# Shuttle Columbia MIA? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 1, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091 "2003-02-01T14:19:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/21 "2003-02-01T15:20:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neurotik \* > \*\*First of all, there’s no way it was a terrorist attack. So let’s just get that out of the way. There is no missile system in existence that could reach the shuttle at the altitude it was at short of an ICBM. > > There had been reports of hydraulics problems on the shuttle, which would have made it nearly impossible for it to control it’s re-entry well enough not to burn up. My father has been working on some shuttle problems for the past few months and has been designing parts and systems for the shuttle since the start of the program. I’ll talk to him in a few hours (he’s 3 hours behind) and if he is able to tell me anything, I’ll post it. \*\* As was mentioned on another board I am on, it _could_ have been sabotage of some sort, but a missle strike is all but impossible. Still, I am hoping that this was ‘only’ a mechanical/computer failure, and nothing more. And given that there is NO shred of evidence supporting terrorism right now, I’m happy leaving it at that. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/22 "2003-02-01T15:21:18Z")
**Airman Doors** we must be the same age, because I was in fourth grade when the Challenger disaster happened. Only I wasn’t in school that day. Oh shit. This is horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/23 "2003-02-01T15:24:09Z")
I doubt it’s terrorism too, **Neurotik** , but we can’t rule it out just because a missile couldn’t have reached the shuttle. There are other scenarios, such as sabotage. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/24 "2003-02-01T15:32:23Z")
I very much doubt it was fucking sabotage either. ANY shuttle launch these days has heightened security, and a shuttle launch with the first Israeli astronaut on board HAS to have had very tight security. It was a spaceship moving at 12,500 miles an hour. It’s still not “routine”. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/25 "2003-02-01T15:33:42Z")
It has been mentioned that some tiles fell off during launch, but this has happened before. Still no ‘real’ news out yet. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/26 "2003-02-01T15:34:32Z")
Damn it, damn it, damn it, anyway. I just feel like cursing and I don’t know. DAMN. Not again. Anybody who knows anything about it knows how stupid it is to say “not again”–it was practically inevitable that something would happen again, it’s the nature of blasting things into space and trying to get them back again. DAMN it though. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/27 "2003-02-01T15:35:13Z")
But, the tragedy is… Another seven astronauts died. A major science tool was lost. America seems to live through it’s pioneers, so once again, all of us are saddened. * * * I’m 40, I’ve followed the Space Program since I had even the slightest childish grasp of what is is. Every time someone dies, it hurts someone. These deaths hurt us all. (No one on the news is saying it yet, but it’s pretty obvious we lost those people…) ☹ ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/28 "2003-02-01T15:39:33Z")
By the way, I’m pretty pissed at that guy they interviewed from Corsicana, TX on CBS News. But, I’lll save a major Pitting for later. Right now, I’m having an emotional meltdown… FTR, my condolences to any personally involved. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/29 "2003-02-01T15:39:49Z")
God, I’m afraid this is going to make people yell even louder about shutting down the program altogether. Remember how everybody reacted in 1986? Spaceflight is inherently risky. I KNOW that. So did those astronauts. This was almost bound to happen eventually. But SHIT SHIT SHIT, did it HAVE to? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/30 "2003-02-01T15:41:46Z")
I guess I’ve been a science fiction fan and “space nut” since I was maybe seven. All the stupid damn coincidences–NASA was memorializing the Challenger and Apollo 1 just when Columbia was launched. The stupid symmetry of the Challenger being lost on take off and Columbia being lost on re-entry. The first Israeli astronaut (and the way that will bring out all the conspiracy theories). (The Challenger had the first schoolteacher in space. And they were talking about starting that program up again too.) I’m thinking about that Torah that Colonel Ramon took with him, that a Holocaust survivor gave him. And I’m an atheist. (I think I remember reading Col. Ramon wasn’t really all that religious either.) I can’t believe the noise made people’s houses shake. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/31 "2003-02-01T15:45:46Z")
Jeez, I can’t believe this shuttle had the first Isreali on board and then blew up over Palestine, TX (according to MSNBC). We’ll never hear the end of that. Those 7 poor people. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mcms\_cricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@mcms\_cricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcms_cricket)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/32 "2003-02-01T15:46:06Z")
For some reason, what makes this more awful is that I remember the excitment of the very **first** shuttle launching back in '81 (I think it was '81). Somehow it just seems even worse that it was the Columbia that’s gone. Cricket ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/33 "2003-02-01T15:51:35Z")
☹ ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/34 "2003-02-01T15:51:54Z")
What’s really depressing is that we may know now not much more than we’ll ever know about what went wrong. The obvious answer is that the heat shield failed. This is consistent with the circumstances. The tinfoil-hat crowd will undoubtedly speculate about sabotage, no matter what is eventually decided. God damn it. ---
**Author:** ![Tazmanian\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@Tazmanian\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tazmanian_Devil)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/35 "2003-02-01T15:55:57Z")
Watching the CBS coverage, and some village idiot decided this would be a great time to make a crank call to Dan Rather…what an asshat. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/36 "2003-02-01T15:56:47Z")
They may still be alive. The crew compartment is designed to survive quite a lot. The astronauts are in pressure suits and they have parachutes. They are trained to handle emergencies. In such a case, if they can, they will stay in the compartment until it slows down and reaches an altitude where they can bail out. My hopes are that the pilot McCool was at his very best this morning and that he was able to get them out. ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/37 "2003-02-01T15:57:34Z")
From everything I’ve heard from NASA and other informants, though they are of course focused entirely on this tragedy, they _can’t_ shut down the shuttle program because of ISS missions planned, namely those in shuttling crew to and from the station. It is possible with Soyuz, but not likely. Also, they shut down the program after Challenger because it was an engineering flaw they had to correct - this is, to their best knowledge, likely a case of damage or user error, so a shutdown of the fleet would not be necessary. This is backed up by the hundred+ successful re-entries they have accomplished without error. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/38 "2003-02-01T15:58:39Z")
Kennedy Space Center just now lowered the US flag to half staff. NASA released breaking news of debris found in Texas. Sorry to say… sounds like NASA believes the 7 to be lost ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/39 "2003-02-01T15:59:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > \*\*They may still be alive. > > The crew compartment is designed to survive quite a lot. The astronauts are in pressure suits and they have parachutes. They are trained to handle emergencies. In such a case, if they can, they will stay in the compartment until it slows down and reaches an altitude where they can bail out. > > My hopes are that the pilot McCool was at his very best this morning and that he was able to get them out. \*\* NASA has said that the crew did not report any problems before losing contact, so it was likely a sudden disaster… they also said that since they were moving at ~mach 25 and at ~200,000 feet, survival is not expected. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091/40 "2003-02-01T16:01:27Z")
> [@](#): > > survival is not expected. I know. Right now it’s still possible, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shuttle-columbia-mia/152091.md?page=3)