Warbird Information Exchange

Pretty neat picture of Space Shuttle Columbia taken by a USAF ground based camera a few days before she was lost on re-entry. Unfortunately the payload bay doors masked the damage to the wing leading edge...

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/ima ... 13227.html

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[quote="APG85"]Pretty neat picture of Space Shuttle Columbia taken by a USAF ground based camera a few days before she was lost on re-entry. Unfortunately the payload bay doors masked the damage to the wing leading edge...

If they had only seen the damage, it would have validated the concerns of the mid-level engineers, who only days before viewed the launch video and made eerie predictions.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/2 ... index.html

It still bothers me to this day how NASA and Boeing were able to come to the conclusion that the damage posed no problems, without so much as a "let's make sure and get some ground based photos!" You can't tell me they didn't come to the same conclusions as the lower level engineers? Was the crew on board even aware?

The truth is, if the damage was found there would not be much that could be done. They could not reach the ISS. They could not ready another orbiter in the time frame required before the Columbia ran out of fuel and supplies. Even if they could, how would you make a transfer of the crew? Bring 7 EVA suits with the rescue shuttle? I don't think Columbia even had an airlock as it was never intended for ISS construction missions.

The only difference would be to reenter and hope for the best. Plan for Edwards to avoid debris over populated areas. Plan for a bailout if the wing was compromised.

The crew was aware they had taken a large foam strike but thought it was not of concern. Columbia carried an internal airlock for emergency EVA's. Yes, she could not have reached the ISS, but there has been speculation that NASA could have launched Atlantis (being stacked in the VAB) on a rescue mission with a 2 man crew. It would have been high-risk. I might be wrong on this - I'll search for the article...

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Here's some info...

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/st ... 30202.html

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Thanks, thats a great article. Maybe a rescue could've been mounted if they had known?

It's hard to believe that NASA didn't/doesn't make sure that the Space Shuttle can always dock-up with the ISS.

Phil

Thats the new requirement (post-Columbia). The one exception will be the final flight of Atlantis. That mission will be the last servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope. To get to Hubble, the Shuttle can't get to the Station (totally different orbits - the Shuttle can't carry enough fuel to get to both). While Atlantis is servicing Hubble, a Shuttle will be standing by on Pad 39B to LON (Launch On Need) if a rescue is required.
Incidentally, Pad B has already seen it's last Shuttle launch (unless needed for the rescue mission). Once that requirement has passed, Pad B will be dismantled in preparation for it's use in the new Moon program...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Here's some more detailed info on a possible rescue scenario of the Columbia Astronauts by the Space Shuttle Atlantis...

http://spaceflightnow.com/columbia/report/rescue.html

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