Timestamped Flight info:
http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts107/status.html
Hmm, Chinese New Year?..
I’m actually somewhat relieved that a search for “Columbia Debris” on ebay turns no hits at this time. Makes me think there’s some hope for the human race yet.
There is a fake up already, quite clearly fake due to being “marked” with the channel name of an IRC channel.
Oh GOD. Apropos to the Challenger explosion, I just remembered what a horrible monster I and my friends were when John Glenn went up in space again. :mad: 
Could the vicious and unfounded conspiracies please wait for maybe…oh a DAY or so?
Fuck. Oh, fuck, oh fuck.
I’m too upset to make this pretty, so I’m just going to type my thoughts, poorly phrased in random order.
Spaceflight wouldn’t be so inestimably precious if it weren’t so terribly risky. The astronauts onboard knew the risks, and every astronaut is a hero for climbing into that spacecraft at the launch pad. The sacrifice the crew of the Columbia made for the future of the human race is part of the cost we, as the human race, pay to struggle toward our future.
All the same, this was Columbia’s 28th flight. Columbia was the first Space Shuttle to go to space in 1981. Today’s tragedy may be just a reflection of the risks of any trip into space. Or we may be seeing the consequences of flying a twenty-year-old spacecraft.
My thoughts are with the families.
And thank heavens SIRTF is going up on a Delta.
I’m reading the astronaut profiles now, and the one thing that brings me the smallest, tiniest sense of solace is that at least the crew, many of whom were on their maiden trips into space, made it into space and got to see their dreams come true.
I hope that doesn’t sound cold - it’s just a comfort to me to think of how happy they must have been to do what they’d always dreamed of.
Ramblings…
First thing I thought of when I heard this is that the Palestinians are going to claim that it was Allah doing the right thing by taking care of the Israeli astronaut or some how claiming responsibility.
Conspiracy theories are going to be abound now.
I am not sure whom I feel more sorry for, the survivors, NASA, the Florida and Texas space and surrounding communities that are hit exceptionally hard with economic depression after these disasters occur, or the kids from schools in the US who had science experiments aboard the Columbia.
How in the heck is NASA going to figure out where the main impact point is? How many houses or people are going to be affected by this? I feel for those in TX, LA and parts in between.
What in the hell is a 20 year old space shuttle still doing in service? It is not like they can call AAA when it breaks down in the middle of no where.
Those poor astronauts up in the space lab. I hope they have enough food.
I am in total shock. I’ve been blissfully ignorant today, puttering around the house, hanging wallpaper, doing laundry. I just turned on the TV and am stunned.
Damn damn damn damn damn
Deborak, I don’t think it sounds cold at all. How many of us, in our professions, ever get to reach the absolute top of our feild?
Howyadoin,
Just as an aside, I was watching footage on CNN with Lt. Col. Anderson, and he made a remark to the effect that because of all the scientific experiments onboard, this would be the heaviest Shuttle ever to land. I don’t suppose this could have been a factor, but it is a fact, and those are hard to come by sometimes.
With all the strife and posturing going on these days, this is the kind of tragedy that may refocus the lens of public perception and give us all pause. If nothing else, I pray this is the legacy Columbia and its crew bestow upon the world.
-Rav
This was briefly mentioned this on CBS…they have enough supplies to go for a brief period beyond their scheduled return flight. Beyond that, there is a return capsule that can hold all three astronauts and get them back home.
Challenger was just a few years old when it exploded.
Shuttles are maintained with great care, and with 28 trips, I doubt the Columbia was in a poorer state than any other space shuttle. It’s not a 20 year old car, or even a 20 year old 747 (which will have spent 10 years in the air at that age). What happened to the Columbia today may be attributed to a technical defect, but that doesn’t mean said defect occured because of the age of this shuttle.
