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Columbia's Final Minutes in Detail

Posted by michael on from the riding-the-rocket dept.

grub writes "This article on Newsday has an excerpt from 'Comm Check... The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia,' by Michael Cabbage and William Harwood describing the last minutes of Columbia's final flight in detail."

7 of 494 comments (clear)

  1. The complexity... by alexatrit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...of the shuttle is just fascinating. Call me naive, but it truly is amazing that aeronautical/space engineering has progressed as far as it has. Not to revel in Columbia's destruction, but I'm suprised that we haven't had more accidents since Challenger.

    --

    Nothing but the finest in meaningless drivel
    1. Re:The complexity... by jfengel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There was only going to be one accident after Challenger. It was just a question of how long it was going to take.

      From here until the end of the lifespan, there will be only a few trips. The odds of a problem are low enough that we'll probably get through those with no more accidents.

      At this point it's like software: it's too complex to fix, so you start from scratch. I feel bad about that, just like I do throwing away mostly-functioning software, but it's got to go.

  2. I didn't think it was so bad until I read this... by garcia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One of the crew members came to rest beside a country road near Hemphill. The remains were found by a 59-year-old chemical engineer and Vietnam veteran named Roger Coday, who called the sheriff and then watched from the porch of his mobile home as a funeral director drove by to collect them.

    IIRC (if I read correctly) they were about 19 miles up when the fuselage broke apart... So this astronaut had about that far to fall before coming to rest on the ground.

    I saw it over and over again on TV and thought, well, at least it was instant and there's nothing left... I was wrong and I now have deep sorrow for these individuals.

  3. Re:I didn't think it was so bad until I read this. by SteveAstro · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It did say that once the astronauts hit the hypersonic air flow, they would have died instantly.

    It doesn't make things any better to know that though. :-(

    Steve

  4. Re:I didn't think it was so bad until I read this. by LittleGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    IIRC (if I read correctly) they were about 19 miles up when the fuselage broke apart... So this astronaut had about that far to fall before coming to rest on the ground.

    Karma me down, but I'm just amazed how quickly information about Columbia's last moments is filtering to the media (and the lack of relative umbrage from family and pundits).

    In contrast, it took years for NASA to admit that, yes, the astronauts aboard Challenger were most likely aware during their final descent, but that information was quickly coupled with admonishment not to dwell on it, out of respect for the families of the astronauts.

    --
    Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
  5. Timely: Tomorrow is Challenger's 17th anniversary by talexb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The shuttle astronauts are true heroes -- think of the bravery it takes to fly one of those things. And let's not forget the Challenger mission which failed on January 28, 1986, seventeen years ago tomorrow.

    I'll be outside at about 1130am tomorrow, looking up at the skies as I do every year, thanking that shuttle crew for their sacrifice.

  6. Expensive mistake = critical lessons by danwiz · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the article ...
    Like Challenger's crew, the Columbia astronauts met their fates alone and the details will never be known.

    The initial government line is always that that people die instantly. After the Challenger crew compartment was recovered, it surfaced that some of crew's PEAPs (Personal Egress Air Packs) had been activated. This lead to the debate on whether anyone was conscious prior to impact with the ocean, and if there was any improvements that could be made to escape such a fate.

    It may seem morbid as first but spacecraft, unlike automobiles, aren't as easy to crash-test. This promotes learning as much as you can from the mistakes.

    Unfortunately, its unlikely more meaningful debris will be recovered from the Columbia.