Space Shuttle Columbia lost?

[Darrin Drader]

Yes I know that we expect this type of coverage from the media but it still drives me nuts when peoples hearts only bleed when the media tells us or "something big and cool blew up real good".
Just think about it.

This kind of attitude sickens me. Astronauts are explorers who are trying to open up a new frontier for the benefit of everyone. They knew the risks, and it is a very dangerous business, but one day their efforts could very literally save the entire human race. This isn't about innocent lives lost, but about the loss of heroes.

 

[jester47]

In these cases you have innocent people who are killed by a tragic accident who were just trying to go about their lives and survive, where in the case of the shuttle crash, you have 7 people who knew the risks of their job and still chose to go. Yes I know that we expect this type of coverage from the media but it still drives me nuts when peoples hearts only bleed when the media tells us or "something big and cool blew up real good".
Just think about it.

I think that is just it. The seven that died knew the risks they were taking. But these people too were essentially just going on with thier lives. It was thier job. We go to space to learn things that can benefit all humanity. And so when you look at it these seven people, like the other astronauts and the countless rescue workers around the world, were putting thier lives on the line for everyone else. And they don't intend to do it once or twice, but many many times over. They were taking the risk because they feel somewhere inside them that the well being of everyone else is worth more than thier own lives. That is why such a disaster outshines all the others in attention.

Aaron.

 

[Kilmore]

hugs all around.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(silent pain and horror)

...

 

[Bagpuss]

Did anyone get the details about the sensor reading in the left wing before they lost contact?

NASA announced them in the briefing a little while ago. Something about the heat sensors (showing a increase) and the tire pressure sensor (indicating a loss of pressure) in the left wing, just before they lost contact.

 

[kenjib]

I was there at Edwards Airforce Base when Columbia landed for the first time in 1981. It was a truly glorious day. Thousands of people came out and parked a vast sea of cars at the edge of a dried out lake bed in the middle of the Mohave desert. People scrambled on top of RV trucks to get a better view. My family was there in our old Toyota Land Cruiser.

There were T-Shirts, flags, everyone was filled with excitement to see the final success of the first space shuttle to ever enter space.

It was a truly glorious day. This was not just another space shuttle. This was *the* space shuttle. Columbia will always remain in my memory from that time -- glorious and filled with the boundless optimism of a generation filled with hope and faith in the miracles of science and the wonders it could bring us. For me, today's terrible tragedy is an eerie reminder of the different world we live in now.

I still see it there today, touching down in the desert, a vast plume of sand and dust rising up into the sky in it's wake -- truly bigger than life. That is my Columbia. That is how I will always remember it.


P.S. I still have the "Guest Information" info pamphlet handed out for the landing. It's sitting at my desk now as I write.

 

[jester47]

What it should motive us to do is de-commision old shuttles. With the age of that vehicle, it should never have been anywhere but in a museum. These are human lives lost, because someone didn't want to spend the money to build shuttles less than 15-20 years old (it was one of the '80s shuttles, wasn't it?). Even if it was in 'tip-top shape', just the age of the material such as the heat shingles should have kept it grounded. It's a terrible thing, I mourn for the crew and their families.

The ceramic tiles on the shuttle are replaced every mission. Things are checked and double checked. And then they do it again. And again. You would not believe the system redundancy on those vehicles. Imagine having three ignitions in your car, six headlights, three different switches for the blinkers and the air conditioners (all three of them). Imagine if your car had three engines, two just in case the first did not start. Now you understand the concept of triple redundancy. It is the mantra of space vehicle construction and design. The truth of the matter is that the shuttle looses tiles all the time. I remember seeing a graphic of a hole that was boared into the front windshild of Discovery. That viewport is designed to take the strike of most micrometeorites, easy. This hole had 2 cm left before that meteorite would have entered the cockpit of the Shuttle. It was a fleck of paint. Aluminium stops this stuff dead in its tracks, as does gold (why do you tink space suits are so expensive? Layers of gold are used to protect astronauts.) That is the type of stuff they are dealing with up there. When they launch they loose tiles, as they drift they loose tiles, when they reenter they loose tiles. The tiles are the best protection you can get on reentry. And those are not always reliable. Maybe Columbia was too old, maybe there was a reason. However, we may have to accept the fact that it was just dumb luck. They may have simply lost too many tiles... I am sure we are going to find out about it.

Aaron

PS>> I always wanted to be an astronaut, but I am settling for firefighter.

 

[Tomanta]

Why is this a significant event? Well, it's rare. It is the loss of some of the brightest and the best of us. It is, at the very least, a setback on our future. It in no way implies that others who lose their lives do not deserve the same attention, it is just not possible to do it.

I don't remember the Challenger explosion, but I do remember the first launch following it, how much attention there was on it... I loved it, at that time I wanted to be an astronaut myself. Since then I've realized that is something way beyond my abilities. But I always try to pay at least a little attention to what is happening with NASA.

"There's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on: whether it happens in a hundred years, or a thousand years, or a million years, eventually our sun will grow cold, and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us, it'll take Marilyn Monroe, and Lao-tsu, Einstein, Maruputo, Buddy Holly, Aristophanes - all of this. All of this was for nothing, unless we go to the stars." -- Jeffrey Sinclair, Babylon 5

 

[myrdden]

Also, the space debris, are radioactive, and contain highly cotaminates, and people are highly advised officially by NASA to not touch them, and should they come in contact with them, to go to emergency room.

The debris wouldn't be radioactive, but you are quite right about possible contaminates. Any surviving fuel would be quite toxic, not to mention volatile.

This whole thing just brings me back to grade school when Challenger exploded.



Myrdden

 

[myrdden]

Have you considered that the reason the story is extraordinary is because seven people who knew the risks of the job still chose to go?

and

This isn't about innocent lives lost, but about the loss of heroes.

I couldn't have said it better. Well said gentlemen.

Myrdden