Columbia

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 8:16 pm

I just thought i'd share something i saw in the paper today that is fitting. Their was a cartoon in the main section of the paper that has a little boy and his father standing on the earth looking toward the sky and seeing the shuttle coming down. The little bot aske his father "Fallin star Daddy?" and the father replies "No Fallen Heroes" If i get a chance to scan it i'll let you know and ill email anyone who wants a copy but it will be a few days if i get it done at all.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 8:55 pm

Well here is the latest PAO report i just got.

STS-107
Report #21
Monday, Feb. 3, 2003 - 7:00 p.m. CST
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

NASA engineers continued to review data and recover debris from the Space
Shuttle Columbia today as the analysis of what caused the orbiter to break
up Saturday en route to landing continued.

Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore told an afternoon briefing that
several teams of engineers are making progress in their study of data and
video from Columbia's launch and entry, but cautioned that it is a
&massive job& requiring round-the-clock efforts to piece together
the events that led to a loss of communications with the Shuttle over north
central Texas 16 minutes prior to touchdown.

Still, Dittemore said NASA would pause Tuesday for a memorial ceremony at
the Johnson Space Center at 1:00 p.m. EST to honor the lives and the memory
of Columbia's astronauts, Rick Husband, William McCool, Dave Brown, Kalpana
Chawla, Mike Anderson, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon. President and Mrs. Bush
will join NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe at JSC for the memorial which is
closed to the public, but which will be broadcast on NASA Television.

Dittemore said the memorial represents an opportunity to take time to
remember the sacrifice of the astronauts, to mourn them and to
&remember our friends.&

Dittemore offered additional and refined information regarding the timeline
of events that led to Columbia's breakup on Saturday (all times CST):
· At 7:52 a.m. CST, three-left main gear brake line temperature
sensors showed an unusual rise in the left wheel well area.
· At 7:53 a.m., a fourth left brake line strut actuator temperature
sensor showed a 30-40 degree rise in temperature over a five-minute period,
slightly higher than reported yesterday.
· At 7:55 a.m., A fifth left brake line main gear sensor showed a
sharp rise in temperature.
· At 7:57 a.m., left wing temperature sensors failed &off-scale
low&, meaning no further data was being received on the ground.
· And at 7:59 a.m., just before communications was lost with Columbia,
there was evidence of drag on the aerosurfaces of the left wing, causing two
out of four yaw steering jets in that area of the Shuttle to fire for 1.5
seconds to counteract the increased drag.

Dittemore said more time will be needed to retrieve an additional 32 seconds
of data acquired by ground computers after communications was lost with
Columbia to see if it is useful to the inquiry. He said engineers would go
directly to the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System ground station hub
in White Sands, New Mexico to collect and analyze that data in its pristine
form.

Although the investigative teams have a &high interest& in the
left hand wheel well area of Columbia, Dittemore cautioned that a
temperature increase there does not indicate that a structural problem
occurred as a factor in the vehicle's breakup. In fact, Dittemore said the
data suggests that &something else& may have been happening at the
time, not indicative of a structural breach.

Responding to inquiries regarding a piece of foam insulation which fell off
Columbia's external fuel tank about 80 seconds after launch that struck the
left wing of the Shuttle, Dittemore said imagery analysis showed that the
foam measured about 20 inches by 16 inches by 6 inches and weighed about
2.67 pounds. He reiterated that engineering analysis conducted during the
flight concluded for NASA managers that although the foam might have caused
some structural damage to the wing area, it would not have been sufficient
to cause a catastrophic event.

&There is some other missing link contributing to this event,&
Dittemore said. We are extremely interested in seeing any debris that may
have fallen upstream of the main impact area,& referring to any
additional debris which might be recovered in an area to the west of Texas.

Earlier today, former President George H.W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush
visited the International Space Station flight control room at the Johnson
Space Center, Houston, TX to pay their respects to the flight controllers
and to the Expedition 6 crew aboard the orbital complex.

The former president told Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight
Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit that
President Bush relayed his &full confidence in the space program&
in a conversation with the elder Bush Sunday. The former president told the
crew the men and women of NASA were showing &great courage& in the
wake of the accident.

Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit spent the day preparing for the docking of a
Russian Progress resupply vehicle to the ISS Tuesday at 9:50 a.m. EST. The
new cargo ship, which contains a ton of food, fuel and supplies for the
crew, was successfully launched Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan. NASA TV coverage of the Progress docking to the ISS begins at 9
a.m. CST Tuesday.

The next STS-107 Accident Response briefing will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 4
at NASA Headquarters in Washington at 4:30 p.m. EST. Status reports will be
issued as developments warrant.

NASA TV is on AMC-2, Transponder 9C, vertical polarization at 85 degrees
west longitude, 3880 MHz, with audio at 6.8 MHz.

###

Kemara · Post by **Kemara** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 11:33 am

Does anyone know if the shuttle still goes through a loss of signal during reentry, specifically, were the astronauts in voice contact with NASA throughout the reentry? A friend and I are puzzled how Columbia could have been talking to NASA while going through the area of highest temperature. We thought there used to be a loss of communication/signal until the end of ionization blackout. Have they gotten around this problem?

