Most horryfying?

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Sun Feb 16, 2003 9:43 pm

I'm just wondering what the space camp community thought.

For many, it is Apollo 1 because it occured during a test just a few hundred feet above the ground.

For some, it's STS-51L, maybe becuase they're a teacher or because it was the first crew to be lost in flight.

For others, it could be STS-107, perhaps because of Ilan Ramon, or because Columbia was the first to orbit, or because they were alive for the disaster.

Space Nerd · Post by **Space Nerd** » Sun Feb 16, 2003 10:28 pm

All of the accidents were absolutly horrible to me but I think the one that seems the worst is Apollo 1. Mainly I think because it was a practice run and there were so many things that shouldnt have happend or been there, that contributed to the fire. Like the Velcro (there was supposed to be something like 500 pieces and there was like 5000, velcro is flammable) I know that isnt exactly right anybody else remember it from space history? Anyway it was horrible but we did learn some vital things like the fact that the air had to be a mix of oxygen and nitrogen. I dont know thats just my opinion.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 10:25 am

To me it will always be the challenger accident. I was 6 years old when it happened. I had dreams of being an astronaut and flying the shuttle one day and then i saw the object of my dreams explode over and over again on national TV. At that age i didnt really understand the danger in space flight. Shuttles flew fairly regularly without any problems and it totaly amazed me. I couldnt wait to grow up and live on a space station or go to Mars. Then that happened and shattered so many innocent ilusions i had. And to top it all off i had lost my mother in a car accident 7 months earlier and couldnt help but wonder what would happen to the astronauts children and wonder what they must have been feeling.

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 2:56 pm

They used a lot of flammable things on Apollo 1 that they haven't used since. They went nuts with the Velcro. Since then, they've limited the number of flammable things and the amount of Velcro.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 6:42 pm

Well its true Apollo 1 had alot of flamable material inside but their was alot of poor worksmanship in general. And Velcro keeps fetting mentioned over and over again but it was only part of it. You also had foam padding on the seats that was highly flammable, and the netting underneath the seats that covered much of the bad wiring job was also highly flammablt add on top of that it all had ben sitting in a pure oxygen enviroment at high pressure for several hours the stuff in that space craft would be so saturated with oxygen nearly anything in their coul have burned.

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 10:33 am

The astronauts hated the craft. They knew it wasn't safe.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 3:09 pm

Its true the astronauts did hate it but like everyone they were just as anxious to get Apollo off the ground as NASA was. Apollo was already behind schedule by the beginning of 67 several of the early test flights had been eliminated from the program all together to save time. Plus their were delays in getting both the CM and LM ready for flight testing. A common name for this phenomenom is "Go Fever" We need to go we need to get it done and we need to do it before the end of the decade.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 5:18 pm

They're all horrible in their own way. Apollo 1 was such a tragedy but I think the one that will stand out in my mind is the Challenger accident. It's one thing to see a shuttle breaking up on landing... it's another to watch it explode on lift-off.

And, being all the way across the world softened the blow for Columbia. Having watched Challenger explode set it firmly in my brain.

Thus, I voted Challenger

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 5:58 pm

Well its true they were all horrible lets just hope we wont see it happen again. Unfortunately the odds are it will someday.

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 10:16 pm

LB206 wrote:Well its true they were all horrible lets just hope we wont see it happen again. Unfortunately the odds are it will someday.

Its sucks, but this is a dangerous business.

MOTTS · Post by **MOTTS** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 11:11 pm

All three of these tragedies are horrible in their own way. Apollo 1 seemed preventable, and was to blame so much on just careless error. Challenger, almost brand new at the time, and considered routine, was pure shock. And Columbia, being lost over almost half of the United States; how can the families get any closure knowing fragments and remains are being tampered with or are forever lost is someone's backyard? All were tragic and I think it's almost futile to try and decipher which one was most traumatizing or harrowing to the world. I believe they should all be remembered, that's the hardest part. Already the world is begining to forget the most recent.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 1:05 am

Well siad Kristin. And your right unfortunately the media is already starting to ignore the columbia investigation. Press conferences are becoming less frequent and less advertised now only being carried by C-span and like many articles on successful shuttle flights the news articles are being pushed back deep into the paper again.

ApolloXI · Post by **ApolloXI** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 7:58 pm

Kristin also do agree. To me Apollo I was worst to only be in a pre-flight test. Plus to know that the engineers where not following and warings that you had given them. The other disaters where more natural but this one was plagued by human problems.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 9:11 pm

Actually engineers warned NASA in all 3 cases about the potential for disaster on all 3 flights. Apollo 1 North American warned them not to test in pure oxygen, Morton thiakol told NASA not to launch Challenger in cold weather, and now its coming out that some engineers warned NASA that the damage done by the foam was more serious than they were thinking. So really all 3 had warnings 2 were preventable and i dont know what tyey could have done about columbia their just werent many options.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 10:40 am

It's too bad they couldn't have gone to the Station or at least have someone go out and INSPECT the wing

I mean, we do have the technology and means to do that. If we can pull satellites out of orbit and fix them I'm sure we can put someone out there and see if the wing is okay =) Alas... NASA engineers and everyone else there are human. They make mistakes... some committee must have agreed that the foam wasn't a catastrophic incident. It's not like one man/woman decided to go against 100 people...

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 11:31 am

Inspections would be possible either with a long tether or using the rescue jet pack that each suit has now but repairing is still another story.

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 11:49 am

Yeah, but if they had inspected it and knew about a potentially fatal problem, they wouldn't have reentered until it was fixed. I don't know what they could have done, but they would have figured something out.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 11:55 am

I'm not sure they could have done that. The shuttle on;y has so much in the way of supplies. Atlantis was atleast a week away from beoing able to launch, and any repair kit would have to be a big rush job. So really it doesnt look like they really could have done anything even if theyd known.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 6:11 pm

LB206 wrote:I'm not sure they could have done that. The shuttle on;y has so much in the way of supplies. Atlantis was atleast a week away from beoing able to launch, and any repair kit would have to be a big rush job. So really it doesnt look like they really could have done anything even if theyd known.

Hmm, they could have picked up an oxygen canister at a nearby space station... yeah and got some more oxygen and just hung out and... wait... wasn't that a movie?

Still, something could have been done in orbit if the shuttle was that bad off or they suspected it was. I know there's a flight plan but my god... deviate from it.

ApolloXI · Post by **ApolloXI** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 7:47 pm

Richasi wrote:
LB206 wrote:I'm not sure they could have done that. The shuttle on;y has so much in the way of supplies. Atlantis was atleast a week away from beoing able to launch, and any repair kit would have to be a big rush job. So really it doesnt look like they really could have done anything even if theyd known.
Hmm, they could have picked up an oxygen canister at a nearby space station... yeah and got some more oxygen and just hung out and... wait... wasn't that a movie?

Still, something could have been done in orbit if the shuttle was that bad off or they suspected it was. I know there's a flight plan but my god... deviate from it.

Nasa said that they had no capability to dock with ISS. Plus on one has training to do the EVA needed and they didn't have the Can. Arm. I think that on all mission the shuttle should have dockin capability, trianed MSs for that kind of EVA and the Can. Arm.

Most horryfying?

Which was the most horryfying?

Most horryfying?

I agree

No Docking cap.