Space Shuttle Columbia

[job]

Originally posted by rice_web
This accident could shut NASA down.

i'm not so sure about that.

nasa is a symbol of america, something every american can be proud of.

the images of the american flag on the moon and the images brought back from the shuttle flights are embedded in the national conciousness.

let's hope nasa comes back stronger, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

 

[Stelliform]

It is a very sad situation. I am a big fan of NASA and its advancement of Human knowledge. These seven astronauts knew the danger, and still chose to risk their lives to make ours better.

My prayers go out to the families of those seven astronauts.

 

[dubbelhund]

it's a sign....

 

[kiwi_the_iwik]

Check this out - from www.space.com

News story prior to the accident:

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_update_030131.html

Columbia's Marathon Mission Reaches for the Finish Line

"We had no problems, the vehicle performed flawlessly today, as it has the entire mission," Cain said.

One concern discussed Thursday involved the fragile heat protection tiles that cover much of the shuttle's surface and protects the vehicle and crew from the high temperatures created during re-entry.

Video of the Jan. 16 launch from Florida shows what is likely a piece of insulating foam falling away from Columbia's external tank and striking the spaceplane's left wing near its leading edge, possibly damaging some tiles.

Cain said engineers have studied the situation and are not worried.

"We took a very thorough look at the situation with the tile on the left wing and we have no concerns, whatsoever," Cain said. "Therefore we haven't changed anything with respect to our trajectory design."

It certainly looks like some of the tiles came off during launch...

 

[dubbelhund]

it's a sign...

 

[job]

Originally posted by dubbelhund
it's a sign...

errrrrr.....

ok...i guess.

 

[scem0]

That's not cool. It is really unfortunate. I would never be an astronaut ;(.

 

[peterjhill]

wow, that space.com article really makes you think about what might have happened. You'd think that it would be fairly trivial to check out the damage. They could have used a camera mounted on the space stations robot arm to check it out.

As for nasa going out of business, it is very unlikely. The space station is more than usable now, and their is tons of research possiblities available for it. It is time to step ahead. It also might be time for some commercial use of space. Bill Gates has enough money to build a space shuttle, I doubt he would. He is much smarter than that. He would want to do it right, and that would mean a new design.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Originally posted by hitman


i'm not so sure about that.

nasa is a symbol of america, something every american can be proud of.

the images of the american flag on the moon and the images brought back from the shuttle flights are embedded in the national conciousness.

let's hope nasa comes back stronger, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

I agree with hitman and his statement also i think it is time to replace the shuttles with newer and better technologies, after all that stuff was designed and built in the 70's.This will hurt nasa but i think also it will open up eyes that space travel is anything but routine and it is time to move forward with better less complicated designs.My thoughts and prayers to the families on this tragic day and america has you in its minds and hearts.

 

[mymemory]

The space program will go on no matter what, just because if the goverment cancel it the moral of the country will fall to worse because it will siply tell "we are no capable".

The next step I think is to really consider the new Space Shuttle design. Even if the problem was based on the earlier report of the falling of the isolation stuff, it means you can not take any chances with the actual technology, just non. If a bird sh*tt on the space shuttle that would be enough reason to delay it and repair it... just too many things can go wrong.

The Space Shuttle is not a car that can run with a failure on the chasis. May be the engineers had the oposite impression if the reason was that one. I'm sure they may feel like hell right now even the investigation proves they are inocent.

Any way, for you to have a reference, if you feel like crap today becuase of the Space Shuttle, that is the way I feel every day because of the situation my country is.

 

[Doctor Q]

This is tragic. How sad.

Yet I know that, no matter what the odds, there will be people willing to take the risk to be an astronaut. The next launch was scheduled for the first of March and will no doubt be delayed while they investigate this disaster.

 

[job]

there's going to be a nasa news conference at 1PM ET.

 

[lmalave]

Originally posted by dukestreet
Damn, this is going to have huge impact on the space program and pretty much sink the international space station. I wonder if they'll send up another shuttle to get the crew or the Russians will send their escape pod.

This is really a sad day.

And considering the violence of reentry, you really have to think what sort of life span these shuttles have. Was this a freak accident or was it preventable? Time to update the fleet to V 2.0 and get a whole new type. Maybe the space plane will be getting new funding.

