Archive through February 02, 2003
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TV ClubHouse: Archives: 2003 January: Columbia Break-Up (ARCHIVE): Archive through February 02, 2003

Seamonkey

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 05:56 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Yes.. let's put into perspective who "Gagnon" is..

"Once again we see that space technology can fail,” Bruce Gagnon, international coordinator for the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, told Arab News last night

Maris

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 06:12 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I am waiting for Al Jazeera to come up with the conspiracy theory that the Israeli brought a bomb on board and deliberately blew up the shuttle to blame it on the arabs. Wait, that one is coming.

Twiggyish

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 06:18 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I've been visiting with my mother today. We were having breakfast this morning when we found out about the shuttle. We were in a restaurant and I saw people heading toward another room. There was a tv and everyone was gathered around it. I was in shock. It reminded me of the day the Challenger blew up.
The shuttle passes over our house when it comes in for a landing normally. We hear the sonic boom. I've also seen many launches from my home. It's a fireball in the sky as it goes up. Even though all of us have seen the launches, we still take time to run outside to catch it. I missed this last launch, but I know several saw it from my work. They were talking about it. It's awful to think we won't hear or see the shuttle come home.
It's so sad. My thoughts and prayers are with the families.

Maris

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 06:19 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I think the worst part was watching the press conference and seeing their flight director have to answer questions for two hours. The only positive on this is it looks like they probably never knew what happened, unlike the Challenger crew.

Rissa

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 06:22 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Maris, I was totally disgusted this morning to hear a woman call in (radio talk-show) with the suggestion that Pres. Bush arranged the whole thing to 'distract' the public. Par for the course over the next few days unfortunately. All the conspiracy theorists, paranoid, callous and just plain whacko will be looking to push their cause/theory.

Zachsmom

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 06:25 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I agree Maris..I shut the conference off..you could tell these men wanted to go mourn..yet the press wanted answers to question that were impossible to answer at this time..(didn't help that many asked the same question..just in a different way..do these people ever listen?)

sometimes our "right to know" comes at a later time..

Zachsmom

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 06:27 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Rissa..I may not agree with Bush and his politics..but I would never agree with what the caller said..and would never believe that Bush had anything to do with this..that's just sick people talking.

Seamonkey

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 06:28 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
The only slightly off thing I heard was a man being interviewed at the space center in texas who had to slip in , re the Israeli astronaut that one day we should have an Iraqi astronaut too.. the interviewer was clearly taken aback, said "we can talk about that another day" and switched to the guy's son..

Yasir Arafat did issue condolences to the US AND to the Israelis, nothing political in his statement.

Twiggyish

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 06:32 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Why do they have to politicize this? It's a terrible tragedy. There will be time to point fingers later. (Just my thoughts on it)

Karuuna

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 06:51 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
CNN just reported that human remains have been recovered in Hemphill, Texas - presumed to be one of the crew members.

Fluffybbw

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 07:02 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I just had to come in here real quick to say what a sad day this is,although, there was one thing I saw on the CNN coverage that did bring a smile to my face,when they showed the tape of the Isreali astronaut floating in the ship with a big grin on his face. They truly did die doing what they loved best and I pray that everyone is right and that it was very quick. Sorry I just had to share with someone.

Zeno39

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 07:52 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Karuuna, I have not heard that news report, and I have had CNN on. When did you hear this?

Karuuna

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 07:59 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Zeno, it was right at the time I posted it. The top of the hour summary by Anderson Cooper.

There was also a helmet found, I believe he said it was at the same location.

Maris

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:00 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Cnn just reported that a piece of orange cloth the size of a skirt was found. They say it is the same color cloth as the uniforms worn by astronauts for landing.

Karuuna

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:03 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Zeno - go to CNN.com, they have the story right on the home page now.

Excerpt:


Human remains found in a field in Texas late Saturday are believed to be from the seven astronauts who perished aboard space shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated nearly 40 miles above the Earth. Along with the remains, a charred NASA patch and a flight helmet were found on a rural road in Hemphill, east of Nacogdoches, Texas.

