space shuttle columbia missing!

[groovewonder]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA (news - web sites) declared an emergency after losing communication with space shuttle Columbia as the ship soared over Texas several minutes before its expected landing time Saturday morning.

This sucks!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=624&e=1&u=/ap/20030201/ap_on_sc/space_shuttle

I hope these folk rest in peace, and I hope it's not another B.S. political/terrorist attack...

dk

[Big Booger]

God bless them.
BB

[Taro Toporific]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA (news - web sites) declared an emergency after losing communication with space
I hope these folk rest in peace, and I hope it's not another B.S. political/terrorist attack...

I'm watching CNN video of Space Shuttle Columbia and it's TOAST.

However, there's NO terrorists that can hit the Shuttle at 200,000 feet traveling at 12,500mph. NASA is saying, "No way, Jose!"

All of the following seven person crew are VERY dead including the first Israeli to go to space.

On the orbiter's flight deckwere commander Rick Husband, pilot William McCool, flight engineer Kalpana Chawla and physician David Brown. Strapped in on Columbia's lower deck were physician Laurel Clark, payload commander Michael Anderson and Israeli air force Col. Ilan Ramon

Japanese dead are 5 silkworms, 3 cocoons and 4 Japanese Medaka fish.

Also on board: 13 rats, eight garden orb weaver spiders, five silkworms and three cocoons, four Japanese Medaka fish eggs that will develop in space, three carpenter bees, 15 harvester ants and an assortment of fish

[Taro Toporific]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA (news - web sites) declared an emergency ..

I hope these folk rest in peace...

Please a Moment of Silence......



-------------
_______________

OK. What does NASA stand for.... Need Another Seven Astronauts.

Q: What did the Space Shuttle Challenger say to the Space Shuttle Columbia when it blew up?

A: TAG, YOU'RE IT.

[Steve Bildermann]

Very very sad.

Much more educated information here

Newsgroup : sci.space.shuutle

[tokyojoe]

I was just out in `six trees` and heard from an embassy employee that he got a call about this. I can still remember the challenger explosion when I was in high school.

[groovewonder]

Highschool!?!? Damn you're old! I think I was about 4 years old at the time. :P

[cstaylor]

I'm sure they'll be asking NASA officials why they didn't abort the mission as soon as they noticed that debris had hit the orbiter on launch. The American space program is racing to the bottom as fast the old Soviet one.

[Taro Toporific]

Much more educated information here
Newsgroup : sci.space.shuutle

Disaster deals blow to Japan space plans
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) CNN-- The break-up of space shuttle Columbia is likely to have a devastating impact on the Japanese space programme which had been due to send its fifth astronaut into space aboard an upcoming shuttle flight. ...
.."The accident not only poses a serious situation for the U.S. manned space programme but also for the ISS project which our nation is also taking part in," Science Minister Atsuko Toyama said in a statement.

[American Oyaji]

Personally,
I dont trust the U.S. government and I think it was a deliberate attempt by the government to generate international sympathy for its war effort.

I think my president is a warmonger and a hypocrit and I do not trust his monkey ass.

His father got on TV the other day in his support and to say that his son is not a warmonger.........What kind of SteveJobsish reality warp was he trying to pull?

Anyway...

My prayers go out to the astronauts families.

I was in Middle Schools when the Challenger accident occurred.

[groovewonder]

I dont trust the U.S. government and I think it was a deliberate attempt by the government to generate international sympathy for its war effort.

i don't trust bush's monkey ass either, but i doubt this was staged. it was very sad, but pretty insignificant in terms of how it's going to affect the emotions of all of the citizens of the world. i feel bad for the families of these astronauts, but if i were a citizen of a different country than america, i don't think i'd give my sympathy for bush's bullshit war effort just because of a accident in space.. not logical..

9/11 though, the day it happened i thought that it very well could have been staged, but now i don't think so.

anyway, i'm starting to think this whole war against iraq isn't even going to happen. too much world opposition. it might though, and if it does there will be a LOT of angry people in the world. if this war against iraq takes place, you won't see many people mourning america's loss next time it gets attacked. it will be deserved if we do get attacked!

gomen, my biased pacifist beliefs. don't mean to push them on anybody. just hate bush.

