Something's Up With The Space Shuttle (Missing)

[squig6]

This is a radar image of the debris trail from an hour ago.

 

[Legendary]

Originally posted by: compudog
Rick D. Husband
William C. McCool
Michael P. Anderson
David M. Brown
Kalpana Chawla
Laurel Clark
Ilan Ramon


May you Rest in Peace...

Damn I was only 1 year old for Challenger but I think I understand now - maybe just a little.

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: Nemesis77

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
I know Europe has the European Space Agency or whatever it's called, but that seems pretty useless.

Useless? Hardly.

What do they do then?

Oh I don't know, operate Ariane-boosters (that are responsible of launching large part of worlds satellites) from Kourou, send and operate satellites, conduct research... Why don't you find out yourself?

 

[ShawnReeves]

For those of you also at work without a TV like myself, you can visit http://www.MSNBC.com for a Live TV Feed.

God Bless those whom have lost thier lives from this disaster.

 

[wyvrn]

Dayum. This is so sad.

Originally posted by: StattlichPassat

Originally posted by: ElFenix
cnn has video from wfaa in dallas

D/FW area viewers- check out NBC5. They're showing amateur video and stills that you're not seeing on national news from various angles and zooms- incredible.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: Nemesis77

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: Nemesis77

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
I know Europe has the European Space Agency or whatever it's called, but that seems pretty useless.

Useless? Hardly.

What do they do then?

Oh I don't know, operate Ariane-boosters (that are responsible of launching large part of worlds satellites) from Kourou, send and operate satellites, conduct research... Why don't you find out yourself?

Yeah, like I said. Pretty useless considering the size and wealth of Europe. Compared to USA and Russia at least.

keep the us/euro/whoever bashing out of this thread, please.

 

[burnedout]

Another angle of this terrible tragedy.

Radar from Shreveport, LA

 

[Amused]

About all I can say is...

 

[Iron Woode]

I can only assume a scale-back for the NASA missions will occure now. That is too bad. The quest for knowledge must not stand still despite of set-backs like this.

It is a risk that all astronauts take when trying to expand the boundaries of knowledge. Ever since Apollo 1 ( or Zero as they are calling it now) burned on the ground, tragic events including loss of life would happen from time to time.

Unfortunately it has happened again. We all pray for some survivors, but realisticly there won't be any. It is very sad this happened. What started off as a proud mission has turned into tragedy.

My condolences to the families. Our hearts are heavy with sadness this day.

 

[Tallgeese]

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
I admit it's more than I thought, but you have to admit it's pretty sad compared to what Europe should be doing. Europe has large amounts of wealth, and highly skilled people. They should be far ahead of the likes of Russia and China. With the EU it will hopefully improve.

What they should be doing? They are carrying out vital research. They are responsible for large part of world's satellite-launches. Russias space-program is is a crisis, they can barely afford to send spacecrafts to the ISS. And what about China? They are planning to send man in space, that's it. ESA isn't really doing something like that, since they are concentrating elsewhere. But if they wanted to, they could sen man in space if they wanted to. But they have cheaper ways of doing that, and there has been ESA-astronauts on US and Russian missions if I remember correctly.

But this is not the correct thread for this discussion.

 

[cavemanmoron]

:Q

watchin ABC news now

oh so Sad

The space shuttle Columbia exploded over central Texas on Saturday soon after reentering the atmosphere en route to a landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NBC Dallas affiliate KXAS reported. Video images obtained by the station showed the doomed shuttle descending at a severe trajectory and breaking apart as it plummeted to Earth. Officials in Texas dispatched search and rescue teams to the town of Palestine, southeast of Waco, the presumed point of impact. NASA, not yet confirming a disaster, announced it would hold a news conference shortly.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Having worked on the manufacture of the Shutle, I have a fairly intimate amount of knowledge of it's structure.
The TPS - Thermal Protection System, consists of the Tiles in the high energy exposure zones, and a blanketing material
in the non-dynamic exposure areas

There was a confirmed report of a peice of 'Insulation' that had come off at launch and struck the left wing, written off as 'Minor' concern.
If the tiles at the strike impact area had been cracked they may have had portions shake loose from the strain isolation pads they mount on,
or even had an edge exposed during re-enrty that may have allowed aerodynamic overpressures to strip that tile and the adjacrnt tiles
free from the mounts - exposing the aluminum airframe to the temperatures and pressures of atmospheric heating - you have 'Burn Through'

A burn through would have extended on through the structure resulting in shedding the affected wing, and at the point of catostrophic failure of
that wing component, the resulting aerodynamic asymetry would have caused the shuttle to roll and tumble, causing the structure aft of the
crew compartment to shear and open the cargo doors and structuraly disintigrate. That's the senario of how the Challenger came apart also.

