Columbia

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Benji
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Columbia

Post by Benji »

I'm watching Columbia's landing. Seeing multiple trails of smoke. Looks like its breaking up. Not looking good. I really hope that we don't have yet another sad day in space history.
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Contingency

Post by Benji »

A contingency has just been declared. Comm lost with shuttle over Texas. Search and rescue teams en route. See http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/.
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What happened?

Post by Benji »

What the f*%$ went wrong? I'm gonna guess that they lost control and just broke up. Was is pilot error? Security breech, someone trying to kill Ilan Ramon? Did something just go wrong?

Mission control is so calm. We've now lost 2/5ths of our shuttle fleet. I just don't know what to say.
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Post by Benji »

And the press is already screwing things up. For example, they continue to use the word "explode." Forgive me if I seem callous, but I'm too pissed to be sad right now.
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Post by Benji »

Whitehouse says not terrorism.

CBS graphic incorrectly states "NASA Declares Emergency." NASA has not declred an emergency, rather a contingency. They have different meanings.
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Post by Benji »

FOX News graphic says "Shuttle lost just before landing." The shuttle was lost over Texas. They were planning to land in Florida. There is a long distance between them. In the same way that Texas is not right before Florida, Columbia was not lost just before landing.
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NASA websites

Post by Benji »

NASA websites are loading VERY, VERY slowly, due, I'm sure, to the large amount of traffic they are probably getting, and the freqguent updates they are making.
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Post by Vincent »

News can still be found and loaded at CNN, MSNBC, Space.com, etc.
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Nobody cares until something goes wrong...

Post by Benji »

Now, the news stations are showing photos of and reading short bios of the crew of 107. Nobody cares until something goes wrong. Before the incident, they got just a blurb on the news, if anything (excluding NASA TV). Ilan got the most press, of course. Suddenly now, everyone is interested.

ImageImage
Image

The shuttle program has just been dealt another blow. Our record of having lost only one crew, a rate of over 99%, has taken a beating. I mourn for the STS-107 crew and their families, and for Columbia, who served us well.

Though it isn't official yet, we have another sad day in space history.
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Re: Nobody cares until something goes wrong...

Post by Vincent »

Benji wrote:Nobody cares until something goes wrong.
I was thinking the exact same thing.

...It's such a shame. All of it.
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Post by Space Nerd »

I cant beleive that there has to be another day like this, though i should realize that even the space program isnt perfect. I can only think of how those poor astronauts must have felt. I do beleive though that it was most definitly a mechanical failure probably something to do with the hydrolics. I definintly feel thats its not a terrorist incident though i could be wrong.. I know its probably too early to be thinking of this but since my brain works on a space oriented level im sure the fleet will be grownded, but what will the people in the station do? they will need supplys and will have to switch crews eventually. I dont know these are just things that have flocked through my head today. Anyway lets just keep the astronauts in our thoughts..... :?
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Columbia tragedy

Post by ISSBlonde »

This is what I have heard about this horrible tragedy. When it was launched, a piece of the external tank broke off and hit the heat sheild. Now they arent sure if the heat sheild was damaged or not. I also find it very strange that the shuttle went down over Palestine, TX. Was this just a coincidence or not? I don't know but what I do know is that these brave astronauts deserve reconginition. They will live on.[/b]
Invisible Space Station forever! It sOOOOO could have been called that, just so you all know.
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ISS

Post by Benji »

The fleet will probably be grounded for a while. The ISS crew can survive for a while, and I'm not sure what the schedule of Russian launches is. They could be bringing supplies. If the ISS crew needs to, they can always use the Russian Soyez spacecraft to get home.
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Post by Benji »

Actually, there is scheduled to be a Progress freighter launch to the ISS with supplies tommorrow.
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Post by LaRsOnAtRiXkIx »

hey everyone...
vincent..very nicely altered homepage..for today.
god. im just like in shock.
my mom woke me up when she heard about this on the news. and ive been watching it since.
vincent/benji, you guys are right about no one caring until something happens. like this woudl have never been on the news, just another routine landing. hmm..
its so weird seeing inside of mission control on cnn, like watching the people ractions over the past couple hours.
yeah, i dont think it was terrorism either. its just weird. everythings so weird.
its really sad that it was the first mission for 4 of the astronauts..sigh. i hate when things go wrong.
only time will tell i guess..theres soposed to be a news confence or something soon. maybe ill post again after that.
bye everyone..try to have good days
-kristina-
april 1 ~ april 6, 2001
space academy - team calypso
april 6 ~ april 11, 2003
advanced space academy - team von braun
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homepage

Post by Benji »

I didn't see the homepage until Kristina mentioned it. I checked it out. Very fitting.

I'm still kinda in awe over what happened. I don't believe it.
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Post by monkeynautt »

I'm in shock. It's hard to believe. You guys have said it all.
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Post by Smiley »

Smiley is sad :-(
You dropped your pocket, your socks are untied, and those are the same clothes you were wearing the day after yesterday. :-)
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Post by Boomerang »

Well i know i havent posted yet today so here it goes. First of all i was up getting ready to go to the space museum just like any other saturday and turned on cnn knowing that the shuttle was suposed to land this morning. But landing time came and went and then the first video of the breakup. I couldnt believe it it felt like 17 years ago all over again. I came down to the space center and have been here since about 10 am watching a combination of NASA tv and CNN. everyone here is in such shock.And i had the unfortunate duty of telling a few people who hadn't heard yet. I may even make the evening news since a camera man caught some of a tour i was giving on tape. i've heard alot ofspeculation so far today on CNN and from guests at the museum. Everything from the debris hitting the wing during liftoff and possibly dmging the heat tiles to an excess tire presure blowing one of the landing gear and damaging the tiles. Ofcourse all that is speculation at this point. The tire pressure speculation comes from the last communications recieved from Columbia indicating higher than normal pressure. There is a press conference scheduled for any minute now but its already been pushedback 25 minutes from its scheduled start. I'll post more when i get home tonight.
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What to say

Post by ApolloXI »

:cry: I am lost for words at the news of the whole thing. My mother woke me up and she know nothing about the problem. I turned on the tv and heard something about a NASA press conf. A sec. a friend of my dad's called and ask how I flet. I had no clue what he was talking but than he told me what a happened. I am :x that NASA is not saying that with every rentry there is a blackout of comm. Plus the media is getting some info from the wrong places. They should got to Huntsville where they have mock ups to show to the public what a orbiter looks like. Plus the media to needs to learn to use the real words NASA uses than chose thier own such as flight brigde rather than flight deck. I don't know about everybody that is a alumi of Space Camp but I feel like that I have lost seven brothers and sisters. I hope that NASA learns from that they know that thier was possiable damage and not check it out. They could least have known about the problem and fond a way to fix or fond another way to get the crew home differntly. I hope to become an astronaut even if it means that I will lose my life to something I love. I know that the my brothers and sister died at something they loved. I hope the Pres. holds back on war with Iraq so that we don't lose more men and women when which will cause moral to fall faster. At Ft. Campbell Kentucky we had lost four men ealry this week when thier Black Hawk heli. crashed. I and every who is an almui should help in by not backuping stuff from the wreck and preventing others from doing so. If you find that anybody is e-baying pices you should contact the right people. As you can tell I am angry plus very sad at the dister. I hope everybody takes a moment out of their sabbtath and pry for the crew.
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