If Space Shuttle is Doomed, Do You Tell Crew?

[Rubycon]

10 years ago today one of the worst disasters unfolded in the US Space Program.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/01/columbia-space-shuttle-anniversary-nasa

Columbia anniversary: Nasa managers struggled with telling crew of danger

A decade after the space shuttle broke apart on re-entry over Texas, project manager reveals agency's agonising discussions

Talk about making a decision whether or not to tell considering there was nothing that could have been done to save them.

 

[Jeff7]

The other scary part.....holy hell, that was already 10 years ago??!?

 

[Baked]

"Attention crew members, we just found out you're all fucked and will turn into dust in about 5 minutes. Thank you for your service."

 

[tontod]

I dont understand if there was doubt as to the condition of the shuttle, why the astronauts couldnt have taken refuge inside the space station, and NASA would have scrambeld in emergency mode to get another shuttle to go up and bring them back? I'm sure the crew could be at the station for a few weeks at least? I read that they didnt have an emergency shuttle ready until after the disaster, but I'm sure if they busted their asses, they could have had a shuttle ready in fairly quick order?

 

[sze5003]

Yeah tough decision in that case. I don't think there was anything to be done but closer investigation.

 

[Sonikku]

"Well kids, it's good news/bad news time.

The good news is, your ship's name will live on in the latest spin off of Star trek!"

 

[manimal]

the burden of leadership.

Could they have gone to the space station and grabbed oxygen like that old guys in space movie?

they could have then sent up via russia a solid booster with a few techs and replacement panels within a month. They could have then sold a pay per view of the event worldwide.

 

[KeithTalent]

"Well kids, it's good news/bad news time.

The good news is, your ship's name will live on in the latest spin off of Star trek!"

Oh holy hell I laughed so hard at this.


Seriously though, RIP. That would be so sad for the families.

KT

 

[Red Squirrel]

"Well kids, it's good news/bad news time.

The good news is, your ship's name will live on in the latest spin off of Star trek!"

And the bad news is *connection lost*

Definitely must have been a tough decision to make though. Can't imagine being in any situation where I know people are going to die in front of me and I can't do anything about it. Then being faced with whether I tell them or not.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I would assume that no matter what your opinion of the situation, you have to keep working to salvage it right up until the end. That would probably mean doing everything you can to buy time. Which would mean delaying reentry and completely apprising the crew of the situation. At some point you have to try reentry whether you're ready or not, but delay and work on the problem right up to that point.

 

[ImpulsE69]

If movies have taught us anything, you always tell them so they can at least try to live.

 

[wirednuts]

If movies have taught us anything, you always tell them so they can at least try to live.

yeah i know what you mean.. but i really wonder if that would happen. more likely they would want to talk to their family, and that would be horrific for the survivors.

they said there was nothing they could do by the 6th day... you would really think the shuttle would have an emergency pod that could eject and survice re entry. oh well nasa isnt in the transport business anymore.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Absolutely. Keeping the knowledge of ones immediate demise is not justifiable. I would haunt those who did.

 

[phucheneh]

I can't really understand the 'nothing could be done' thing. Wasn't it just one small exposed patch? Even if they can't rig something up Apollo13-style, couldn't they have tried to get something up to them? Or find a satellite or space station to steal stuff off of? Heh.

Trying and failing is better than doing nothing. And NASA should have plenty of 'try' in them, even if it's rigging up a longshot fix.

 

[Mixolydian]

The other scary part.....holy hell, that was already 10 years ago??!?

Yeah, 2003 doesn't seem that long ago, but I guess it is.

 

[SandEagle]

depends. if its 2 hours to death, yes tell me so i can get it on in zero gravity before i go. if its like 2 minutes, then yeah tell me so i can get it on in zero gravity before i go.

on a serious note, yes i would want to know. then i could open the latch and float to death in space rather than burn to death on re-entry.

 

[EagleKeeper]

How many simulations have been run trying different orientations on re-entry?

Fingers pointed because of falling into the Challenger syndrome.

 

[Childs]

I would think you'd have to tell them. Astronauts are pretty smart dudes...might be able to MacGyver their way out of it some how.

 

[Agent11]

They could have docked at the space station and sent soyuz up to ferry them down. This is a reason why we need a base on the moon though, with facilities to repair and retrofit our spacecraft.

 

[randomrogue]

Second guessing themselves on something that even if they had done everything would have still ended the same way....

I don't think they had a backup shuttle and as long as that's true there's not much to be done.

 

[Paratus]

We would absolutely tell the crew if they were in danger.

Any issue that allowed the time to warn them, they would be told and involved in any attempt to mitigate the problem. Even of there was virtually no chance if saving them.

<= NASA ISS Flight Controller

 

[Pneumothorax]

They could have docked at the space station and sent soyuz up to ferry them down. This is a reason why we need a base on the moon though, with facilities to repair and retrofit our spacecraft.

Were they even in the right orbit to dock with the ISS? Let alone having enough fuel to get there...

 

[zzuupp]

"Well kids, it's good news/bad news time.

The good news is, your ship's name will live on in the latest spin off of Star trek!"

As well as, the next high school in your home town.

It's been about a year since I've been to the Grissom library up in Denbigh. Apparently that was his neighborhood during the Mercury program.

 

[ichy]

Were they even in the right orbit to dock with the ISS? Let alone having enough fuel to get there...

Nope. The ISS orbits at an inclination of around 52 degrees. STS-107 had an orbital inclination of 39 degrees. The shuttle doesn't carry enough orbital maneuvering fuel for that kind of an inclination change.

The only thing that could have been done to save Columbia's crew would have been to launch a second shuttle and bring them back. This would have only been a remote possibility if they'd realized a couple days into the mission that they'd had a serious problem. If it had worked it would have made Apollo 13 seem easy. Read Wayne Hale's blog if you want more details on it.

 

[redgtxdi]

My hang up the whole time is why they didn't have repair products on board to do a space-walk and repair the craft....ESPECIALLY after all the "tile" crap.

Give them means to fix the craft at any given time and forget satellite images, have them space walk that sucker and LOOK at the damage themselves.

Oh well.......water under the bridge now.