Something's Up With The Space Shuttle (Missing)

[SirChadwick]

They say that it is very unlikely that this was an act of terrorism...I think otherwise. What are the chances of this happening? I'm thinking they don't want to panic everyone in the US thinking that we've let them get away w/ another act.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Originally posted by: Gujski

Originally posted by: Grey
My condolences go out to the 7 families who lost a family member today. This is going to be a big loss for the program and the ISS. This kills the schedule for the ISS and will probably be called to question again. I was actually watching this launch more then the others because they were getting a lot of experiments done.

There are astronauts in the ISS now, aren't there? They cannot ground the fleet for too long or they will run out of supplies in the ISS? How long after challanger was the fleet grounded?

The Russians have vehicles that can access the space station.

 

[Broohaha]

damn..... six americans, one israeli.... one of the americans is an indian chick that came to the US in 1980 and (hope this doesnt sound insensitive) she was HELLA cute too....

 

[GTaudiophile]

It's just weird that they successfully launched and completed the mission just fine...though some would argue that re-entry is the most hazardous part of it all. I guess those black heat tiles failed.

 

[RSMemphis]

Originally posted by: SirChadwick
They say that it is very unlikely that this was an act of terrorism...I think otherwise. What are the chances of this happening? I'm thinking they don't want to panic everyone in the US thinking that we've let them get away w/ another act.

Chances of this being terrorism = nil.

Too high, too fast.
Even stationary Surface Air Missiles don't have that range...

 

[Gujski]

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy

Originally posted by: Gujski

Originally posted by: Grey
My condolences go out to the 7 families who lost a family member today. This is going to be a big loss for the program and the ISS. This kills the schedule for the ISS and will probably be called to question again. I was actually watching this launch more then the others because they were getting a lot of experiments done.

There are astronauts in the ISS now, aren't there? They cannot ground the fleet for too long or they will run out of supplies in the ISS? How long after challanger was the fleet grounded?

The Russians have vehicles that can access the space station.

yeah i hadn't even thought of that...

 

[Atlantean]

I just saw the news on cnn thats aweful. I am very sad now.

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: RSMemphis

Originally posted by: SirChadwick
They say that it is very unlikely that this was an act of terrorism...I think otherwise. What are the chances of this happening? I'm thinking they don't want to panic everyone in the US thinking that we've let them get away w/ another act.

Chances of this being terrorism = nil.

Too high, too fast.
Even stationary Surface Air Missiles don't have that range...

Even here, you say too high, too fast....now why in the world would any captain try to attempt something that would cause this?

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

What about the possibility of sabotage? It seems strange that it would explode during this part of the mission.

I mean - the engines are off. It is just screaming through the air.

 

[flyfish]

I live in Longview,TX which is about 2hr. SE of Dallas. I heard a loud BOOM and then my whole house shook for about 2 mins.
I did not see anything in the sky. I did not even step out from under my carport, or think to look up to the sky. The "rumble" was like VERY loud thunder not comming from any perticular direction. There are rumors that some debris has been located a few miles north of where I live. I have talked to people from Dallas, Waco, and Houston who have all heard same thing.

 

[RSMemphis]

Originally posted by: Gujski

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy

The Russians have vehicles that can access the space station.

yeah i hadn't even thought of that...

Not only that, but there is one up there all the time in case of an emergency. The lead time to start a shuttle would be too long... ISS is NOT a concern at this point.

 

[MeanMeosh]

incredibly sad =(

here's a timeline of events since the shuttle was launched: timeline

 

[GoingUp]

Originally posted by: Ime
God Bless those brave people on the Shuttle. May God bring peace and comfort to their families.

 

[reitz]

Originally posted by: SirChadwick
They say that it is very unlikely that this was an act of terrorism...I think otherwise. What are the chances of this happening? I'm thinking they don't want to panic everyone in the US thinking that we've let them get away w/ another act.

Most nations don't have the capability to destroy an aircraft travelling at six times the speed of sound, and almost forty miles above the earth.....how the fuck do you suppose terrorists could do it?!?

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I'm in Houston, and I heard nothing.

God bless them all...

 

[NakaNaka]

Originally posted by: DevilsAdvocate
What about the possibility of sabotage? It seems strange that it would explode during this part of the mission.

I mean - the engines are off. It is just screaming through the air.

Yeah. The only chances of terrorism is if it was planted on board. I also wonder how something could go so terribly wrong in this stage. They were already in earth's atmosphere, so aren't they past the part that could damage the shields/shuttle. But then again, Apollo 13's explosion happened with the O2 tanks, something you would not expect.

P.S. - I'm no space shuttle expert or anything. Just what it seems to me.

 

[GoingUp]

I can't even imagine how terrible the families must feel after being all excited in Florida to welcome the people home.

 

[XZeroII]

Man, I feel so bad. Hard to believe this type of this could just happen. How can it just fall apart?

 

[reitz]

Originally posted by: DevilsAdvocate
What about the possibility of sabotage? It seems strange that it would explode during this part of the mission.

I mean - the engines are off. It is just screaming through the air.

The engines are not off at that point; the steering thrusters continue to fire until the shuttle is only a short distance above the ground.

Also, it doesn't appear that the shuttle exploded, rather it looks more like it simply disintegrated. Many things could cause that, most likely (to me, at least) would be some sort of structural failure.

 

[NakaNaka]

Originally posted by: reitz

Originally posted by: DevilsAdvocate
What about the possibility of sabotage? It seems strange that it would explode during this part of the mission.

I mean - the engines are off. It is just screaming through the air.

The engines are not off at that point; the steering thrusters continue to fire until the shuttle is only a short distance above the ground.

Also, it doesn't appear that the shuttle exploded, rather it looks more like it simply disintegrated. Many things could cause that, most likely (to me, at least) would be some sort of structural failure.

The video on CNN there was a pretty large burst of flame or light, whatever it was. That could be an explosion. It could be something breaking off then leading to an explosion. We won't know for a while. How long do you guys think before they tell us how it happened? Weeks?

 

[spaceman]

did anyone just hear the prank call on cbs?

 

[LH]

If the reinforced carbon-carbon parts were damaged on take off, it would have caused aerodynamic problems with the shuttle, which could have caused it to break up. However NASA engineers were sure no damage was apparent.

 

[Kalvin00]

 

[LH]

The shuttle started breaking up, the it exploded, and broke up into more pieces. It DID explode.

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: SirChadwick

Originally posted by: RSMemphis

Originally posted by: SirChadwick
They say that it is very unlikely that this was an act of terrorism...I think otherwise. What are the chances of this happening? I'm thinking they don't want to panic everyone in the US thinking that we've let them get away w/ another act.

Chances of this being terrorism = nil.

Too high, too fast.
Even stationary Surface Air Missiles don't have that range...

Even here, you say too high, too fast....now why in the world would any captain try to attempt something that would cause this?

The pilot was most likely just flying the bird. A deviation of mere inches would cause the shuttle to go out of control and fly apart just as the video seems to show. To say this was terrorism or even speculate that is asinine. I don't even think we, the U.S., have surface to air missiles capable of going that high or that fast. Look at the SR-71. The Russians tried for decades to shoot it down but couldn't because it flew at mach 3 at 120,000 feet.