Looks like a shuttle might have been lost

[dafababa]

why does nasa keep putting the oldest damn planes into space. I realize that they have not had that many issues with failier but come on. chalenger was the sec oldest and now columbia being the oldest and both have failed. I reilize also that it is cost prohibitive to build new space crafts all the time but it seems to me that a plane as old as the columbia (20+years mabey more) should not have been flying.

And to those who say that airplanes are alot older and still fly. How many airplanes are subject to the extreams of rentering the atmosphear. NONE? thatis why they last longer. the columbia had been in some 100+ missions. That meens that 100 or more times that craft has been subjected to the hardest forces of any flying machine in the world! And we wonder why it has failed this time

Shame on NASA.

 

[AGR]

Let's pray for the families..... It's all we can do. It's a sad day.

 

[dolphin]

I pray for the families of the lost astronauts and hope that, if there is a God as I believe, they are with Him. I remember when an Apollo mission in 1967 had a fire that killed those abourd. One of them I had met a couple yaers earlier. A kind hero to a pimply faced high school kid. He had talked of the danger and what he thought should happen if one of them died in the program. In short, find the cause, fix the problem and continue to move forward. He felt that this was the best tribute that could be paid to their loss.

The peoples of the former Soviet Union had heros of the same caliber. The first man, Yuri Gagarin, and woman in space Valentina Tereshkova were Russians. They had similar types of losses in their space flight program and their losses were equally tragic.

I did not have the previlage of meeting any of the Challenger crew but it was still a great tragedy. However, I think they felt the same way as Gus Grissom.

Today was another tragedy without doubt. Anyone finding happiness and can rejoice in it must be something less than human in my opinion. I believe our biggest tribute to their loss to be the same as Gus Grissom would have wanted. Find the cause, fix the problem and move forward with the next missions.

 

[Kenp1972]

What's really strange is that all three events, Apollo 1 1967, Challenger 1986 and now Columbia all occurred on roughly the same date give or take a few days. Apollo 1 was Jan 27 1967, Challenger was Jan 28 1986 and now this Feb 1 2003.

 

[PR5hokie]

dafababa, it was only the 28th mission for Columbia. There have been a total of 113 missions in the shuttle program. I agree that they experience more forces than typical airplanes but they also are used less and and maintained a lot more. Here is the breakdown...Columbia (28), Discovery (30), Atlantis (25), and Endeavour (17). Replacing them costs an estimated $2.1 Billion and it's not economical to replace them left and right. The cause of the accident will be found, and if there was negligence then those at fault will be punished. Let us not start placing blame when no one knows what the hell happened at the moment.

I agree with dolphin when Gus Grisom is quoted "Find the cause, fix the problem and move forward with the next missions." For the meantime let us pray for the lost souls and their families.

 

[MP3-Owner]

dafababa, it was only the 28th mission for Columbia. There have been a total of 113 missions in the shuttle program. I agree that they experience more forces than typical airplanes but they also are used less and and maintained a lot more. Here is the breakdown...Columbia (28), Discovery (30), Atlantis (25), and Endeavour (17). Replacing them costs an estimated $2.1 Billion and it's not economical to replace them left and right. The cause of the accident will be found, and if there was negligence then those at fault will be punished. Let us not start placing blame when no one knows what the hell happened at the moment.

I agree with dolphin when Gus Grisom is quoted "Find the cause, fix the problem and move forward with the next missions." For the meantime let us pray for the lost souls and their families.

Well said.

 

[ZG77_OzZ]

Its a shame.

Planes/shuttle/heli's so on so forth, go threw RR a lot more than you think. Heavy maintenance.
If it was a maintenance problem and Lack of proper work. Then it will be a big problem. But from what I am understanding. Looks like it might of been Space junk. Yes Space junk. Parts from Satieties. Junk like this..

 

[dolphin]

I should point out that I did not directly quote Gus Grissom but paraphrased the essence of a longer talk. He was in fact one of the astronauts that died in the 27 Jan Apollo 1 disaster.

This disaster caused the redesign of some components of the Apollo capsule which went on to have a good safety record. Apollo 13 not with standing.

Most people remember Challenger's cause and the changes that NASA impelemented as a result.

 

[ZG77_OzZ]

Well they were talking about.

That the shuttle the new one will have an ejector section.