Post by **Vincent** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 12:27 pm

I heard one astronaut talking about how there used to be a very, very long LOS for the shuttle upon reentry (back in the 80's) but over the years NASA has been able to improve communications such that the black out period isn't as long/isn't as bad...at least that's what I gathered from his remarks...so I think there still is one, but it may or may not totally block out communications and Columbia may or may not have been in it when it broke up.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 12:38 pm

Well the TDRS network has cut down on the LOS quite a bit but it ussually happens higher up in the atmosphere. Columbia had already been through the blackout and rehained communications from what i've heard. Also below is the latest PAO release.

Glenn Mahone/Bob Jacobs
Headquarters, Washington
Feb. 3, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1600)

Eileen Hawley
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

RELEASE: 03-045

VICE-PRESIDENT TO HONOR COLUMBIA'S CREW AT NATIONAL CATHEDRAL

Vice-President Richard (Dick) B. Cheney will join NASA Administrator Sean
O'Keefe Thursday, Feb. 6, at the Washington National Cathedral for a private
memorial service to honor the dedicated and brave crew of the Space Shuttle
Columbia.

The service is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EST at the historic cathedral,
which is known as a national house of prayer for all people. Dignitaries,
community and political leaders, members of the NASA family, including
current and former astronauts, all will come together to pay tribute to the
crew, who died Saturday.

The ceremony can be seen on NASA Television and is available on the Internet
at www.nasa.gov <http://www.nasa.gov>.

NTV is broadcast on AMC-2, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees
west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical and
audio is monaural at 6.8 MHz

Additional information about the seven astronauts, Space Shuttle program,
and the mission of STS-107 is available on the Internet at
<http://spaceflight.nasa.gov>.

-end-

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 4:35 pm

You can see the footage of the suspect ET insulation from NASA's Ice and Debris team through KSC's PAO. I'm sure you've seen it on TV, but this is easier becuase you can control it yourself and go frame by frame. Here's the link:
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 6:00 pm

So did anyone else see the memorial service today? It was very nice i thought. Several former astronauts were there and ofcourse the president. They also did the missing man formation at the end.

LaRsOnAtRiXkIx · Post by **LaRsOnAtRiXkIx** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 6:33 pm

LB206 wrote:So did anyone else see the memorial service today? It was very nice i thought. Several former astronauts were there and ofcourse the president. They also did the missing man formation at the end.

i did. i stayed home "sick" today and was sleeping kinda and my mom came in and we watched it together. i thought it was really nice. kinda made me cry.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 6:39 pm

Well the only reason i got to see it was because we had a bomb threat at school today and i went home early but i was going to tape it anyway. And for those who didnt see it CSPAN will be rebroadcasting it tonight at 8 pm est.

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 12:07 pm

I missed it. I'll have to see it on CSPAN.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 5:06 pm

Well i heard on the radio that 2 people were arrested today for taking Columbia Debris and will be facing possible federal charges. Also NASA is giving an amnisty period through 5pm ct friday for people who have debris to turn them in without facing charges. And sadly the media is starting to lose intrest in showing new NASA briefings. I turned on Cspan this afternoon to see the 4:30 briefing and they are only showing the congress offering condolences right now. CNN had about 10 minutes coverage of the press conferance and MSNBC showed even less. Looks like anyone without NASA TV is out of luck. Hopefully Cspan will reshow the whole thing tonight sometime.

monkeynautt · Post by **monkeynautt** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 5:14 pm

CNN said you could see it on their website but I could't find it so I don't get to see it. I want to. It makes me mad!

Post by **Vincent** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 5:24 pm

I heard the other night that roughly 100 pieces had gone missing.

I had given some thought a few days ago if I would be tempted to take a piece of the ground if I found one. I concluded that while I would be very tempted in my want to hang on to such a tragic piece of space exploration history, the overwhelming thought of, "what if this is the piece that helps them figure out what happened" would stop me well before I'd even start to reach for the piece.

So, in turn, I am quite upset that people would do something like taking debris.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 5:28 pm

Well before the declared the amnesty this afternoon they were saying that they will start arresting people who have debris and prosecuting them. I gues people are turning in people who they know to have taken debris so hopefully those people will take advantage of the amnesty and turn it in.

monkeynautt · Post by **monkeynautt** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 5:28 pm

They said even the bolts could be explosive. I wouldn't want to take anything explosive.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 5:36 pm

Well ofcourse their is the danger of pyrotechnics and dangerous chemicals being present in the debris but i think the biggest concern NASA has is trying to find as much of the debris as possible so they can figure out what went wrong. And if people start collecting souvenirs that crucial piece may be lost.

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 6:42 pm

NASA Tv is webcast. See http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/index.html

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 7:08 pm

Well unfortunately if you don't have a high speed modem or a cable modem and i don't its hard to watch it on the web. The picture is jumpy there is a delay in the signal, and when something is going on its hard to even get connected because of all the people using it.

Post by **Vincent** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 8:03 pm

I just turned on Enterprise and just before the episode started, they displayed:

In memory of the
Columbia crew...

You will always be an inspiration.

I thought that was in very good taste.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 9:15 pm

I agree Vincent i had wondered if they would do anything and i'm glad they did. It Harkens back to Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home and their dedication to the crew of the space shuttle challenger. "The Cast and Crew of Star Trek wish to dedicate this film to the men and women of the spaceship Challenger who's courageous spirit shall live to the 23rd century and beyond"
Also For those wishing to see the press conference that took place at 4:30 and missed it when it was on at 8 pm it will be back on again at 1:15 am est so either stay up ir set your VCR's.

Columbia

Loss of contact?

Video

NASA TV