Here's a story on the latest shuttle information and theory. It appears that the left wing was extra crispy and done for well before the actual shuttle breakup:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/10/national/nationalspecial/10SHUT.html?ex=1047877200&en=097ed8d003968de7&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1

Contradictions don't exist. If you are faced with a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong. -- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

• The blame game,AyaK, 12:51 PM, 03-10-03
  • RE: The blame game,SurvivinDawg, 01:36 PM, 03-10-03
    • RE: The blame game,desert_rhino, 02:13 PM, 03-10-03
      • Agree ... but,AyaK, 04:43 PM, 03-10-03
        • RE: Agree ... but,desert_rhino, 06:17 PM, 03-10-03
          • ISS Crew lifeboat...,IceCat, 06:25 PM, 03-10-03
            • RE: ISS Crew lifeboat...,desert_rhino, 07:11 PM, 03-10-03
              • Yup... In that case...,IceCat, 07:44 PM, 03-10-03

It seems to me that NASA and Boeing have been trying extra-hard to leak theories that would indicate that something OTHER than tile damage from the foam insulation peeling off and hitting the shuttle was the cause of the disaster. That way, NASA officials wouldn't look so irresponsible for canceling the satellite "fly-by" to investigate the tile damage.

However, the facts keep getting in NASA's and Boeing's way:

Boeing questions

How the damage occurred

Even if ALL this is true, and the insulating foam DID cause the initial damage... from what I understand, there is nothing that could have been done.

Of course, I've always thought that they could've tried for the International Space Station. They couldn't dock, but perphaps could've tethered a line and spacewalked to the door.

I do wish they'd just try to find the truth without blaming or fingerpointing from the get-go, but I suppose that is a wee bit much to ask.

Contradictions don't exist. If you are faced with a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong. -- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

They could NOT have made it to the ISS. If they could have, the docking setup is there to dock, it's just that they didn't have the delta-V to change into the ISS's orbit. The only thing that would have been even remotely viable would have been an emergency launch of the next shuttle in line. It's debatable as to whether Columbia would have had enough reserves to hold out until then.

I'd look it up, but I have to go run errands. It was discussed on CNN fairly early on, IIRC.

-- JV

LAST EDITED ON 03-10-03 AT 04:48 PM (EST)

The ISS was not an option, but who knows what could have been done if NASA had KNOWN that there was a problem instead of ASSUMING there wasn't? (Remember Apollo 13!)

Spacewalk to find out?

NASA, however, was very quick to report that nothing could have been done in any event, which is the entire point of this article. It makes a nice story, but -- as the investigation proceeds -- I'm certain we'll find that, in fact, something COULD have been done.

As I said, it's all about the blame game in Washington.

Had they investigated much earlier, energy, oxygen, and consumables would have been conserved earlier, stretching them, and more time would have been available to get a rescue started. Yes, starting from landing day, odds are good not one damn thing would have helped. Starting from the day after launch, I'd lay good money it'd have been possible to get a shuttle up.

The only one I clearly ruled out was the ISS, and that's just plain math.

another thing to consider is why we DON'T have a quick-launch capacity of any sort? What if the ISS crew *needs* rescuing, suddenly?

-- JV

The ISS has a Russian Soyuz capsule that is permanently attached to the station for use as an escape pod to return to earth.

Yes, I was aware of the escape pod, but what if that section of the station is the problem? Fire. Impact. Breach. That's more the point. We have no orbital RESCUE capability.

-- JV

They're screwed...