Columbia

[ApolloXI]

The 13 min. video of Columbia's flight deck can be seen on http://www.nasa.gov. In my engineering class I am doing a project on graphite, I found out that graphite is a other theory the investion panel has. Graphite epoxy is known to be a great conntucter of electricity. A eyewittness in Ca saws that he saw a electric current of some sort coming from the shuttle. On all landing there is a bulid of static electricity. With Columbia there could have been more caused by drag or a bank. http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/st ... 30219.html

[Boomerang]

That was an intresting article but it wasnt anything i hadn't already heard. But i guess their isnt much new info coming out.

[Boomerang]

Just thought you guys might be intrested in this. Today would have been Laurel Clark's 42nd birthday.

[Boomerang]

Ok well its been a while but here is the latest PAO release.

March 11, 2003

Glenn Mahone/Doc Mirelson
Headquarters, Washington
Phone: 202/358-1600


Kelly Humphries
Lufkin Command Center, Texas
Phone: 936/699-1019


Traci Bowen
Texas Forest Service
Phone: 979/218-3035



Report #J03-12

MEDIA INVITED TO VISIT COLUMBIA RECOVERY AIR SEARCH OPERATIONS BASE

News media representatives are invited to visit the Angelina County Airport
operations base for Space Shuttle Columbia recovery air searches on Friday,
March 14, 2003, in Lufkin, Texas.

Reporters are invited to meet the Texas Forest Service's air search
coordinator, visit the facilities where helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft
are serviced and prepared, witness a day's pre-flight briefing and the
pilots' pre-flight checkout of their aircraft. There will not be an
opportunity for reporters to fly in any of the aircraft, however, a location
will be designated where reporters may film air search operations from the
ground.

Media wishing to attend must contact the Joint Information Center (JIC) at
Lufkin, Texas, no later than noon CST Thursday, March 13. Calls should be
directed to the JIC at 936-699-1019 or 936-699-1094. Faxes should be sent to
936-631-3773. Media will receive specific instructions on where to meet when
they call to confirm their participation. Weather could affect some of the
planned opportunities.

The opportunity is expected to last approximately two hours. While at the
air search operations base, media representatives will be expected to follow
the safety directions of the air search coordinator and stay with the
escorts provided.

-end-

[Benji]

"Cineri gloria sera venit."
Fame comes too late to the dead.

[Boomerang]

so very sad and so very true Benji.

[Boomerang]

Well the below article i'm sure will be of intrest to everyone here. Aparently NASA is aiming for a return to shuttle flights as early as this fall. I've posted the article from the AOL new area below.


WASHINGTON (March 14) - NASA is making plans to return the space shuttle to orbit as early has this fall and has instructed engineers to be prepared to make any ''corrective actions'' recommended by the board now investigating the Columbia tragedy.

William F. Readdy, NASA's associate administrator for space flight, issued a memo this week instructing agency officials to organize a team to plan for quickly making changes in the space shuttle - or its operations - so that the craft would be quickly ready to fly.

''The team will prepare for a safe return to flight as soon as practicable,'' the March 12 memo said. ''As a goal, the SSP (Space Shuttle Program) shall plan for corrective actions and reviews which support a launch opportunity as early as the fall of 2003.''

Readdy said that NASA will be guided by the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, which is studying the factors involved in the Feb. 1 destruction of Columbia in which the seven crew members perished.

The space shuttle disintegrated while returning to Earth, scattering debris across wide areas of Texas and Louisiana.

The memo instructed engineers to review specific problems that already are being investigation by the CAIB. These issues include foam insulation that peeled off the shuttle's external fuel tank and smashed into the craft's left wing and may have damaged the thermal protection tiles on that wing.

The return-to-flight team also is to review ways to inspect and repair damaged tiles while the shuttle is in orbit. Other issues to be studied are how the spacecraft is prepared for orbit, the policies on granting safety waivers and the methods used to identify in-flight safety problems and how those issues are relayed to top NASA management.

