Shuttle Incident :(

megatron · Post by **megatron** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 12:43 am

i think with various budget cuts etc they've simply not got the money to invest in a replacement to the shuttle.

It'll be very interesting to see what comes of these inquirys. Although that will probably take a long time.

Its quite upsetting to hear about the various debris they've found and also the human remains.

JAMTHEMAN · Post by **JAMTHEMAN** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 12:50 am

Hi all

I saw something on the news but didn't think something this bad has happened.

My thoughts are with the relatives, family and friends or the astronaughts and the worst thought is at that time they would have been meeting up again and would have been excited to see each other after 16 days apart.

A very very sad event

Jamie

JAMTHEMAN · Post by **JAMTHEMAN** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 12:52 am

Hi all

I saw something on the news but didn't think something this bad has happened.

My thoughts are with the relatives, family and friends or the astronaughts and the worst thought is at that time they would have been meeting up again and would have been excited to see each other after 16 days apart.

A very very sad event

Jamie

trainmad · Post by **trainmad** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 11:06 am

I was told there are two astronauts up at the space station. The problem is they can't them down from space. They may send up the Russians to collect them.

bjdick · Post by **bjdick** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 11:19 am

Trainmad,the space station residents can come down any time they want,as there is a Russian descent capsule built in as part of the design.

That is the cheapest,and most efficient method of descent,as it costs $500M Wow!,for each shuttle mission.Indeed supplies were launched to them,from Russia,the day after Columbia crashed.

megatron · Post by **megatron** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 12:37 pm

I read on both the BBC news website and CNN website that the International Space Station residents have enough supplies to last them until June. This combined with the Russians still sending unmanned cargo means they're in no immediate danger.
Im sure everyone will be hoping that the problem with Colombia can be identified by then and therefore the other Orbiters can be modified to avoid such an accident again.
I wonder if the people on the ISS actually know of the accident?

kevarc · Post by **kevarc** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 2:28 pm

It was a very strange morning Saturday. Where I live I can watch them as they come over Texas and Louisiana. So out I went Saturday morning. I was standing waiting and finally went inside to see why it hadn't passed. When I saw the news, I knew that I will never forget what I was doing when it happened.

spartacus · Post by **spartacus** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 4:08 pm

I thknk you've got to put a disaster like this into perspective. There were probably more deaths on the US's roads on the day of the crash, and their families will be just as distraught, if not more so. There DOES seem to be something noble about dying in a space accident, almost like dying in battle. Guess its the acknowledgement that its bloody dangerous in the first place, and you've got to have guts to get in one.

ThinLizzy · Post by **ThinLizzy** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 5:48 pm

At no time would you get me into something that can reach 1000*c and do 12.5k miles an hour. Somebody comented about the shuttle being 23 years old, a lot of british trains {until recently} were about this age.

37714 · Post by **37714** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 7:16 pm

All the good ones still are!

crepello · Post by **crepello** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 1:13 pm

The fact that Columbia had been flying for almost 22 years is of no real relevance. Each Orbiter was designed to complete at least 100 flights, and undergoes extensive inspection, analysis, maintenance and upgrades between missions. Columbia was on only its 28th flight. In fact, Discovery has completed more flights than Columbia (30 so far). Columbia also had the strongest airframe of the fleet due to it being the original test vehicle and therefore incorporating more engineering conservatism in its airframe design.

However, it was extensively refurbished and modified a couple of years ago to achieve (among other things) weight savings to allow an increase in payload capability, and this was only its second flight following completion of those modifications. This will obviously be one area the inquiries will be addressing.

I had been looking forward to visiting Columbia in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in 15-20 years time, once it was finally retired from service. So, it's all very disappointing from that point of view.

Stuart

ThinLizzy · Post by **ThinLizzy** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 9:58 pm

Somebody was telling em that the clever people think the shuttle hit something in space now, and that caused the tiles to come off?

spartacus · Post by **spartacus** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 10:59 pm

Probably just . glue! Stick em on with locktite next time!

Timcourt1 · Post by **Timcourt1** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 11:30 pm

They do use Loctite

alan2 · Post by **alan2** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 1:38 am

Timcourt1 wrote:They do use Loctite

Which Grade, 273? or 646?