Space Shuttle....????

[dmspilot00]

Darn, that sucks. I was just at the Kennedy Space Center over Christmas and saw Columbia on the launch pad. Little did I know it would be making its last flight...

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

amazing

I clicked on that radar link that hippie posted. I freaked when I saw that it was real-time and the debris field is floating like a chaff curtain. It's been five hours and there's still a huge swath in the air drifting to the east. Sad day...

 

[Typhoon1244]

IMPORTANT!!!

NASA is anxious to talk to pilots who were in-flight and observed the break-up. (We were at FL280 over Tyler...it came down right in front of us.) If you got a good look at it, call the Johnson Space Center at (281) 483-3388. They will take down your contact information and a brief statement and call you back when things calm down.

This is the most devastating thing I've ever seen. I just can't believe it. There're no words to describe what I felt when I realized what we were looking at.

 

[uwochris]

My dad was watching it on CNN while I was in a nearby room studying... he told me some witness phoned in, called Dan Rather a jerk, and then hung up, as a prank call.

Did anyone else catch this?

Prayers to all.

 

[shootr]

He called him an idiot.

 

[Airtower]

WX RADAR INDICATIONS?

i am no meteorologist, but i do know a thing or two about weather radar(met minor).

anyway... that debris over the reporting station at shreveport is due to bugs and buildings(usually), the radar return shown over alexandria, could very well be part of the space shuttle.

i just wanted to clear it up so people dont think all the scattering around shreveport is all shuttle debris.

 

[Frequency]

This may be the wrong time to ask but does anyone know if we have another shuttle? I can remember 4 of them.

Challenger (gone)
Columbia (gone)
Discovery and Enterprise (isn't one or both in a museum?)

The reason I ask is getting those other guys back to earth.

 

[VFR on Top]

We have three remaining operational orbiters: Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. Enterprise was built solely for glide tests was never intended to handle space flight.

From what I've read online, it's unlikely the shuttle will fly again anytime soon until they've determined the cause of today's accident and remedied it. The current ISS crew will likely return via the Soyuz capsule currently up there.

 

[EagleRJ]

Several years ago, the government began working on a replacement for the Space Shuttle. The VentureStar would have been a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle that used a revolutionary engine design that was much more efficient. No solid-fuel boosters and no external fuel tank. Budget cutbacks eventually required that the program be cancelled, so NASA had to make plans to continue using the shuttles for the forseeable future. Maybe it's time to build a fleet of VentureStars.

 

[ArcticFlier]

Apollo 1

Virgil Grissom
Roger Chaffee
Edward White


Challenger

Francis Scobee
Michael Smith
Judith Resnick
Ronald McNair
Ellison Onizuka
Gregory Jarvis
Christa McAuliffe


Columbia

Rick Husband
William McCool
Kalpana Chawla
Laurel Clark
David Brown
Michael Anderson
Ilan Ramon

AF

 

[bunnyfufu]

The stuff about Astronaut remains was reported on MSNBC TV about 12:50pm

Many news crews are reporting several false items. I have heard several times that in 42 years of spaceflight, this is the first tragedy involving re-entry and landing. WRONG. The Soviet Union lost Cosmonauts twice on re-entry. Soyuz 1 had a parachute failure and killed the lone Cosmonaut. Soyuz 11 had a decompression on re-entry and the three Cosmonauts, who were not wearing space suits, died. Apparently if it didn't happen to Americans, it didn't happen.

"In 42 years of human space flight, NASA has never lost a space crew during landing or the ride back to orbit." - cnn

is the soviet union NASA? no? then stop with the anti-american crap.

 

[ceo_of_the_sofa]

well, it didn't take too long for these pieces of sh!t to start mouthing off

Iraq's response...

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/new...140850575.htm&sc=rontz&photoid=20030201AMM03D

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Re: WX RADAR INDICATIONS?

i am no meteorologist, but i do know a thing or two about weather radar(met minor).

anyway... that debris over the reporting station at shreveport is due to bugs and buildings(usually), the radar return shown over alexandria, could very well be part of the space shuttle.

i just wanted to clear it up so people dont think all the scattering around shreveport is all shuttle debris.

