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Russia is suspending its space tourist program, for fairly obvious reasons. An NYT story notes that the obsolete but reliable computers driving the shuttle are to be examined as part of the inquiry. But most interestingly, a story in Aviation Week claims that a tracking camera trained on the shuttle detected damage to the wing prior to the breakup.
It might be partly because most (or all) of the on-board measurements are beamed down as telemetry data.
Which doesn't mean adding a black box isn't useful, since the telemetry link itself could fail.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
No, but in Soviet Russia the space tourist program suspends you.
During the press conference with the flight chief and another flight official the day it happened, the press asked specifically about a "black box" and the answer was that there is nothing like an airplane's black box onboard the shuttles.
I would have at least wanted them to visual it from one of the satellites. I prefer to know my destiny. And if they would have said, "You guys are toast on re-entry!"... I would have leaped out of the shuttle in order to be a preserved frozen chunk in orbit. Think of how famous you would be for a while. Since this was just a near-earth orbit, you likely would come screaming in for burn-up sometime. But. If it is fame you are after... and a good unobstructed view of the earth for several seconds...