Shuttle accident on re-entry this morning.

[kdegarmo]

I know this isn't a Hot Deal, but I thought everyone would want to know about this.....

It appears that we have lost shuttle Columbia - communication was lost around 8am CST and video shows debris streaking to earth over Texas.... My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the crew.

SpaceFlightNow

CNN

1427 GMT (9:27 a.m. EST)
NASA says the shuttle was about 200,000 feet up and traveling at 12,500 miles per hour when contact was lost.
From all the reports we're receiving, it is becoming clear that the shuttle broke apart over Texas.

1419 GMT (9:19 a.m. EST)
Contingency plans are in effect in Mission Control.

1416 GMT (9:16 a.m. EST)
This was the time of Columbia's landing. What we know is contact was lost with the shuttle at about 9 a.m. EST and a sighting by residents in Texas reported a debris cloud following the plasma trail as Columbia streaked overhead.

1415 GMT (9:15 a.m. EST)
The flight dynamics officer reports there is no tracking of the shuttle.

1414 GMT (9:14 a.m. EST)
Entry Flight Director Leroy Cain has instructed flight controllers to get out their contingency plan.


Kev

 

[kdegarmo]

1440 GMT (9:40 a.m. EST)

During a mission status news conference yesterday, Entry Flight Director Leroy Cain was asked about any possible damage to the shuttle's thermal tiles during launch. The tiles are what protect the shuttle during the fiery reentry into Earth's atmosphere.

Tracking video of launch shows what appears to be a piece of foam insulation from the shuttle's external tank falling away during ascent and hitting the shuttle's left wing near its leading edge.

But Cain said engineers "took a very thorough look at the situation with the tile on the left wing and we have no concerns whatsoever. We haven't changed anything with respect to our trajectory design. It will be a nominal, standard trajectory."

 

[Lizardman]

oh man this is bad news. See if there was no stupid wars to fight we could pour more money into the space program so shst like this wouldnt happen

 

[krackato]

There is SPECULATION (nothing, absolutely no evidence at this point) that there might be a terrorist connection. The first Israeli astronaut was on board the shuttle. I think it unlikely since if you were going to blow up the shuttle, it would seem that you should do it on take-off when there would be a larger audience, cameras, more spectacle, more damage, etc. Not to mention, security at places like NASA has gone way, way up. That being said, the fact that it happened in this day and age with the very first Israeli astronaut can't be overlooked.

Rest in peace.

 

[huesmann]

Does (did) the shuttle have an escape pod?

 

[wfay]

We need to stop flying space shuttles in the end of January!!

Jan 27, 1967 = apollo 1, spacecraft fire, 3 dead

Jan 28, 1986 = challenger, launch failure, 7 dead

Feb 1, 2003 = columbia, re-entry breakup, 7 dead (1 israeli)

 

[wfay]

Originally posted by: huesmann
Does (did) the shuttle have an escape pod?

Please go back to watching Star Trek. The Space Shuttle *IS* an escape pod, in and of itself.

 

[Dacus]

This is really bad news. Let us all pray for the crew members.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: wfay

Originally posted by: huesmann
Does (did) the shuttle have an escape pod?

Please go back to watching Star Trek. The Space Shuttle *IS* an escape pod, in and of itself.

That person asked a legitimate question...shame on you.

 

[thholr]

they think maybe age of the shuttle had something to do with it, but it is way too early to tell . But I agree, let us pray for the crew and their families.

 

[Dacus]

Did the Columbia have a Flight Data Recorder like most commercial aircraft?

 

[yugpatel]

I uesd to work there and I am very sad to hear it as I am very much attached to shuttle programs. This was Columbia's last mission and it was goingto retire......

 

[no0b]

instructed flight controllers to get out their contingency plan.

What is a contingency plan?

Or more importantly what does their plan mean, say, do,...

 

[ojai00]

Originally posted by: Dacus
Did the Columbia have a Flight Data Recorder like most commercial aircraft?

I think I heard something about that on the news before. Not exactly sure though. Pray for the crew members and their families

 

[pspada]

Why would you need an "Escape Pod"? All you'd really need is a parachute, and one hell of a air tank. Seriously, tho, if you were on say, a cruise ship, and it was sinking, would you start looking for an "Escape Pod"? I think not, you'd be looking for a Life Boat - so the concept of a Escape Pod is indeed from Star Trek. Of more import, has anyone ever see a airplane with any kind of escape mechanism?

Perhaps the movie Armageddon would help?

 

[DaCurryman]

Originally posted by: wfay
We need to stop flying space shuttles in the end of January!!

