Space Shuttle Columbia EXPLODES!

Some info you may not know.... My brother (a pilot) was watching the mission control broadcast during re-entry. Just before it reached Texas a message was received from the shuttle. However, it was cut off, all that was heard was the second half of some word, and then "houston". Nasa replied that the emssage was not received, but they were getting a tire presure message from the shuttle's data transmission. Seconds after that everything went blank.

What does that mean? I don't know. But, my uneducated guess would be that a heat tile on the bottom was lost, causing a rupture down there. If it occured near the landing gear, it would send a landing gear error out, right? But, once the chain of events started it was probably already too late. Remember, this was the oldest shuttle in operation... :(

------------------
- "I used to be in the audio/visual club, but I was kicked out because of my views on Vietnam........and I was stealing projectors" - Homer Simpson

I still can't believe this happened. THe hard thing is engineers will never really be able to determine what caused this, unlike the Challenger explosion in '86) because it was only the shuttle re-entering. While there is a "black-box" on the shuttle, chances are slim that a) it would be able to show if that debris caused the fatal flaw or b) the black box would make it's way to earth intact...

Kinda eerie that Challenger's anniversary was just a few days ago...

------------------
--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)

There are things you hope you don't have to go through again, and a serious accident in our space program is one of them. I said the day it launched that it was odd that Columbia was still in service, and now this.

Not only is it sad that we've lost more of our most brilliant people, but our already sad space program is destined to be supressed even more by Washington. I feel as if the great days of landing on the moon and exploring the outter reaches of the solar system are over.

It's a very sad day.

------------------
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"The world rotates to The Ultra-Heavy Beat!" - KMFDM

Although long ago, I still remember the Challenger day vividly. Strangely, some people on this site weren't even born then.

I agree with you about the program, Jeff. Both of us (and most on this site) were born after the "glory days" ending with Apollo. I have read about when the program was an exciting journey, and feel sorry it's not like that any more.

The shuttle is obsolete 1970's technology, and I wonder why NASA canceled replacement development like the X-10. Sadly, the shuttle never became what it was supposed to be. It was designed originally to be able to relaunch in 2-3 days with approx. a $200.000 cost. But, when all the various millitary and govt. agencies got done demanding what they wanted it to do, it became the monster it is now that takes months and months (and 10s of millions of dollars) to get flight ready.

------------------
- "I used to be in the audio/visual club, but I was kicked out because of my views on Vietnam........and I was stealing projectors" - Homer Simpson

This is terrible news. Especially for some one like me who's second hobbie (after coasters) is space and astronomy. I'm deffinately going to find out what happened. Even sadder news was that the Israeli astronaut had to go aswell. I hope he enjoyed his time in space, looking down on us.

------------------
If I were an artichoke, I'd give you my heart.

Jeff, I don't think I could've put it any better. This is truely a sad day. Peabody I think they may go back and reevaluate past projects i.e. X-33, and X-34. The familes of NASA are in our thoughts.

Jeff, NASA spent two years refurbishing the Colombia for space flight again. I still have the Challenger feed from the NASA channel (or whatever it was) on Betamax. I am so incredibly sad now. My prayers go to the families of the Astronauts.

------------------
CBClub member #30 and #364 (renewal)

If there is a bright spot, I guess it would be that they still have to keep the shuttle program going - if nothing else, to get to the people on the space station.

A very sad day indeed. My thoughts and prayers are with the families.

I Live in S'Port and I heard this huge explosion and the ground rocked and 5 of our windows busted. We dont have any debris on our road, but I heard they have closed some roads. It actually crashed in Nacadoches (sp?)

There is an emergency escape vehicle on the space station...if worse comes to worse.

--Ryan

To bring this on topic, it appears to have exploded roughly right above Six Flags Over Texas in the Dallas area. No reports of debris falling there, though.

Another bit of trivia, the Looping Starship shuttle shaped inverted swinging ship at Astroworld was originally slated to be named Challenger, but given a new name when it opened in 1986.

Just to clear up a little confusion here... the Columbia does not have a black box. Instead, the data from the sensors is constantly sent from the shuttle by way of a coded message, and is recorded at Mission Control.

Apparently the shuttle has sensors measuring about everything possible (tire pressure, air pressure, temperature, etc), and with this information there is a good chance that NASA can piece together what happened in the moments before the accident.

This will set the space program back 5 years or more , I wonder if foul play would be a factor?

------------------
Roller Coasters....A natural high......FEEL THE BUZZ!!!

jrhodes07 - what they said was that a good amount of the debris is being found in Nacogdoches, but it is also scattered over a pretty good area.
------------------
John
Albany Entertainment
http://albany.n3.net
Great Escape Online Guide Coming Soon!

I'd say this is proof positive that space travel is just too risky & we should just halt our space program indefinitely as a result.

We've now lost a total of 14 people,7 in the challeger disaster & now 7 more in tyhe columbia accident this morning,we've learned quite a lot during the space program but there comes a time when we've learned just about all we are gonna learn in space & the risks as this incident proves are just too great.

Instead of focusing so much on space exploration I think we as humans should just be content enough with exploring the world that god has given us & we'll all be a lot safer as a result so that we don't have to face this type of tragedy for yet a 3rd time.

Being a math and science freak this saddens me to hear that our NASA program has received another blow. Although I did question why they are using such old technology to our standards. I mean I've been told that my 96 Cavalier is more high tech than the computer systems the shuttle uses.

I seriously doubt we'll see any more replacement manned shuttles. Jeff pretty much summed it up, that the glory days of landing on the moon and exploring the solar system with shuttles are over.

-Rob Willi

Batwing Fan, no, this was a known risk to all in the space program. Back in the mid-late 70s when the shuttle program was being planned, it was formulated tha approx. one out of every 100+ or so flights would be a complete loss, and this was deemed an acceptable risk, and unaviodable. (I forget the exact number, it was perhaps 1/120ish)

My thoughts and prayers are with those lost and their families, but the individuals on that ship were no doubt aware of the potential risk they were taking. This is not meant to lesson the tragedy, etc.

By the way, 17 people have been killed in the program now, not 14.

------------------
- "I used to be in the audio/visual club, but I was kicked out because of my views on Vietnam........and I was stealing projectors" - Homer Simpson
*** This post was edited by Peabody 2/1/2003 11:58:17 AM ***

BATWINGFANSFA, not to nitpick, but this would be the third.

1) Fire on a practice run on the launch pad of "Apollo 0", killed 3 astronauts.

2) Challanger explosion.

3) This: Columbia shuttle accident

--Ryan

Yes I know about the Apollo missions which failed & resulted in a launch pad explosion which killed the three astronauts on board.

As far as the shuttle's accident history this is the 2nd time it has suffered a catastrophic breakdown resulting in the death of our astronauts.

I agree wityh you somewhat on the acceptable risk of fatal accidents that Nasa has determined would be inevitable but I still believe that even one accident is one too many.

My prayers go out to them, and their family. They did not die in shame, but with pride, and they died to help create a better more safer enviroment for the future of space missions as we know it.