They may have obtained the 500MPH figure from the relatively simple method of estimating the relative distance and time of flight as seen in the videos we all saw on the news.
NASA is a scary organization. The approach to Columbia has been much more controlled than the Challenger fiasco. If you remember: insiders knew the Oring problem on Challenger, yet slowly leaked the answers to Feynman during the inquiry, making him think he discovered it. You can be sure they knew the problem before the shuttle re-entered.
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They may have obtained the 500MPH figure from the relatively simple method of estimating the relative distance and time of flight as seen in the videos we all saw on the news.
NASA is a scary organization. The approach to Columbia has been much more controlled than the Challenger fiasco. If you remember: insiders knew the Oring problem on Challenger, yet slowly leaked the answers to Feynman during the inquiry, making him think he discovered it. You can be sure they knew the problem before the shuttle re-entered.