Jan 28, 1986 = challenger, launch failure, 7 dead

I remember this....it was my 6th birthday.

My prayers go out to those aboard and their families & friends.....definitely sad news.

 

[derby]

Originally posted by: pspada
Why would you need an "Escape Pod"? All you'd really need is a parachute, and one hell of a air tank. Seriously, tho, if you were on say, a cruise ship, and it was sinking, would you start looking for an "Escape Pod"? I think not, you'd be looking for a Life Boat - so the concept of a Escape Pod is indeed from Star Trek. Of more import, has anyone ever see a airplane with any kind of escape mechanism?

Perhaps the movie Armageddon would help?

Actually, I think this is a good illustration why and escape capsule might be a good design element to implement in the future. "Just a parachute" won't do you much good if you lose pressure while you're that high. A pressurised escape pod would be you're only chance for surviving something like this.

That said, with the exception of the fake Air Force One in the movie of the same name, I don't know of any aircraft with an escape pod. The real Air Force One is not equipped with one.

 

[RadioactiveMagpies]

local newsstation is reporting and showing that the radar is picking up debris particles still floating in the air...
this really sucks

 

[wfay]

I was not making fun of him for suggesting the escape pod concept, shame on you. It is just a silly sci-fi idea at this point, with no real feasible implementations that could be applied to the space shuttle, and I wanted to point that out.

The speed at which the shuttle is moving (six times the speed of sound) and the heat/pressure involved, the idea of an "escape pod" from the space shuttle would be a wasted effort. This is not a movie where HAL the computer says "you will die soon" and then you have to avoid the robo-machines until you can get to an escape pod.

When accidents happen on the space shuttle of this nature (where the destruction of the shuttle is imminent), the crew has at most a few SECONDS to respond before they are dead. They were lucky to get a prayer out for their family or perhaps smile at a fellow crewmember before the end.

 

[athakur999]

There is a big sticky-fied thread going on in the OT forum:

Text

 

[altonb1]

Somebody has to say it, and I apologize for being the jerk that does, but this is "Flaming hot!" (or explosively Hot, if you will....)

I don't want to minimize the impact of this, because I do feel it is a magnanamous tragedy.

My thoughts and prayers go to everyone affected: The crew, their families, the NASA employees, and those affected on the ground in Texas.

 

[alm4rr]

Here are a few givens:
-It's not the result of ground based aggression
-This was one of the oldest STS that NASA has
-Foam fell off the shuttle on liftoff and hit the wing
-NASA declared the loss of foam and possible damage within 'acceptable margins'
-The Columbia is non-operative and the crew is (will be) dead

When we look to the Challenger and the organizational decisions which led up to its destruction, we see a persistant pattern of increasing the amount of acceptable risk (oh, it didn't blow up THIS time, so this is ok) which increased the probability of a total loss of shuttles. NASA and Morton Thiokol worked outside of acceptable limits, outside the data which had been collected for temperature and O-ring failure (by a large margin, too!) and said that there was no data to prohibit them from launching, vs. the data does not support a launch b/c we have no quantifiable data on its affect on STS launches.

Upon liftoff, after seeing the foam hit the wing, NASA administrators decided not to abort the already in progress liftoff and land at the preplanned emergency areas in Europe and to proceed normally, within 'acceptable margins.'

NASA was not helped in the recent satellite mission that ended of destruction in the satellite, simply b/c the outsourcing was done in standard measurements and NASA was working in metric. No one caught this, and a satellite to Mars plummeted to the ground. There's also been the number of satellites lately that have exploded on their rockets on the launch pad.

One can blame the shuttles, but surely, it will be held that it was NASA organizational culture that has once again doomed another STS mission. Yes, I understant the complexity of sts launches, let alone their missions, but it cannot be denied that when insulating foam falls of a thruster and hits a wing of an aircraft, it's a big deal and warrants an abort and inspection.

 

[ROLLTIDE2002]

you can see it on weather radarShuttle falling overTx/LA

 

[geekender]

Sadly, it never made it over New Orleans

 

[sat4fun]

Originally posted by: krackato
There is SPECULATION (nothing, absolutely no evidence at this point) that there might be a terrorist connection. The first Israeli astronaut was on board the shuttle. I think it unlikely since if you were going to blow up the shuttle, it would seem that you should do it on take-off when there would be a larger audience, cameras, more spectacle, more damage, etc. Not to mention, security at places like NASA has gone way, way up. That being said, the fact that it happened in this day and age with the very first Israeli astronaut can't be overlooked. Rest in peace.

Give me a break.