Space Shuttle Columbia EXPLODES!

batwing fan: NASA is and always has been about scientific research and in stimulating public interest in aerospace exploration, as well as science and technology in general. As such, there is a certain level of expected danger associated with it. This is why the military is involved in the space program, and why civilians cannot partake in the program. NASA is not as cash strapped (yet) as the Russian program, so we do not (yet) allow wealthy individuals pay 20 million for a joy ride. There are reasons for this: space exploration IS dangerous. Should the shuttles be grounded until we discover the cause of the tragedy? Yes. But this should not be the end of NASA as you suggest.

Many have suspected that NASA was fading and real exploraion is heading in the direction of those who are pursing the "X-Prize" such as Burt Rutan and his colleagues. Since NASA has abandoned single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicles, this would seem to be possible. Many test flights of private SSTO vehicles are scheduled for the next few years, and the X-Prize is VERY close to being won!

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- "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

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BATWING FAN SFA said:
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 the 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.

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I guess we should all stop driving too? Driving kills hundreds of people a day.

"Proof Positive"? How is a tragedy like this, though horrible, considered proof positive?

We learned everything? How can one even consider the possiblity that we have learned everything? It is very apparent that there is so much more to explore.

Should I be as concerned as the rest of the country about this columbia accident? Already people are mourning to ridiculous levels. People calling my house, " Did you hear....?"

I understand the national security concern. but 100 times more people then that die in car accidents each day in this country.

Am I wrong? I am sympathetic to the families, but is it worth all the distress from the general public?

Our space program has been hit, and hit hard. We need to move forward, overcome this obstacle, and keep developing our spce program to be all it can be.

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Do the Moo Shoo!

The worst thing to do would be to allow this tragedy to scrap the space program.

The space program is about exploration and risk, a risk that sometimes tragically takes the lives of those who do explore. When you boil down the whole of human history, the single driving force is that of exploration. It binds us in a common humanity and gives us purpose. Forget experiments and scientific advancement, for the simple endeavor of exploration and discovery, the space program should, and will, go on.

Because when we stop caring about what's out there in the starry darkness, we stop caring about life itself.

This is such sad news, but like previously mentioned we should be thankful for such few deaths that have come out of NASA. Going into space is not a guarenteed safe thing to do. I am just glad that this has never happened before coming back into the atmosphere. I am surprised, however, that this has never happened before during the landing.

yeah i mean there's been i think they said 88 successful flights between this and challenger... by being in the space program youre accepting a pretty big risk, and theres a reason why space travel isnt a public possibility yet... its just a bit too risky.

BUT, look around at your life... if we had no space program, where would we be? everything operating off of satellites would be gone, so alot of people can scrap their TV or even internet. weather reports, etc. i dont have time to list all the good things the space program has done for the 6 billion people of this world. not to say these 7 lives are insignificant in any way.... not at all. my prayers go out to them and their families.

but we can't just stop every time something goes wrong. people still work in tall buildings, people still fly in planes, people still drive cars... people should still go into space.

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"It's like something out of that twilighty show about that zone"

For the guy who says stop space exploration:

More people die in a day in CAR ACCIDENTS than have died in the ENTIRE history of NASA.

Think about it.

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« adix@nedesigns.com »

..."We pray that the Crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia has arrived home safely"... Rest In Peace...

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IGGY "THE KING OF COASTERS" said:
This will set the space program back 5 years or more

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Hopefully it is not set back for too long, since we have astronauts on the International Space Station.

EDIT-grammar

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Rob

"Some people spend an entire LIFETIME wondering if they made a DIFFERENCE. The MARINES don't have that problem." -President Reagan 1985
*** This post was edited by ALF is cool 2/1/2003 2:39:04 PM ***

As someone who watched the Challenger disaster in the lobby of my elementary school, with many other classes, I can say this has brought the same feelings back as were had in 1986. My heartfelt thought and prayers go out to the familes and loved ones of those who have lost their lives today.

I would like to say that every astronaut knows the risks of their occupation. They believe that the positive effects of what they do far outweigh the risks. That does not however, make the situation any easier. We would like to have every endeavor end with no loss of life, but that will not always be the case. This is no reason to stop the space program. Yes, Columbia was old, but so what. Many of the airplanes we travel in are old as well, but they still operate fine. The great thing about technology is how it adapts. It allows for advances without having to start from scratch. Look at all they do to ensure that hundreds of variables are just right before they allow a launch. As mentioned earlier, each launch costs millions to accomplish.

So before saying we must end the space program, please realize what the space program stands for, and what the individuals involved in it are all about. This is their life, they live to travel into space. Many advances that are now used on earth have been developed or learned in space. These individuals gave their lives to help make ours better.