[cstaylor]

I'm sure it all depends on how the war goes (if it happens at all). If it's quick, and the Iraqi people are actually *happy* to have Saddam gone, then I doubt the world will be too upset.

Of course, we could be looking at a new enlarged state of Iran.

[Taro Toporific]

I'm sure they'll be asking NASA officials why they didn't abort the mission as soon as they noticed that debris had hit the orbiter on launch.

Hummmm, that's what astronaut Mori said too...

Iced debris may be cause: expert
02feb03 / the Mercury News
DEBRIS that struck the left wing of Columbia during take-off may have been heavily iced and led to the shuttle's disastrous breakup, Japan's pioneer astronaut said.

"Even if it's just a heat insulator, heavy ice sticks to it," said Mamoru Mori, 55, the first Japanese astronaut to fly on a NASA shuttle, the Endeavor in 1992.
"If that iced fragment fell in the vibration of lift-off, there is about a 50 metre drop to the left wing, so the shock would be very big," he told a news conference at the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA).

[Gaisaradatsuraku!]

With guys this smart and glib (after the fact) I wonder why Japan doesn't have it's own space shuttle program?

After all, with an expert like Mori, they should have all the bugs worked out.

[Taro Toporific]

After all, with an expert like Mori, they should have all the bugs worked out.

Actually, Dr. Mori is a real salt-of-the-earth kind of a guy. I've worked with many (too many) butt-head self-described "elite" Japanese, and Mori is NOT one of them. I worked everyday with his wife back in '85 and she was a real mega-babe (in the nice traditional way).

...his wife told methat when the astronauts come down from space they have to eat salt and drink large amounts of fluid so that their bodies can cope with the return to gravity. She added that Dr Mori, instead of salt tablets, took a couple of umeboshi with him and that they did the trick well. Good old umeboshi, hangover cures, cold cures, gravity readjustment medicines, you name it, they're good for it!).

[Steve Bildermann]

One of the somewhat overlooked aspects to this awful tragedy is that there are still three people in orbit manning the ISS. They were due to be relieved in March but now it looks they will either have to hang on till April or May so a vehicle can be readied and launched for them or they will have to 'abandon ship' so to speak in the 'emergency' Soyuz.

I would think that the orbiter will not now fly for at least one year or even two which leaves the entire burden of manning, supporting and even constructing the ISS to the Russians.

Now other than Russia which other country do you know that has the technological expertise to build and launch a shuttle type vehicle? If the US were to invest part of next years NASA budget into the project I bet you Japan could do it.

Now just think how that would play in the newspapers here

'Japan to the rescue'
'Bush says domo arigato Nippon - you saved the day'
'Japan generously rebuilds the US space program'

[Taro Toporific]

One of the somewhat overlooked aspects to this awful tragedy is that there are still three people in orbit manning the ISS. They were due to be relieved in March but now it looks they will either have to hang on till April or May so a vehicle can be readied and launched for them or they will have to 'abandon ship' so to speak in the 'emergency' Soyuz.

'Japan to the rescue'
'Bush says domo arigato Nippon - you saved the day'
'Japan generously rebuilds the US space program'

Here are pictures of the Japan-to-the-Rescue Program.

Japan's rescue suits...

[ramchop]

'Bush says domo arigato Nippon - you saved the day'

I somewhat doubt that the man who can't even say the word "nuclear" would try his hand at Japanese.

[Gaisaradatsuraku!]

[Steve Bildermann]

I agree that Japan *alone* could not do it but my point was that if the same sort of arrangement that was made on the ISS were made on a *new* orbiter (know-how, cash, engineering expertise) then Japan certainly does have the infrastructure to produce and launch such a vehicle. Futhermore twenty or so countries, each contributing to a new vehicle, would certainly be more attractive to the US taxpayer than the 'go-it-alone' plan currently envisaged.

I always wondered why the ISS was built to be so 'international' in nature but the burden of the orbiter was entirely left to US.

BTW Taro - could you resize your photos - I think they are forcing FG to side scroll on this thread.

Anybody else having this problem?

[Taro Toporific]

BTW Taro - could you resize your photos - I think they are forcing FG to side scroll on this thread.

