Shuttle landing in question

[mjendrejcak]

Do you think this was a terriost attack?







http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/01/shuttle.landing.ap/index.html

 

[TStetson]

If it was then be ready for a war. I'll have to get going to school so they if they start the draft I'll be good.

 

[Sled Puller]

This is the first I heard about it!



I doubt it was terrorists, there is a million things that can go wrong.

 

[kevincook]

I would like to send my deepest sympathy's to those families with loved ones on the shuttle!



KC

 

[illflem]

ruined my day

The shuttle was too high, 200k ft, and going too fast for a terrorist attack.

Current theory is a chunk of ice or insulation falling off the booster rocket on takeoff may have damaged the heatshield tiles.

This shuttle was the oldest one, in service since 1981

 

[TowPro]

A couple things I have already read.



1-An insulating section blew off the fuel tank on launch, and put a "nick" in the wing. Engineers said "no problem" but may will never see what really blew off on launch.



2-It happened at just over 200,000 feet, SAM's don't fly that high. (according to the news). I really bet there are SAM's that fly that high, but if somebody launched something that big a launch would have been detected.



3-At 200,000 feet, arn't they in the middle of re-entry where they are taking all the heat? Maybe there was to much heat with that insulation missing over the fuel tank. But I really don't know, they might dump the fuel before re-entry? or does it come down with them?

Originally posted by mjendrejcak

Do you think this was a terriost attack?







http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/01/shuttle.landing.ap/index.html

 

[snowracer69]

Prayers to the families of the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia. The United States lost 6 hereos today, and Isreal lost one of their own. What a tragedy.



TowPro, the insulation that came off was from a booster rocket that was jetisoned from the shuttle before they hit orbit. I don't believe there is any true fuel on-board when they come back in. They fly it the whole way "dead-stick".



Josh

 

[skobylenski]

I'll bet it was the fact that Columbia was 22 years old that did it. Sure, it had a major overhaul in 1999, but that still doesn't excuse the fact that it was old. illflem, I'll agree on the ice. I guess 70 seconds into launch, there was a large piece of ice that broke off the nose and hit the left wing. This may have cracked the wing in such a way that on re-entry it broke off while they were traveling well over 12,000 mph. Apparantly the re-entry speed is usually mach 6, not mach 18, so I think there may have been bigger problems than the wing being damaged.

My prayers go out the families of the astronauts, and I hope the U. S. can Isreal can get along after this tragic event.



Scott

 

[metal tech]

There is some fuel still onboard. The Positioning Thrusters used in space along with the Aux Power Unit have some fuel. With all the telemetry data points they monitor, someone has a clue as to what system failed. I heard that they only got 5-6 seconds of data before came apart.

 

[lschultz]

It's a sad day. We need to stop what we are doing and say a prayer.

 

[John]

Originally posted by illflem

The shuttle was too high, 200k ft, and going too fast for a terrorist attack.

Current theory is a chunk of ice or insulation falling off the booster rocket on takeoff may have damaged the heatshield tiles.

This shuttle was the oldest one, in service since 1981

1) Although the oldest Space Shuttle, it went through a VERY EXTENSIVE upgrade in 1999



2) Wouldn't you think if there were ANY perceived damage to the orbiter they would check it out on one of their space walks while docked at the Space Station?



3) NO CHANCE of a terrorist attack...



at 12,500 MPH, 22,000 miles up NO surface to air missle would have even a remote chance of catching it.



4) I would suspect security would be way too tight to slip some sort of "device" onto/into the orbiter prior to launch with the intent to detonate same at a later point in time.



5) The black silica tiles break off the Space Shuttle all the time. Each of the 270,000 tiles are unique and are custom re-made (if damaged or missing) after each flight as part of the maintenance program.



My theory? I'm thinking something did indeed do more damage to the left wing than was originally thought... probably structurally. Upon the steep, extremely fast decent through the atmosphere, some degree (or more) of control loss was realized, thereby rolling over (slightly or totally) where the orbiter is NOT protected by the silica tiles from the EXTREME heat... and we all know what would (and possibly did) happen next.