 

[Equinox]

Man NASA budget and missions are gonna suck for a long ass time now. They are already low on money, and they've been laying off on doing anything interesting mission-wise other than sattelite crap. Sounds like an opportune time for a private business conglomerate to come in and start giving NASA money since they are hurting now.

 

[PhyschoMP3]

I heard they were going somewhere near mach 18 when there left wing broke and the whole shuttle started to fall apart. I say the shuttles are just to damn old and they need to redesign them. Does anyone remember that triangle shuttle thing that took off like a plane and stuff. Nasa threw away that program after wasting 10billion on it. Maybe they should have kept that and replaced the shuttles. Those shuttles havent done anything spectacular lately. We need to send a guy to mars....

 

[low_psi]

man, i've been at an art comp. all day and my bro called me on my way home and told me about this....its horrible. and the whole time i was near an airport and all i could see is planes flying around safely...

 

[Humvee]

They may be old, but I'm positive that the shuttles are kept in A-1 shape. You need to remember, this is not a private company that is trying to cut costs and cut corners, this is a community that wants to succeed and bring home their members.

A plane from the 70s is as safe as a new one...1) because it's inspected more, 2) most everything inside the plane is NEW because it has to meet standards.

All that being said...it really is a sad day.

 

[sundevilMP5]

I heard they were going somewhere near mach 18 when there left wing broke and the whole shuttle started to fall apart. I say the shuttles are just to damn old and they need to redesign them. Does anyone remember that triangle shuttle thing that took off like a plane and stuff. Nasa threw away that program after wasting 10billion on it. Maybe they should have kept that and replaced the shuttles. Those shuttles havent done anything spectacular lately. We need to send a guy to mars....

the shuttle hits mach 18 when it first re-enters the atmosphere (around hawaii)...i don't know how fast it would be going around texas when it broke up though

 

[PR5hokie]

Just to add some info regarding the above post.....the shuttle orbits roughly at 17,500mph. When the accident occured this morning the shuttle was "cruising" at 12,500mph or ~ mach 18.

 

[LinuxRacr]

The crazy thing about this is that I was at work yesterday morning when it happened, and heard nothing. I left work and when home and went straight to bed. I woke up at 3:30 PM, and looked after my daughter, and even got on the internet. I ended up at Pirana's place watching him install XM in a MSP. I went to a import meet briefely, and then to work. I did not find out about this incident until I set foot into my office at work. Damn, I'm still trippin out due to this incident being new and all!

 

[big_ben]

This is very sad. I am hurt by this more than when some stupid celebrity dies. These are very smart people that contributed so much more to society than any dumb ass pro athlete or actor or singer. I hate the way America idolizes these dumb athletes and stars. I respect these type of people more than any athlete. But I'm not that sad about this accident. I am happy that they died doing something they love and strived for their whole lives. And they died contributing so much to the world, not just America. Some people say this will hurt the space program. I dissagree. I believe this will have a positive impact. There are only 3 shuttles left. You can look to see a new spacecraft within the next 5 to 10 years. This new type will most likely be normal take-off and land. Strapping rockets to something is the most low-tech approach to getting things into orbit.

But again, I am very saddened by this, especially from being in the aerospace field.

 

[PhyschoMP3]

I have AOL and they have pictures of the debries that fell and one guy had a helmet fly into his front yard!!! How emotional woudl that have been someone died wearing that...

 

[charles]

They may be old, but I'm positive that the shuttles are kept in A-1 shape. You need to remember, this is not a private company that is trying to cut costs and cut corners, this is a community that wants to succeed and bring home their members.

A plane from the 70s is as safe as a new one...1) because it's inspected more, 2) most everything inside the plane is NEW because it has to meet standards.

All that being said...it really is a sad day.

Yes, every little part that can be is scrutinized in detail. The problem is no one can really predict every single thing that might go wrong. If you think about the logistics of it... it's amazing what the shuttles and other spacecraft have done.

Plus... the only testing they can really do is sending the shuttle into orbit with a full crew and mission... unmanned testing would be unlikely / very expensive.

That being said... I don't think it has anything to do with the age of the shuttles... the previous accidents have occured on relatively fresh vehicles (the Challenger about 5 years old)... in fact before the shuttle nothing really got reused.

Nevertheless, I hope that we find out what happened, so this tragedy won't be in vain. Everything we learn helps us tomorrow. God bless(usa)

 

[MP5Raycer]

my teacher Christa was on the challenger that exploded .. now that really sucked ... watching it happen