Shuttle Data Recorder May be Key to Accident

DreamerFi writes "A flight data recorder from the space shuttle Columbia, recovered last week in East Texas, contains readings that continue 14 seconds later than any previously studied data. Those readings are likely to play a crucial role in determining the cause of the shuttle's catastrophic breakup on Feb. 1."

Comments

space is still risky

[Montgomery Burns III]

Was it Heinlin or Bradbury who wrote that there there are a thousand ways to die in space?

We have perhaps forgotten the thousands of details needed to go exactly right in order for people not to die.
Moreover, travelling and re-entry at 13,000 miles an hour is downright scary.

Re:space is still risky

[blakespot]

We have perhaps forgotten the thousands of details needed to go exactly right in order for people not to die.
Moreover, travelling and re-entry at 13,000 miles an hour is downright scary.

Exactly.

I think it is very tragic, the loss of the shuttle crew, but people really should not react to it as though there is some expected guarantee of a crew's safe return home. Sure, safety is one of the #1 concerns and considerations in the space program, but we are trying to "boldly go where no man/one has gone before." Space has risks and there are unknown variables. Should we turn away from space travel / research because of these risks? Is that what the crew, who you can be sure were well aware of said risks, would have wanted?

I think not.

blakespot

However

[Chardish]

It's time for us to move beyond the space shuttle for our regular space missions and develop something that works a lot better, a lot cheaper, and a lot more exciting. The shuttle, unfortunately, is necessary at this point to finish the ISS *cough*WASTEOFMONEY*cough* but it's not too late to go to the drawing board and develop a space vehicle (preferably with long-range capabilities) that does not involve getting off the ground by blasting itself off the ground with hundreds of pounds of fuel.

-Evan

Missing Data

[gmuslera]

"Kilroy was here" :)

How much drastically could this tape change the reconstruction of the problem that is already done. There are even timelines of how things happened, when the problem started, what sensors stopped to report, and almost all that happened till it was too late. Thit last 14 extra seconds will only show the last parts of destruction, but should not change what is already know about what happened, what caused all, and most of how it propagates in the ship.

Re:Black box?!

[foistboinder]

It's not really a black box like those found on airliners. It's simply a data recorder lucky enough to survive relatively intact.

BTW, the telemetry sent by the shuttle, in theory, provides more information than a black box.

Re:The Shuttle is *extremely* difficult to land ..

[Hektor_Troy]

Actually ...

I heard one of the pilots in the USAF with the most air time comment something like

"Landing is easy. Landing without dying is a bit more tricky. Landing without damage is tricker still."