Breaking NEWS ... NASA loses communication with Space Shuttle Columbia

[Ziroc]

Originally posted by Micah Foehammer: No escape pods. At that rate of speed (12,500+ mph) and altitude ... well, lets just say that it does not look very good ... Interesting bit of information, though ... the Israeli on board was a Colonel in the Israeli air force and reportedly was a member of the flight mission which bombed the Iraqi Nuclear facility. hmmmm......

Yeah, just read that.. I highly doubt any survivors now. DAMN IT!!

BTW, This is the second oldest shuttle--1st was Challanger.

[Lord High Eater of Legs]

President Bush is gonna give a statement from washington in a couple of min.

[Attalus]

I have been thinking it over, and I think that I may have heard it! I was startled by a muffled thump around 8:05 that shook the house. I was afraid that my youngest son might have fallen out of bed, so I checked on him, all serene. Maybe not, though. That was pretty high. Eerie.

[Kaltia]

Oh...man, this is terrible!
Now, correct me if I'm wrong-Challenger was sent up, and lost, in '88 (I was born in '87) and Coloumbia was nearly as old? If that's right, what were NASA doing sending such an old shuttle up?

Originally posted by MagiK: Kaltia...what did you mean with your comment? I couldn't make any sense out of it at all..maybe Im just dense.

No, you're not dense, MagiK-quite the opposite. /)eathkiller's article said that Coloumbia had several animals on it, as NASA wanted to observe the behaviour and effects of these creatures in space.

[ 02-01-2003, 10:40 AM: Message edited by: Kaltia ]

[Horatio]

Originally posted by Attalus: I have been thinking it over, and I think that I may have heard it! I was startled by a muffled thump around 8:05 that shook the house. I was afraid that my youngest son might have fallen out of bed, so I checked on him, all serene. Maybe not, though. That was pretty high. Eerie.

It's possible, Attalus. With all the fuel it would've made a pretty loud explosion.

[Attalus]

Originally posted by Horatio: It's possible, Attalus. With all the fuel it would've made a pretty loud explosion.

I have been checking the trajectory. They have found debris on the ground ~90 miles south of here, and it happened about 8:00, so I guess that was it. Must really say DAMN!

[andrewas]

Originally posted by Kaltia: Oh...man, this is terrible! Now, correct me if I'm wrong-Challenger was sent up, and lost, in '88 (I was born in '87) and Coloumbia was nearly as old? If that's right, what were NASA doing sending such an old shuttle up?

Challenger first flew '83. That tragedy was caused in large part by communication failure between engineers and launch controllers. Age was not a factor in that case, lack of equipment testing in extreme conditions was.

AS for why they are sending up shuttles that old, they dont have much choice. They only have 4 shuttles - 3 now - and they have a huge turn around time. IIRC, the entire fleet is due for replacement, but that programe is overdue as well.

[Kaltia]

Originally posted by andrewas: Challenger first flew '83. That tragedy was caused in large part by communication failure between engineers and launch controllers. Age was not a factor in that case, lack of equipment testing in extreme conditions was. So why didn't they update before sending people into space? AS for why they are sending up shuttles that old, they dont have much choice. They only have 4 shuttles - 3 now - and they have a huge turn around time. IIRC, the entire fleet is due for replacement, but that programe is overdue as well.

Alright, so maybe it wasn't like they had a lot of choice. But considering they were sending people up into space, not say a mechanical buggy, couldnt they have delayed the trip until they had more sophisticated space faring-equipment? And what's up with the lack of communication? Wouldn't it make more sense to improve that straight away? As my dad, who is an engineer, says, "An engineer is only as good as his bosses allow him to be."

[andrewas]

Originally posted by Kaltia: Alright, so maybe it wasn't like they had a lot of choice. But considering they were sending people up into space, not say a mechanical buggy, couldnt they have delayed the trip until they had more sophisticated space faring-equipment?

The Shuttle is an incredible piece on engineering still, and replacing it is expensive. At the moment, there is no more sophisticated equipment to be had. There were new spacecraft in development, one to replace the shuttle and the X-0-whatever that was to be the ISS escape vehicle. To my knowledge, both projects are currently on indeterminate hold due to lack of funds.

And what's up with the lack of communication? Wouldn't it make more sense to improve that straight away? As my dad, who is an engineer, says, "An engineer is only as good as his bosses allow him to be."

Things have improved since Challenger, but bosses will always have to juggle budgets and schedules, and the engineers will never be listened to as much as they should be.

[Kaltia]

Originally posted by andrewas: The Shuttle is an incredible piece on engineering still, and replacing it is expensive. At the moment, there is no more sophisticated equipment to be had. There were new spacecraft in development, one to replace the shuttle and the X-0-whatever that was to be the ISS escape vehicle. To my knowledge, both projects are currently on indeterminate hold due to lack of funds.

damn...and, of course, the only way to get funds is from tax payers, right?