Preserved Topic: Shuttle Columbia Disaster. (Page 1 of 2)

Desintigrates on entry approx. 100 miles from Dalla Texas No sign of 7 astronauts.
Try your favorite news source...

This is realy sad.
CNN-story


~So it's your birthday today? congratulations and have a nice day. So it's not? have a nice day too~

I know that there will be losses in our exploration of space but it is still a bad day when it happens (I remember the last one ).

[edit: The BBC have a quick report - not much news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/2716369.stm

I might go and watch the 24 hour news for developments]

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

Mission control was there is no way that it could perform an emergency landing given the height they were at when they lost contact (I also assume this means that the crew ejecting from the shuttle is also out of the question).

Although possibly not relevant Columbia was the oldest shuttle in use and was built in 1979...

I was wondering how long it would take for this to surface and it was in the CNN report:

quote:

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The shuttle was carrying the first Israeli astronaut and six Americans, and authorities had feared it would be a terrorist target.

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Surely there is no way a terrorist could have been responsible.

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Emps

FAQs: Emperor

Before we jump the gun, Emps...let us first mourn the losses...this is a tragedy...of huge porportions...

For the Families, and for the Nation...damn...damnit! 16 minutes from landing...

Damn...I'm at a loss for words at the moment...

quote:

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Security had been tight for the 16-day scientific research mission because of the presence of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut.

Ramon, 48, a colonel in Israel's air force and former fighter pilot, had survived two wars. He became the first man from his country to fly in space, and his presence resulted in an increase in security, not only for Columbia's launch, but also for its planned landing. Space agency officials feared his presence might make the shuttle more of a terrorist target.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s office said it had no immediate comment Saturday.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no threat made against the flight and that the shuttle, at an altitude of 207,000 feet over north-central Texas when it lost contact, was out of range of a surface-to-air missile.

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Cell Number: 494 / Inkstick

Emps: The obvious would be surface to air... but i most seriously doubt it... because if there was *any* hint ...the media would have been all over that before we even knew the shuttle blew up.

Can we first mourn this, before drawing conclusions?

It is a bit early for such things, don't you think? There could be many possibilites...until we know more, I feel that mourning the loss, is warranted...and thinking on the Families, who have lost someone dear...

WS. I don't see any *conclusions* being drawn at all.

WS: It was bound to be mentioned and as NJ has said - who is drawing conclusions? The news has reported that the White House have said that that they don't believe it has any connection with terrorism - George Bush is due to make a speech at some point (pos. when we know more) but I don't really expect him to really touch on the subject.

They were mentioning the NASA safety record which is pretty impressive considering the complexity of the operation - before Challenger the only fatalities where Apollo 1 (?) which exploded/burnt up on the take off strip.

There isn't much news - it only happened an hour and 40 minutes ago and as WS has said our thoughts are with the families as this must be a horrible time - knowing in your heart that they are gone but just holding out the hope that some freak circumstances might have helped them survive the accident.

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

This is a real sad day. I can't help remembering sitting in my high school science class and watching the explosion during the Challenger's launch. I am truly sad for the families of the astronauts.

It has also led to a resurfacing of a lot of a feelings about my uncle, who was a director in the shutttle program, that died last month from cancer.

I don't think there were any acts of terrorism or sabotage on the flight. I think this incident was a tragic accident.

--tiki


[This message has been edited by tikigod (edited 02-01-2003).]

the shuttle commander of this mission, rick husband, and his wife are friends of my parents and their family goes to our church. mike anderson and his family also attend. things are very weird here right now.

when people througout the world feel the effects of this you can only imagine how it feels in a community where a huge percentage of the population works for the space program. your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.

chris


KAIROSinteractive

quote:

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the shuttle commander of this mission, rick husband, and his wife are friends of my parents and their family goes to our church. mike anderson and his family also attend. things are very weird here right now.

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I cannot even imagine. God bless your community and all the communities of the astronauts.

CRO8

This is a terrible event. My thoughts are for the astronauts, their families, and their friends.

I was shocked to find out about the space shuttle this morning. I feel for the crew and their families.