Readdy said NASA will not ''prejudge'' the conclusions of the accident review board, but will concentrate efforts on problems that the board has already publicly discussed, such as the foam insulation debris and possible broken tiles on the wing.

''That's the elephant in the room,'' said Readdy. ''We can't ignore those.''

NASA's plans call for the first mission to be directed toward continuing the construction of the International Space Station. The mission also would be used to rotate crew members now in the station.

Three crew members now on the station, Expedition 6, will be replaced by next month by two crew members to be flown to the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The Expedition 6 crew will return to Earth on a Soyuz now docked at the station.

Readdy also explained how he came to turn down an offer from the Department of Defense to take pictures of Columbia while the spacecraft was in orbit.

NASA engineers knew that foam insulation had smashed Columbia's left wing during its Jan. 16 launch, but an evaluation had concluded that the incident represented no risk to the spacecraft or the crew and it was expected the craft could land safely.

Readdy said that someone ''from another agency'' had offered to use ''assets'', presumably high resolution cameras on spy satellites, to examine the space shuttle. But Readdy said he turned down the offer because NASA engineers had already concluded there were no safety issues involved.

''This was a routine offer for support using a national asset,'' said Readdy. He said he turned it down because he knew the capabilities of the ''asset'' and did not think it would add to the understanding of any possible damage to Columbia.

''If I thought for a second that there was anything that would be added to the discussion, that safety of flight issues were involved, I would not have hesitated'' to accept the offer, Readdy said.

Readdy said he knew about the capabilities of the ''assets'' and concluded that the pictures would not be beneficial to NASA.

''In my judgment, I didn't think that would have added to the (engineering) discussion,'' he said.

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said that such judgments are among the issues now being considered by the investigative panel.

[LaRsOnAtRiXkIx]

that would be awesome to get back to launches this fall. i really hope theyre able to get everything straightened out that soon, but i sort of doubt it. we'll see.

also, im sure some of you have alread read it, but if you havent, in the april 2003 popular science there is a really good article about the ISS, being in 'survival mode' and about finishing construction and stuff. lol its already slightly outdated, i guess, since in the article jason posted below they were talking about definitely switching the crew. in the article, NASA was just "considering a crew swap using a Soyuz capsule in April or early May".

[Boomerang]

Actually they are still planning to swap out the crew of the iss with a soyuz in april. The current soyuz on the station will be reaching the end of its service life and the current crew will return to earth onboard that craft. A new craft will be launched before their return with a crew of 2 that will take over the operation of the station. And just incase NASA has ordered enough soyuz to be built as well as progress ships to rotate crews and supply the station for the next 4 years.

[Benji]

The Whitehouse, of course, denies that the Columbia tradgey was the result of terrorism, but it could be? Some claim that a scalar weapon was used to bring down Columbia. Check out these sites for more info:
(Note, I'm not for or against this theory, I'm just giving y'all this info to see what you think.)

http://www.tldm.org/News6/Columbia.htm
http://www.cheniere.org/ (Scroll to near bottom)
http://www.prahlad.org/pub/bearden/scalar_wars.htm
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~gulufuture/scalar_update.htm
http://www.cheniere.org/books/ferdelance/s83.htm

[Boomerang]

Personally i think if and thats a big if it was shot down they would have used it to gain more support for the war on terror or even the war against Iraq. Even if it was somebody completely diffrent than iraq they would have no way to prove otherwise and i dont see them not taking advantage of something like that. But to me it sounds more like conspiracy theory than fact.

[sts205cdr]

Sounds like a good opportunity to use Occam's Razor.

--John

[Boomerang]

Ah yes Occams Razor the renaisance breakthrough that allowed closer shaves for men j/k (sorry for the bad joke my humanities teacher had that as one of the choices on a multiple choice test in his class). But i agree that most likely the simplest answer that in this case is something went wrong with the shuttle not terror is probabbly the right answer.