A very dark day in the history of space travel and our great Country!



My prayers are with the great men and women who were on the Columbia and their families and loved ones.

 

[Champane Flight]

Best of the best.

These brave men and women were the best of the best. The space program has always been dangerous, we all seem to lose sight of this fact when we go for years without a mishape. The missions become matter of fact. There are many things that can go wrong. My prayers are with the familys of these men and women lost.

 

[HEMI®Dart]

Tech question

From the start of the film and pictures of the Orbiter over Texas there is a vapor trail. It get worse as it goes.



Is is normal to have a single vapor trail behind the spacecraft at that speed & altitude?

 

[nickleinonen]

sad day indeed when i first heard of it this morning, i was hoping for the best, but this evening when i found out more about this tragidy, reality is starting to set in. my thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of these brave people. but president bush said it best The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth, yet we can pray that all are safely home.

 

[davidclark]

Re: Tech question

Originally posted by HEMI®Dart

Is is normal to have a single vapor trail behind the spacecraft at that speed & altitude?

I've seen the shuttle fly over before on re-entry. There is a loooooong plasma trail left, goes almost form horizon to horizon. It's glowing orange at night. A spectacular sight to see. So it's normal, what isn't is the 5 or six trails total that were occurring due to the break-up. This is a sad day in space travel, again, unfortunately...

 

[snowracer69]

Ice coming off the fuel tank is not a reality... to have ice form you need two conditions...



1). Temperatures freezing or below, but not too much below.



2). Visible moister... e. g. clouds, rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, combination of above (clouds usually acompany all of them). Without visible moisture, you CAN NOT have ice. They WILL NOT launch the shuttle with less than perfect conditions, and I know that they didn't launch this one through an overcast cloud layer, therefore there was no ice on the fuel tank... it had to be something else.



On another note, I don't believe it had anything to do with the insulation or whatever hitting the wing. NASA has the BEST engineers on the face of the planet!!! If they said it was ok, IT WAS OK! I firmly believe that, as I'm following in the footsteps of those great men and women who make these missions possible.



A sad day, and just my opinions.



Josh

 

[illflem]

NASA engineer stated that it's not unusual at all for ice to form on the booster, that's what the insulation is all about.

 

[Diesel Freak]

Yes this was a sad day, and a huge blow to the space program, but I am very suprised that we have only lost two Shuttles since the start of the program.





With all tha hazards in the space program, losing only two aircraft is quite an accomplishment!

 

[tntway]

i was at this launch. it was a piece of foam insulation that broke offand hit the left wing. they now speculate that it took off some heat tiles. this would lead to excessive structural heating and failure.



NASA didn't check the shuttle with their telescopes as they sometimes do. and this mission did not dock with the space station nor were they equipped to perform space walks.



May the Columbia 7 rest in peace with the Challenger 7 and the Apollo 1 crew.

 

[Mike Ellis]

No chance of a Surface to Air missile hitting them at that altitude and speed, SAMs can't even deal with SR-71 at far lower altitudes and speeds. Also there are only 3 nations capable of deploying space-based weaponry to the best of my knowledge, USA-Russia-China. Seems highly improbable that any attack took place during the mission.



Speculation seems to center on the wing tiles, a missing tile can spoil your day either from aero roll as noted before or from direct heating affects. If NASA suspected damage, it seems outright criminal that they didn't do a check of some sort, could have joined up with Space Station or something you would think.



Low Probability Corner: Although security is tight, it is worth noting that this mission had an Israeli astronaut on board and given NASA's current "open arms" policy of multi-national participation in our space program there are no doubt quite a few scientists and engineers on site, already cleared for access, who come from countries advocating destruction of Israel. The fanatics have always considered the Israelis fair game wherever they are, for example the 1972 Olympics. I bet the USG is looking over the staff at the space center VERY closely right now.