I was reading a few different pages online, I'm sure they will not know what happend for a long while
as there is talk of something that came off during take off and striking the wing to the humidity inside etc.
It's just all so very very sad. A friend said the most ironic thing about it all, was the fact the first israeli was on board and that it had possibly blown apart over Palestine,Texas. I dont think it matters who was on board, they were real people with families.
May peace be with them .

At times like this, it becomes clearer to me why people have 'God' to turn to.

On the other hand... I still don't understand why we suffer bullshit media extravagansas when such events occur.
If one more newsreader suggests the possibility of a terrorist attack, I'm going to throw the telly through the window.

How could Al Qaeda reach up to 200/400,000 ft and pull off such a stunt?
They couldn't, that's how.
And even if they could, the military would have picked up their presence on radar long before they could get even close to the shuttle.

Space travel is, and always has been, fraught with danger.
Why don't they just accept what we all know, and stop speculating?

<-edit - I'm just waiting for the conspiracy theorists to tell us that the Israeli crew-member was planted there to sabotage the mission, thereby drawing attention to the possibility of a Muslim attack! ->

___________________________
Money is the game other people play, that I try to avoid by having just enough not to play it.
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[Dufty][Cell 698]

[This message has been edited by Dufty (edited 02-01-2003).]

Crap.

Just... .. ... Damn.

A large chunk of debris is reported from Nacogdoches Airport (Nacogdoches is reported to be the oldest town in Texas).

Still nothing much to go on I'm afraid.

[edit: The BBC coverage has expanded since I posted that link and there are numerous articles now linked off it for people seeking more online coverage]

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

What Drac said.

I wish to apologize for using such harsh terms, like conclusions...should have been 'speculation'...it's just that...I really feel, that the Families and people that have been affected by this, should come first...

Can we hold off, on the speculations, please? A period of mourning, and support should come first, IMHO.

My heart, and my feelings, go out to those personally affected by this tragedy...

Heart breaking news, and a horrible turn of events. No amount of frowning smilies or text for that matter can express how I, we moreover, feel about something like this happening.

I'll be taking a moment, I should hope you all would as well.

njuice42 Cell # 551
icq 957255

It was a pretty sad event.....I was watching some of the news this morning here on base and just was awed by what had happened to the shuttle. My prayers go out to the families of those people that were on that shuttle and lost their lives.

Terribly sad news...

One of the most complex things mankind has done is to venture into space. Very complex. Very easy to go wrong.

There will be a NASA press conference shortly to give us updates.

It looks like debris rained down all over Nacogdoches but there are no reports about anyone on the ground being injured although there are a few small fires in places.

Al the shuttles have been grounded (of course) I wonder how this will delay work on the International Space Station? I suppose it will depend on the outcome of the investigation and reports.

[edit: The news conference, as expected, doesn't really have much more information to provide aother than some anomalous readings on the left hand side just before they lost touch with the shuttle. The ISS has enough supplies to last until June so should be fine for now and a launch scheduled for tomorrow will still go ahead]

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

I will not make light of this tragedy. I will however try to say something positive :

These seven people died doing what most of us just dream of, there will be no wondering " What if I had ..." . These seven people lived their dreams and, to me, that means a life well lived.

The loss of these seven lives is cause for saddness, but the lives they led were a gift of inspiration to all.

/* Sure, go ahead and code in your fancy IDE. Just remember: it's all fun and games until someone puts an $i out */

That was beautiful, norm.

They will always remain astronauts, for now they will forever fly amongst the stars.

On a disgusting note, someone has already tried selling debris on eBay.

(The link is too long to work; just search for "shuttle debris.")

[This message has been edited by Wes (edited 02-02-2003).]

Ebay pulled them: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/5085375.htm

~sigh~

..this sucks... but what a way to go....

Obviously man's footsteps onto the starry frontier will always be wrought with danger, but I'd take them in a heartbeat...

I know it sounds stupid, but at least they were on their way back- I think it'd be a pleasant death to know that I'd at least graced the cosmos on my way out..