D

I have a friend who studied aerospace engineering and he told me that the space shuttle was engineered to have a critical failure on average about 2% of the time. And guess what? The Challenger was destroyed on about the 50th mission. I wonder how many missions had been flown since the Challenger...

The fact is, with current technology we just cannot make this 100% safe. The materials are too volatile, the temperatures too hot, etc. Most of the cost already goes into safety engineering. If the shuttles were engineered for lower tolerances they would actually cost lower overall, albeit at the cost of more deaths.

I bring this up because my friend told me this information during an amusing anecdote: the professor asked the class of aerospace students how many student would be willing to go on a flight if they though there was a 10% chance of blowing up. Most of the class raised their hand. Then he went up - 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%. Almost half the class was willing to go on a flight that would explode one out of three times!!!! Crazy 😱

 

[3777]

Looks like a piece of heat shield fell off during the launch. They also are reporting they just found their bodies in Jasper, Texas.

 

[eyelikeart]

sad days

I cannot believe this...

many of us have seen this happen twice in our lifetimes... 🙁

I remember in 1986...I was in...3rd...4th grade? We're all sitting in our classroom, and two girls come rushing in screaming "the space shuttle blew up!!" 🙁

 

[pyrotoaster]

Apple has replaced the Space Shuttle image on the 20" Display with a City-Scape.

 

[iGav]

🙁

 

[iAlan]

Condolences to the family and friends of the brave astronauts who have lost their lives.

One of the astronauts was an Israel pilot, the first Israel pilot in space.

It was 17 years ago on January 28 when the Challenger exploded.

Very very tragic.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Originally posted by lmalave


I have a friend who studied aerospace engineering and he told me that the space shuttle was engineered to have a critical failure on average about 2% of the time. And guess what? The Challenger was destroyed on about the 50th mission. I wonder how many missions had been flown since the Challenger...

The fact is, with current technology we just cannot make this 100% safe. The materials are too volatile, the temperatures too hot, etc. Most of the cost already goes into safety engineering. If the shuttles were engineered for lower tolerances they would actually cost lower overall, albeit at the cost of more deaths.

I bring this up because my friend told me this information during an amusing anecdote: the professor asked the class of aerospace students how many student would be willing to go on a flight if they though there was a 10% chance of blowing up. Most of the class raised their hand. Then he went up - 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%. Almost half the class was willing to go on a flight that would explode one out of three times!!!! Crazy 😱

the shuttle is not made with current technologies it was made with 70's technologies!you are right about the 2% and i think that could be brought down to under 1 with what we have today! Its time for a newer- cheaper-safer way to space and they have been working on a replacement for the shuttle maybe now they will push harder to get it in place. Still the shuttle has done things no other spacecraft has even come close or is on the same page yet it is time to move on.Lets all support Nasa!

 

[vniow]

 

[eyelikeart]

Originally posted by iAlan
One of the astronauts was an Israel pilot, the first Israel pilot in space.

It was 17 years ago on January 28 when the Challenger exploded.

yeah I know...I remember a couple weeks ago how excited a friend of mine was over the first Israeli astronaut in space... 🙁

17 years ago...wow...seems like it was yesterday...

 

[Stelliform]

"The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them..."

From President Reagan's Speech on The Challenger Disaster
January 28, 1986

I feel that the same can be said for these astronauts.

 

[3777]

Re: sad days

Originally posted by eyelikeart
I cannot believe this...

many of us have seen this happen twice in our lifetimes... 🙁

I remember in 1986...I was in...3rd...4th grade? We're all sitting in our classroom, and two girls come rushing in screaming "the space shuttle blew up!!" 🙁

We had Christine McAuliff's brother in law over our house to celebrate a week before the launch. We were living in Pensacola, I was 12 at the time.

 

[wdlove]

My prayers go out to the 7 crew members and their families, tragic. Hope they find the cause soon. We need to honor these brave 5 men and 2 women for their outstanding service to their country! 🙁

 

[chibianh]

Would newer technologies help? I think it would, but I also thing that engineering isn't what it used to be. For example, the Voyager probes and the Pioneer probes.. still going strong and still transmitting. How many probes have we lost recently? Anyway, I agree that these space shuttles are old, but the fact that the lasted this long is amazing. I doubt we could build anything like now and have it last 20 years.