I was not referring to typical clutter in the area of the transmitting antenna, I was referring to the solid swath about 40 miles wide by about two hundred miles long that stretched from somewhere around Tyler Texas to Alexandria, drifting slowly Eastward. It looked almost like a cold front squall line. It was there for nearly 7 hours, but finally cleared up. Amazing.

 

[Stephen]

Re: Re: WX RADAR INDICATIONS?

It was there for nearly 7 hours, but finally cleared up. Amazing.

Actually, it hasn't cleared up. It has just drifted eastward.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/loop/DS.p19r0/si.kjan.shtml

Now (1840 EST) it is southeast of McComb.

 

[dmspilot00]

1967 - Apollo 1
1986 - Challenger
2003 - Columbia

Roughtly every 20 years?
Looks like we'll be due for another accident around 2021

 

[Typhoon1244]

Apollo 1: Virgil Grissom, Roger Chaffee, Edward White

Challenger: Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnick, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe

Columbia: Rick Husband, William McCool, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, David Brown, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon

Don't forget about Michael Adams in X-15 #3. The spacecraft broke up at an altitude of 123,000 feet during reentry after an instrumentation problem occured.

 

[B190Captain]

God Bless them all.


Apollo 1 January 27, 1967
Challenger (STS-51L) January 28, 1986
Columbia (STS-107) February 1, 2003

Godspeed!

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Re: Re: Re: WX RADAR INDICATIONS?

Actually, it hasn't cleared up. It has just drifted eastward.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/loop/DS.p19r0/si.kjan.shtml

Now (1840 EST) it is southeast of McComb.

I see it's now moving between Moblie and Pensacola. Surprised the media isn't making a big deal out of it.

 

[Typhoon1244]

Guys...I'm crushed! I mean, we were flying only about forty miles north of where most of the heavy debris landed when Columbia went down! I just don't have words to describe how awful I feel...

...and the people around me are just shrugging, saying "oh well, sh_t happens," and moving on. Did September 11th make us so accustomed to tragedy that we just let things like this roll off our backs now?

Am I the only one--outside of NASA and the astronauts' families--who feels like crap about this? Is there something wrong with me?



(P.S. I read the Iraqi statement "celebrating" the loss of OV-102 and its crew. Is it time to bomb these f_ckers yet?)

 

[Chunk]

Bunnyfufu, 141FE....

Neither the time nor the place.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Am I the only one--outside of NASA and the astronauts' families--who feels like crap about this? Is there something wrong with me?



(P.S. I read the Iraqi statement "celebrating" the loss of OV-102 and its crew. Is it time to bomb these f_ckers yet?) [/B][/QUOTE]

Dude, I'm pretty crushed too. IMHO, the Shuttle program represents greatest goodness of mankind. For anyone to take pleasure in the loss of a shuttle crew is just a concept that I cannot understand.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Thank you

Bunnyfufu, 141FE....

Neither the time nor the place.

Well put.

 

[UM#1]

My dad was watching it on CNN while I was in a nearby room studying... he told me some witness phoned in, called Dan Rather a jerk, and then hung up, as a prank call.

Did anyone else catch this?

Prayers to all.

was watching when this happened. Some a$$hole heartless fellow american called up around 10am est to say parts of shuttle had landed in his field. (when he gave city in texas (cant remember) i knew was fake because of location.) This a$$hole told Dan Rather "yeah it landed in my field and people are all around it, its some sort of metal, blah, blah , blah, (and then real loud) it looks like (one of the astrounats name) TEETH". at this point he was cut off but a few seconds later (im sure by mistake) was put back on and said" Rather your an idiot!".
I must say I was disaspionted that within an hour of this tradegy we had some fellow A$$hole American try to poke fun at human loss. He is the kind of guy that I hope Lighting strikes him on a clear day. RIP hero's of STS 107.......