Code - CGI - links - DHTML - Javascript - Perl - programming - Magic - http://www.twistedport.com
ICQ: 67751342

NASA has a whole bunch of stuff here.

I feel really sorry for the people that are still in the International Space Station. How must they feel, knowing that they may be stuck up there for nearly six months, and with seven friends now gone forever.

And rebutting the earlier comments, no, it wasn't a SAM missile. For one thing, the Columbia's altitude was too high. Also, NASA actually admitted that there were some problems with the insulation around the shuttle's tanks while it was lifting off. In my opinion, when the shuttle began entering the atmosphere, the reduced insulation could not protect the tank from the extreme heat, thereby causing an explosion. Of course, it will be a while until we find out for sure.

Always a shock this is. It's only just now its hit me.

It's unfortunate that things have been going reasonably well with space exploration until now....but IMO I think this sort of thing will continue as there is still ALOT we dont know about such exploration and travelling. But really I dont know what to say.....you cant descibe this disaster.

This has hit close to home as well. Here in Australia, Victoria, a school in Mount Waverly had a program to send some spiders up in the Columbia that they said would show some advancements in space exploration. They have just shown on the news something that looks like a bit of foam detaching itself from the Columbia. But Im not sure as to whether this was on the take off or not. But yeah.......this sucks.

"You don't know how paralysing that is, that stare of a blank canvas, which says to the painter: you can't do a thing." - Vincent Van Gogh

wow...just got home from church. i got there 5 minutes after the first service started and had to wait for the next one because it was standing room only. news trucks everywhere, all the major networks, and almost no parking anywhere up and down the streets around the church. my mom was actually interviewed by entertainment tonight, she maybe on tomorrow night. wild stuff...

chris


KAIROSinteractive

Tragic indeed, most so for the families left down here.
The papers over here are full with headlines of the kind: "She watched her father die!" and similar. "shudder" I can't even begin to imagine how it must have felt for those waiting...

The latest explanation I've read was this:
On takeoff a piece of insulation came off the main tank, hitting the left wing. This was considered "not serious" at the time. On reentry the ground and the crew started to get high heat readings from the left wing indicating that the ceramic tiling (heat shield) was damaged, one by one the heat sensors dropped out. Then they believe that the left wing sheared off, starting a rolling tumble of the shuttle. Since all the heat protection is on the underside of the shuttle, the craft was ripped apart from heat and turbulence. This happened at appr 63.000 meters or 180.000 feet at a speed of mach 6 according to the papers over here. All the so called "experts" over here agrees that once it started to tumble everything was over for the crew almost instantly.

I'm really sad for them and the families.

I also feel for the three ppl sitting on the space station with their ride home planned for march now on serious hold at the moment, I've heard that they have supplies to last them until June this year. However, the accident investigation for Challanger back in -86 took 32 months to complete, keeping the shuttles grounded until it was finished. All these guys up there have is a souyos capsule to get back down in an emergency. Even in this situation that must feel like a nasty choice.

/Dan


{cell 260}
-{ a vibration is a movement that doesn't know which way to go }-

I've only heard about it yesterday, and I was so devastated by the news. It was just the same as the last Lift-off accident...why? they only got 16 min. before their landing?

Yes, this is truly horrible. I heard about it last night on the news (I've been away from television for a few days). My heart goes out to the families of those left behind.

Yannah. The "last time" was the shuttle: Challenger.. it was blown like what, 7 minutes from Takeoff.

Columbia.. had already successfully launched. Was returning to Earth how many days later. It was blown on the way Down.. 16 minutes from landing. NOT 16 minutes into the mission...


And yeah.. its gonna suck for those russians goin up and down in Soyuz boogers for the next few months/years.

challenger exploded 73 seconds after lift-off...a fact burned into my 6th grade brain.

chris


KAIROSinteractive

I went to spacecamp. They told me that challenger didn't really "blow" apart. It actually shook apart and only appeared as though it blew apart because of a fuel disperse. Everytime I try to tell this to a teacher, they usually say something like "Well I watched it on TV and I know it blew apart, don't tell me what happaned." That usually pisses me off =\.