[Boomerang]

Well below i have posted an article from space.com about the recovery efforts of the flight recorder Data. NASA is hopeful that it will be posible and it looks like it only has minor damage.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- An early look at the magnetic tape from the space shuttle Columbia's salvaged data recorder offered hope that it was in good enough shape to yield some information about the doomed flight, NASA said Monday.

Discovered in east Texas on Wednesday, the recorder and its 9,400 feet of tape is stretched and broken in one spot but otherwise in good condition, said NASA spokesman James Hartsfield.

"Right now, the potential for there to be data available to us looks promising," he said.

The recorder -- potentially the most significant piece of debris found yet -- is in the laboratory of a Minnesota company that specializes in magnetic data storage, and its tape is being painstakingly cleaned.

NASA believes the tape stopped recording about the time the shuttle broke apart above Texas on Feb. 1, killing all seven astronauts. It had recorded Columbia's launch 16 days earlier and was activated again for the start of descent.

The recorder was collecting data from about 800 sensors on the fuselage, wings, tail and engines, and measuring temperature, pressure, strain, vibration, acoustics and acceleration, Hartsfield said.

The accident investigation board suspects Columbia's left wing was breached, possibly by flyaway foam insulation or other fuel-tank debris during liftoff, and that the scorching gases of atmospheric re-entry burned through wiring in the wing and penetrated the left landing gear compartment.

Late Friday night, NASA shipped the recorder to Imation Corp. in Oakdale, Minn., a leading manufacturer of data storage tape with 50 years of experience.

"The majority of tape on the take-up reel appears in very good shape," he said. "They're just starting to work with it now, but I can tell you that there's optimism from the visible appearance."

Once the tape is cleaned and stabilized by Imation, hopefully this week, it will be sent to Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, where the playback and dubbing equipment is located. The dubbed tapes subsequently will be sent to Johnson Space Center in Houston for analysis.

An Imation spokesman, Brad Allen, said the company has worked with NASA before.

So far, about 45,000 pieces of shuttle wreckage have been found and shipped to Kennedy. That represents about 54,000 pounds, or 24 percent of the weight of the descending shuttle.

The investigation board, meanwhile, will be in Cape Canaveral this week for its third round of public hearings. Kennedy officials will discuss, among other things, the collection and layout of Columbia debris at the space center.

[Benji]

From an article on Space.com, NASA Missed Trouble Signs, Expert Tells Columbia Board:

After suggesting that NASA consider using less insulation foam on the tank, Casey* also recommended:

-Shuttles be launched only on missions in which unmanned rockets couldn't be used.
-Future crew size be kept to a minimum.
-Waivers and deviations in processing hardware should be avoided as much as possible.

*a retired three-star general with decades of experience in missiles and rocket systems, according to the article

While I can't disagree with the last one, and the suggestion about using less insulation, I think that the other two suggestions are bad. Sure, you can do alot with unmanned rockets, but there is limit to it's capabilities. And it's not like we launch shuttles just to put a satellite in orbit, other important things are done onboard.

Reducing crew sizes isn't a viable option either. You can do so much more with a larger crew, because two heads are better than one, and seven are even better. The crew knows the risk and they accept it. Reducing crew size= much less reward for slighty less risk.

[Boomerang]

Actually ironicly i was watching the replay of the heating and they were doing this interview when i read this post. What he actually was seeming to say is that the shuttle shouldnt be launched if the job can be done by an unmanned rocket. Wgich these days is almost nothing that the shuttle does. Since Challenger most sattelites and probe=s are now launched by Expendable vehicles thats what he was really referring to, He clarified it fairly well during the hearing. So this wouldnt really affect the shuttle program much. As far as the minimum crew size i dont think it would affect it all that much either because he just meant to only send up the crew size needed for the particular mission and really everyone on a crew is there for a reason its not like the days of the civilians in space of the early 80s so each astronaut does have a purpose for being on the mission.He even said his expertise was in expendable vehicles and to me his suggestions show a lack of knowledge of the current shuttle program for the most part.