Any thoughts on how this will affect the astronauts on the ISS, as well as the future of the ISS? I don’t mean to belittle the loss of 7 lives, but there are other things at stake as well. I’m guessing that the Shuttle fleet will be grounded for many months if not years. The ISS crew may have to ride the Soyuz capsule home leaving the station vacant. Since the ISS is an international station, this is a huge blow to the entire world’s manned space program.
Shirley, they’ll be fine. The Russians can always launch a Soyuz supply capsule if there’s any danger of the astronauts in the ISS running out of supplies.
I was on the roof of my building this morning at 5:50 am PST because I read that they would be flying over the Bay Area before landing on the East Coast 1/2-hour later. The fog was too thick to see anything, and I live too close to the freeway to hear anything (a friend who witnessed the last flyover here 6 years ago said you can hear the sonic boom), but I was still out there hoping for a glimpse. No matter how “routine” things had gotten, there was still something wonderous and amazing about the brave men and women who traversed the skies up there. I also visited NASA for the first time less than a month ago and was like a little kid.
The last time we lost a crew, I was a kid. I remember not believing it when people reported it in class (10th grade Spanish). Still hard to believe now.
Deborak, that was lovely. Thank you.
I would add the state of Israel to Shirley’s list–Ramon was a huge celebrity over there and the whole country was eagerly following his adventures. Now, more bad news.
I was out doing errands, listening to the radio, when I heard “At 9:15AM Central Time” - and my heart stopped. The first thing I thought of was the Towers. You always know it’s a disaster when the newscaster prefaces a story with the time.
My heart goes out not only to the very brave men and women of Challenger, but to their families, friends and everyone at NASA.
Those poor, poor people
28 Jan 86 I was at Ft. Sam Houston, outside San Antonio; we had just returned to quarters from the morning training to switch our gear for the rest of the day when I came across the folks listening to the radio. We rushed to the rec room’s TV. It was sad, but we had our duties for the day so we carried on yet at every location that was the conversation – that day’s training went in a haze.
Today I got up relatively late, did not turn on any of the news media until about 1030 my time. I watched the video of the contrail, with that very slight “blip” in the stream, then like 10 seconds later more ripples, then the secondaries starting to split.
Oh, this is so painful. I feel first and most for their families and friends; and then for all those who had put forth the best of their efforts into this – and in the latter case I know that now will come the pain of being told this is unacceptable and maybe they should be shut down altogether…
… which will be very unfair. This IS “rocket science”. Those involved in it know the risks. Whatever anyone may have said in the past about “routine” spaceflight and “space tourists”, American STSs (And BTW, unlike 17 years back, I don’t think we have enough spare parts lying about to assemble a new orbiter, like we did with Endeavour, so this probaly will force us to start in earnest to develop the replacement of the fleet), Russian Soyuzes, Chinese Shenzhous, these are still, in the recent jargon, “X-treme” systems. But the potential rewards are high enough that there are people willing to take the risk. And in 42 years of mannned spaceflight we’ve had exactly 4 fatal incidents adding up to 22 deaths with the spacecraft actually under way (Soyuz 1 1967, Soyuz 11 1972(?), Challenger 1986, Columbia 2003) plus a number of in-flight close calls, some well known and some discreetly papered over (Voskhod 2, Gemini 9, Soyuz 5, Apollo 13, the MIR fire and collission, etc.). 1986-2003 was the longest time between fatalities in-flight. I believe any reasonable observer back in 1961 would have expected far more, all factors considered.
As for impact points: the debris field, based on trajectory at the time of breakup, will probably cover parts of E. Texas and Louisiana. It’s theoretically possible that some material may have the momentum to make it to the Gulf coasts of MS and AL or even hit the NE of the Gulf.
The shuttle airframe was designed to withstand 100 missions, and I doubt any vehicle has as many resources devoted to its maintenance than a Space Shuttle. Having said that, the number of devices that can cause a critical failure, especially during the stress of reentry, could number in the thousands.
-Rav