40 miles in altitude at 12,000+ MPH is a velocity rate of almost 3 1/2 miles per second, 18,300 feet per second. not much is going to be left.
the major parts that do impact will still be traveling between 200 and 250 MPH when they strike - unsurvivable.

I always thought that the most likely failure would be on re-entry. I was very supprised that the Chalenger blew, and I was standing watching it
climb when that happened. This is a sadly stunning day for our Space Program.

I believe this is a very likely scenerio. Thanks for your input and keep up the good work.

 

[Miramonti]

Very painful day for the families.

 

[Zim Hosein]

 

[Evadman]

Accuweather Doppler images in motion
anotehr radarin motion
a third

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Having worked on the manufacture of the Shutle, I have a fairly intimate amount of knowledge of it's structure.
The TPS - Thermal Protection System, consists of the Tiles in the high energy exposure zones, and a blanketing material
in the non-dynamic exposure areas

There was a confirmed report of a peice of 'Insulation' that had come off at launch and struck the left wing, written off as 'Minor' concern.
If the tiles at the strike impact area had been cracked they may have had portions shake loose from the strain isolation pads they mount on,
or even had an edge exposed during re-enrty that may have allowed aerodynamic overpressures to strip that tile and the adjacrnt tiles
free from the mounts - exposing the aluminum airframe to the temperatures and pressures of atmospheric heating - you have 'Burn Through'

A burn through would have extended on through the structure resulting in shedding the affected wing, and at the point of catostrophic failure of
that wing component, the resulting aerodynamic asymetry would have caused the shuttle to roll and tumble, causing the structure aft of the
crew compartment to shear and open the cargo doors and structuraly disintigrate. That's the senario of how the Challenger came apart also.

40 miles in altitude at 12,000+ MPH is a velocity rate of almost 3 1/2 miles per second, 18,300 feet per second. not much is going to be left.
the major parts that do impact will still be traveling between 200 and 250 MPH when they strike - unsurvivable.

I always thought that the most likely failure would be on re-entry. I was very supprised that the Chalenger blew, and I was standing watching it
climb when that happened. This is a sadly stunning day for our Space Program.

I believe this is a very likely scenerio. Thanks for your input and keep up the good work.

I remember watching the first shuttle launch and subsequent recovery back when I was in college. One of the things that all the coverage focused on was the tile system and whether or not it would work as it was supposed to.

 

[exp]

Very sad.

And very bad luck that the Israeli was on-board...

 

[Miramonti]

First time nasa's lost a crew on the way home.

 

[Rogue]

For those of you saying that NASA will be stalled or hampered from continuing their mission, I think you have far too little faith in the resolve of our President. If I know G.W. Bush like I think I do, he will immediately think bigger and better and will pour billions of dollars into taking our space programs into the next millenium without hesitation. He knows that throughout his presidency, the American populace has suffered nothing but disappointment and tragedy one after another and I don't think he'll leave us lingering in despair. I think from this we will see a new relationship between ourselves and Russia and possibly even China as we all work toward an even greater space exploration program. I hardly think that NASA will be down for the count for as long as many are specuating right now.

To those brave people that lost their lives today in this tragic event, I salute you and their families.

 

[LennyZ]

it looks like it is time to junk the shuttle program and go back to "disposible" launch vehicles.
or unmanned vehicles.

 

[Legendary]

Originally posted by: LennyZ
it looks like it is time to junk the shuttle program and go back to "disposible" launch vehicles.
or unmanned vehicles.

Over time such a plan will cost much more than the Shuttle program I'd think.
I'm no NASA economist though.

 

[Iceman91]

People are already trying to gain from this tragedy. A guy on E-bay had listed what he called a "fuel valve" that he found in his backyard... Thank goodness E-bay already took it off.


:disgust:

 

[AbsolutZero]

FYI, the radar images that are being linked here are auto-updating so the images of interest will be purged. I have saved a couple images, if anyone can host them to a more bandwidth-friendly place here's one.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: Iceman91
People are already trying to gain from this tragedy. A guy on E-bay had listed what he called a "fuel valve" that he found in his backyard... Thank goodness E-bay already took it off.


:disgust:

Let em leave it up. Federal crime to have that sort of stuff. AFAIK some guy got 14 years for keeping a piece of one of the Challenger's heat tiles.