I don't think we'll see to many millionaires going up with USA anytime soon.

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Emerging from the ashes of Eric 013...

I live in Henderson, TX, which is roughly 30 miles north of Nacogdoches.

Debris has been found all over southern East Texas, just south of Henderson and mainly in Nacogdoches, Palestine, and Jacksonville.

I felt it overhead... as if people were stomping on my roof and helicopters were flying overhead... the whole house shook...

May all of our prayers be with the families of the astronauts and NASA.

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Believe it or not: God loves you and can save you!
Do you believe?

NASA is holding a news conference at 3:00 pm et.

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2 superheroes in Gurnee next season? Oh the humanity. :)

Batwing fan, yes one accident is always too many, but still acceptible risk. A comparison could be made with rollercoasters. Parks generally do all they can to ensure a safe experience, just as NASA does with the space program. Some things just can't be foreseen or guarded against. That's not enough of a reason to give up. We have plane and automobiles crash too, the same should periodically be expected from spacecraft. It's unfortunate, but there you go.

I still remember Columbia's first landing. I was in elementary school at the time, I recall the news commentary of what all could go wrong during landing and everyone's jubilation when it came down perfectly.

All I can say is wow, and extend my thoughts out to the familys whom this tragedty has greatly affected.

It is a terrible thing, but the thing that makes America great is our stand in times of great distress. I applaud the program for sticking to their guns, so to speak, and although there will be a recovery period, NASA will come back. That, and they have to have at least one more mission just to get the men home from the space station. My thoughts and prayers are with the families and our nation.
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You have just received the Amish virus. Since we don't have computers, this works on the honor system. Please delete all files from your hard drive, and forward this to everyone in your address book. - Pennsylvania Amish Community

To put this is perspective the USAF B-52 was designed in the 1950's and is still the US's top front line heavy bomber.

Is it the same plane? The upgrades are so many and so often that it is constantly kept up to standards.

Same goes for the space shuttle, even with a 30 year old design it does it's job and it does it's job well.

How many planes crash in a day worldwide? How many cars crash in a day worldwide? Each of these thigns has a risk that we appreciate but we don't stop flying or riding in cars.

The same goes for the space program. Just because the Space Shuttle is old does not mean it is obsolete or shoudln't be used anymore. The risks with the system have always been there and are expected.

The Space Shuttle is no different.

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Da Poodle

Coming in 2003-The Spawn Of Magnum!

As you know, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas today. There were no survivors. I live in the Dallas area and witnessed the whole thing. I've watched the shuttle go overhead many times in the past, on it's usual course back to Florida for landing. But today as I watched, I noticed something unusual. Pieces seemed to be breaking off of the shuttle itself. Then a loud bang, I knew something was wrong. I ran inside and turned on the news. It seems that they were just coming around to the fact that something awful had happened. My stomach is sick from what I have witnessed today!

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TITAN RULES!

My gut feel is that all the talk about the insulation that came off the external tank at launch, ice chips, whatever, probably has little or no bearing on the failure that caused the accident. You are telling me that a ceramic tile engineered to survive hypersonic collisions with hard debris in orbit and to supply heat resistance to thousands of degrees can't withstand being clobbered by a comparatively lightweight chunk of comparatively slow-moving debris? I don't think this is the real issue.

The frightening thing is the nature of the most logical alternative. The point at which the vehicle broke up is apparently the point of maximum thermal and mechanical stress on the vehicle during re-entry. The vehicle is moving at its approximate maximum flight speed. What bothers me a bit is that the problems apparently began with a loss of telemetry from selected sensors (temperature, tire pressure, stuff like that). The Space Shuttle has a fly-by-wire system where this vehicle that doesn't fly very well is computer-guided to keep the thing under control at high speeds. I think the most likely scenario is that for whatever reason, a loss of vehicle data could result in a loss of control feedback. If the fly-by-wire system gets confused and makes a slight error, because of the high speed and the high force, it would be possible for Bad Things&tm; to happen very quickly, rapidly snowballing into utter disaster.

I don't have enough information to say for sure what went wrong. But I think the most likely problem was a loss of vehicle control. I don't think a couple of scratched tiles on the front of the wing is enough to bring it down.

Just my mostly uneducated opinion...!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

MagnumForce points out:
To put this is perspective the USAF B-52 was designed in the 1950's and is still the US's top front line heavy bomber.

Is it the same plane? The upgrades are so many and so often that it is constantly kept up to standards.

Same goes for the space shuttle, even with a 30 year old design it does it's job and it does it's job well.

Let's put it in terms we can all understand:
the Kennywood Jack Rabbit was built in 1921. In spite of that, it may well be the most technologically advanced roller coaster in the State of Pennsylvania. When we are talking about durable maintained machines, age is not always a major concern!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.