[Boomerang]

Well i was on the space camp website and found this intresting article about a tribute a scout in canada did for the shuttle Columbia.
February 23, 2003

To whom it may concern:

Hello: My name is Ryan Brook. I am 11 years old and currently a first year Scout with 1st Harrow Scout (Ontario, Canada). I realize NASA has a lot of very important things to take care of, but I thought you might be interested in hearing about something I recently took part in. A big part of our winter program is handcrafting dragster, which we take great pleasure in racing against other groups. The project usually takes a month to build. It is set up to encourage craftsmanship and build a bond between the youth and their parents or guardians. It is also meant to be an example of friendly competition and good sportsmanship. Awards are given out for various categories such as fastest, most creative, best finish (paint job), etc.

When I began designing my dragster my first thought was a train. However, during the designing process (mid January) my thought changes towards a space shuttle. I added wings and a fin on my design and it quickly took shape. The shuttle was cut out of a piece of cedar and the sanding process had begun when the tragedy of February 1, 2003 took place. My first thought was to dedicate my ship to the crew lost in the tragedy. So began the flight of completing my 7 star space shuttle. One thing lead to another and the next thing I knew I was building a complete launch pad with rockets and everything. I decided to make my shuttle a commemorative tribute to the crew and the families of the crew. My dad has helped me with some aspects including putting the date on the side of the ship and 7 red, white, and blue stars, each signifying one of the seven-crew members. The whole shuttle and launch pad was mounted on a plaque made of plexiglass with “IN MEMORY OF” printed on it. I received a great deal of comments on my shuttle during the actual race. During the race I wore a black armband as part of my uniform to signify respect and admiration for the bravery and commitment of the astronauts. My thoughts were with them while I was racing.

I have included pictures of my space shuttle and myself so that you all can see what a special dragster it was. I received a plaque in the Creativity Category for my creation. Please accept my letter and photos as a gesture of unconditional support and thoughts for NASA, the crew, the families and friends of the crew and everyone involved in the tragedy. I hope that such an unfortunate event never again takes place, and that my interest in the space program might someday find wings of its own.

It would be a great honor both for me and my troops, as well as scouting in general, if you could write back and let me know what you thought of my Space Shuttle.

Yours truly,

Ryan Brook

1st Harrow Scouts

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Ryan, we love the shuttle racer and launch pad you built. Congratulations on the award! We’re a big fan of Scouting here, and we host several Scout Days at the Space Center each year. Watch your mailbox for a little something we wanted you to have, our way of saying, “Job well done.”)

[Boomerang]

here is another article from space.com It concerns a Coliumbia memorial at Arlington cemetary.

Arlington Cemetery Okayed For Columbia Memorial
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 04:10 pm ET
26 March 2003



The U.S. House of Representatives' Science Committee today passed legislation authorizing the construction of a memorial to the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia at Arlington National Cemetery, just outside Washington, D.C.

There is already a memorial at the cemetery, located in Arlington, Virginia, for the seven-member crew of the space shuttle Challenger that perished in 1986.

A total of $500,000 would be made available from the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2003 for construction of a memorial marker to honor the lives lost during Columbia's February 1 reentry.

The Secretary of the Army, in consultation with the NASA Administrator will be responsible for the memorial's construction. In addition, the bill allows the NASA Administrator to accept gifts and donations of services, money, and property for the purpose of an appropriate memorial to the seven astronauts.

The House Veterans' Affairs Committee must also approve the bill -- H.R. 1297 -- before it is considered on the House floor. The Senate approved a companion measure, S. 628, on March 18.

[Benji]

I think a memorial is great. Is there one there for the Apollo 1 guys?

[Boomerang]

I'm not sure if there is or not but i'm guessing there is probably more than just the 2 headstones of the 2 members of the apollo 1 crew that are buried there.