Hey, sorry about that. This morning my NHK TV programming was having a "side scroll" problem too...

Popular TV drama to run condolence message on Mon
Tokyo, Kyodo Press --- The popular NHK morning drama "Manten" about a female astronaut aspirant will run during its Monday segment a "telop" screen message expressing sorrow over the breakup of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia...
Manten" starring Mao Miyaji, a model and actress who turned 19 on Sunday, depicts a girl named Manten Hidaka and her desire to become an astronaut after a chance encounter with Mamoru Mohri, Japan's first astronaut who flew on the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992.

[cliffy]

Here are pictures of the Japan-to-the-Rescue Program.

Japan's rescue suits...

What is this, Post nuclear Dorothy and Toto ( Sumo sized) after the Wicked Witch of the West threatens her "And her little dog too!!!"

[Big Booger]

WHy do the space shuttles not have ejection type pods? I am talking the apollo style pods? I mean all they have is that shuttle and if it goes bad, the whole crew goes to shit..
For that matter, why are there no secondary means of evacuation from aircraft period... parachutes, pods, ejection seats, etc...

I know it is expensive, and difficult to do, but I think it could be done. Why not make a mini-shuttle AKA pod inside the larger shuttle, that would launch and eject from the main shuttle in case of shuttle failure?

Maybe the Trek in me has got in my head.. but just about every Star Trek episode has some sort of escape pods, usually several that are made for one person... why do we not have that? Is it that difficult to achieve?
BB

[Taro Toporific]

Here are pictures of the Japan-to-the-Rescue Program.
Japan's rescue suits...

What is this, Post nuclear Dorothy and Toto ( Sumo sized) after the Wicked Witch of the West threatens her "And her little dog too!!!"

It's the [in]famous otaku artist
Kenji Yanobe
Survival System Train and Other Sculpture.

[Taro Toporific]

WHy do the space shuttles not have ejection type pods? ... Is it that difficult to achieve?

Do ya mean like this "Emergency Escape Pod (White)"?

[ramchop]

Maybe the Trek in me has got in my head.. but just about every Star Trek episode has some sort of escape pods, usually several that are made for one person... why do we not have that? Is it that difficult to achieve?
BB

In a word, probably.


How many Star Trek escape pods were launched as the main ship was falling apart in re-entry? In fact how many Star Trek main ships ever went into a planets atmosphere at all?

Size and weight is everything. The Apollo pod may have been crude but it's trajectory was carefully calculated before it went back to earth. The idea of suddenly shooting out an escape pod during a disaster occurring while re-entering the atmosphere is probably (sadly) doomed to fail.


A similar question, why aren't commercial airline passengers equipped with parachutes? Disasters happen suddenly, there's usually not a lot that can be done to prevent/reverse them.

[Steve Bildermann]

I'm sure they'll be asking NASA officials why they didn't abort the mission as soon as they noticed that debris had hit the orbiter on launch. The American space program is racing to the bottom as fast the old Soviet one.

It should have been possible to dump them on the ISS and get them down using another STS or a couple of Soyuz. Either:

1) Nobody thought it was necessary ("Ooops."), or

2) Nobody(s) thought it was a good idea and Somebody(s) disagreed ("I told you so."), or

3) It was a high-risk, low-reward Stupid Publicity Stunt ("How long have you been suffering from these delusions?")

Columbia was in an orbit where it doesn't meet up with the ISS. When
you're going at 17500 mph, changing direction requires a LOT of fuel.
Also, in this flight, the shuttle did not have the docking system to
dock to the station. And they still do not have any way to repair
the tiles in space. And remember, neither the crew nor NASA had any
suspicions whatsoever that anything was wrong with Columbia that
would have required any repairs, much less an inspection.

In addition, even if it *had* been possible to reach ISS, Columbia's
airlock did not have an Orbiter Docking System, the extra part the
other shuttles have, that allows a shuttle to actually dock with
the station.

Read the complete Columbia Loss FAQ here:

http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq.html

[Big Booger]

fighter jets have ejection systems... and they go fairly fast.. surely there could be some way to do it. I know the time is a factor, but perhaps it could be computer controlled to eject once a component has malfunctioned. Anything is better than nothing at all.
BB