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Wing Seals Blamed in Columbia's Demise
MoonFacedAssassin writes "MSNBC has this article stating that a 'seal from Columbia's left wing was apparently the mystery object that floated away in orbit, and it was almost certainly struck by something - like a chunk of foam - before it came off, accident investigators said Tuesday.' The article also quoted Navy Rear Admiral Stephen Turcotte, a CAIB member, as having a confidence level 'up there near the 70s and 80s percent' about the T-seal."
These shuttle disasters keep proving how important seals are in our lives, no matter how mundane or simple they appear to be.
The widespread practice of clubbing them, especially the baby ones, has got to stop.
... Winged Seals responsible for Columbia's desmise.
You know, with all the flying pigs we've seen lately...
So, if it's not 100%, they just give it another arbitrary number to feed to the media?
New Scientist also has the latest.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
The Shuttle is a wonderful experimental spacecraft. Let's all keep that in mind. Designed in the 1960's, built in the 1970's, finally flown in the 1980's on 20 year old technology. The world's first partially reusable launch vehicle. Kewl!
Okay, let's move on. Oh wait, we didn't. We floundered with National Space Plane projects. The X-33 was sacked. The Delta Skipper was sacked.
Hey, let's continue to rely soley on an outdated experimental concept vehicle can continue to stick roman candles up our kiesters as a way to get into "space". We'll live with the limited altitude (no micrometeorioid protection), limted power, limited duration, etc... etc...
Okay, sorry for the slight rant there. The shuttle rocked but it is time to move on. Why haven't we? If NASA had a budget that was maybe, at the least, equal to the increase in defense spending for 2003 we might be able to do this.
We are not. Maybe we just haven't found the reason to really want to go to space. I dunno. it is frustrating.
My graditude to everyone that has ever dared to travel to space. My thanks to those that have lost their lives in the endeavour.
"I guess they didn't want to admit that they had been wrong when they gave the go ahead to re-enter."
There was no other option than to re-enter.
On Columbia's mission there was no abort to ISS. Once it was up there, the only way for those astronauts to come home was to re-enter.
Well, I don't think that's exactly being fair to NASA. The foam hitting the wing on liftoff was a leading theory all along. What would you have them do? Declare from day one that the foam incident caused the disaster and then lose another shuttle down the road because they were wrong? No, I think the methodic approach is best in the long wrong.
Another point: regardless of what the exact cause is, something obviously went wrong and NASA would have to own up to it no matter what it is. So I don't think the pace of the investigation had anything to do with an attempt to dodge culpability.
I take drugs seriously.
Where did you read that?? Last time I was in a naval reactor plant (1991, USS Theodore Roosevelt), the reactors heated water that was then circulated through a steam generator which created steam that was then carried outside of the reactor compartment to (among other things) turn a steam turbine that turned a main engine that moved the ship. That's pretty much how naval reactors work.