 

[C-5 MEM]

Chunk,

You are correct. This is not the place. I am sorry.

 

[sidesaddle]

Godspeed

Apollo 1

Virgil Grissom
Roger Chaffee
Edward White


Challenger

Francis Scobee
Michael Smith
Judith Resnick
Ronald McNair
Ellison Onizuka
Gregory Jarvis
Christa McAuliffe


Columbia

Rick Husband
William McCool
Kalpana Chawla
Laurel Clark
David Brown
Michael Anderson
Ilan Ramon

AF

Thanks Artic Flier

Thoughts and prayers for these great men and women and their families.

 

[dispatchguy]

Mission Commander Husband

Just so you know, Mission Commander Husband had a brother who flies for AWA. In fact, my roommate (AWA FA) said that he was at KSC awaiting Columbia's arrival.

 

[NEDude]

bunnyfufu wrote:

" 'In 42 years of human space flight, NASA has never lost a space crew during landing or the ride back to orbit." - cnn

is the soviet union NASA? no? then stop with the anti-american crap."





Chill out. How on earth do you come to the conclusion what I wrote was anti-american?! CNN was hardly the only source for news yesterday, and SEVERAL television stations reported that in all manned flight there has never been a problem during re-entry, not specifying NASA flights only.

 

[Typhoon1244]

Holy sh_t!

Guys...right before my F/O and I saw Columbia come down, I looked down and to my left and saw a large power plant at the north end of a lake. I pulled out an NOS chart I carry with me these days; I got tired of not knowing "what river is that down there" when passengers asked. Anyway, I saw that the power plant I was looking at was on the Toledo Bend Reservoir.

Now, this morning, I click on the news, and I see that the Shuttle's trajectory took the debris right over the Toledo Bend Reservoir.

Jesus!

If we'd been fifteen miles further south...


There was another CRJ two thousand feet above and a couple miles behind us when it happened...and there were some other flights in the are too. I've got a hunch nobody got a better look at Columbia's last few seconds than all of us did. If NASA has any precision long-range imagery, they're not showing it yet.

 

[Timebuilder]

If NASA has any precision long-range imagery, they're not showing it yet.

Someone said that there is imagery from several military spy satellites, most of which we may never see.

Yesterday, I sat in front of the TV, scanning for information, from the time I got up at 10:15 EST. I recalled a recent visit to the Space Center in Florida, during a layover. They have a rocket engine on display where the bus stops, in sight of 39A. It was once used on Columbia, one of no doubt many engines used to power the shuttle. I have no idea how many cycles constitute a life for an engine. You should see it if you get the chance. It's made by Boeing.

A few weeks ago, I took some pax down to PBI, and was vectored around the restricted area on my way in due to an impending launch. Shuttle launches have become so routine that I hadn't heard a launch would be happening. Clearly, space exploration had passed below the media horizon, no longer exciting enough to pay more than a cursory nod to the flights from the cape.

As I copied my next clearance, I overheard some discussion about the proposed liftoff time, and I stood next the the plane waiting for any sign of the launch. I had never seen a launch in person, being from the northeast. Finally, I caught a glimpse of the contrail as the shuttle arced upward, quicky passing behind the broken layer from my vantage point.

I didn't realize at the time that the shutle was Columbia.

Goodbye to you, intrepid explorers.

I hope you have heard the words "Well done, good and faithful servants".

 

[dmspilot00]

Yesterday, I sat in front of the TV, scanning for information, from the time I got up at 10:15 EST. I recalled a recent visit to the Space Center in Florida, during a layover. They have a rocket engine on display where the bus stops, in sight of 39A. It was once used on Columbia, one of no doubt many engines used to power the shuttle. I have no idea how many cycles constitute a life for an engine. You should see it if you get the chance. It's made by Boeing.

I was there too, and took pictures of Columbia awaiting launch and of the engine on display. I ran out of film there and it was like $8 per roll in the gift shop and I didn't get more. If only I had known...

Anyway, to answer "how many cycles constitute a life for an engine." One. The engines are only used once.