have what you and I would know as a black box like airplanes. With all of the sensors that are always updating NASA's computers, the 'black box' of the shuttles is ultimately Ground Control.

EDIT: While watching the CNN coverage of this incident, a commercial ran for HP, where an astronaut was walking through his neighborhood in his space suit and arrives at his home, and the ad ending line is something to the affect of HP bringing our astronauts home safe. WTF are they running that commercial between all the coverage of the damn thing blowing up??!?!?!?!?!?

rskarvan · February 2003

Doubt a black box could survive from a crash at 12,500 MPH at re-entry temperatures.

Space Shuttle Columbia

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