Surealityjunkie

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:04 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Zeno,

It's on the local news here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and they have gone as far as to show a segment with an interview with a family whose children found an arm. They had it covered with a white sheet and yellow taped off. They have also showed a hearse driving off from the Command Center at a Baptist church in East Texas. They have also found a helmet, shoulder strap, and a patch with all of their names on it. I am sorry if the details offended some, but I just wanted to share what I know... I heard on the radio a human remain report as early as 10:30ish CST. This is really an awful day and I hope that all touched by this will be able to grieve with the peace and dignity that they deserve...

Zeno39

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:06 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I just heard it. It is so hard to believe, because in this particular circumstance, it seems unreal that there would be anything left. At least someone may be able to give their loved one a burial. Does this whole case scenario seem real to you? It doesn't to me. I have been glued to the tv most of the day. Then I got on here to try to get my mind off it for awhile. Could not get my mind off of it, and don't expect I will for days to come. Terrible. There are no words to describe this day.

Karuuna

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:10 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
It is truly awful. I would have thought, like others, that everything would have burned up on re-entry. I did hear some parents of the astronauts express a wish that something would be found, so maybe this is a blessing in some small way for them.

Seamonkey

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:15 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Fluffy, I also took much comfort in that video clip, in fact the clips of all of them.. the one with the woman and her floating cd player,, just laughing, and the guy floating corn flakes and catching them in his mouth and just lots of other clips all day on msnbc.. they were definitely having the trip of a lifetime. I always hated that the Challenger crew didn't get to experience that.

Reader234

Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:29 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Has anyone heard of the report of the Israeli officer, Ramon? Apparently the astronauts were able to email during the mission, and he emailed his brother before they returned home, apparently the report I heard once on the radio here said that Ramon felt "safer than flying the F16" and he wished he could remain in space...

Such a dramatic day. I'm not Jewish, never been outside my country. I am disturbed about how the world views the USA. (saw Iraq's response...uggg) Israel is a much smaller country than the USA, and I know how our teachers use the space flights to educate our kids, it cant compare to how Israel has embraced this astronaut.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families and friends.

Whoami

Sunday, February 02, 2003 - 01:39 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Hmmm, I was reading a story about the probability that NASA would not be building a replacement shuttle. Came across a paragraph listing the remaining three...

Discovery, the oldest of NASA's three remaining shuttles, has been in service for 18 years. Endeavour, built at a cost of about $2 billion to replace the Challenger after that spacecraft exploded shortly after takeoff in 1986, has been flying for a decade. Atlantis, the third remaining shuttle, has been in use for 17 years.

So, I was wrong about Enterprise being one of the names (I could have sworn in today's coverage, I saw a clip of a shuttle with the word "Enterprise" on it). Atlatis is the other shuttle.

NASA Unlikely to Build New Space Shuttle

Sadiesmom

Sunday, February 02, 2003 - 06:50 am EditMoveDeleteIP
They are supposed to go up to the next level and build a space plane, whatever that is.

They really seem to be closing in on the problems now. I think we will know soon why this happened. I hope it gives the family peace.

Now for the depressing part of this. Please skip if you want to stay calm. I was listening on C-Span this morning as people were calling in with their feelings on the shuttle - Thankfully they did not politicize this, so everyone called on the same line. I heard a lot of what we are feeling now.
Then a gentleman called in who is involved with NASA and claimed to be an investigatorr on earlier accidents. He said that the Houstin fire was caused by a company rushing the test (It was a test, not a take off) and they knew they were not ready and had not prepared for the test enough. The Challenger was found to be caused by a contractors shorting of testing the O rings, but that NASA was aware that the rings were not to be used below 45 degrees and it was 35 degrees, but the Manager was under political pressure because so many flights with Christy had been cancelled, that he overrode the engineers cautions and gave a go on that mission.
Now I have heard that NASA was on another budget state where they were trying to cut the cost per mission and (now my imterpretation, the man did not elaborate) that may well be why they did not abort after the pieces fell off on the launch or train a high powered telescope to check out the shuttle.

Maris

Sunday, February 02, 2003 - 07:49 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I doubt that was the case. We look at a flight and see one event. The astronauts train for years with these people to reach the point where they get on the shuttle.

The flight director made a few comments about the tile which I think were significant. The first is that nobody knows that the piece that hit the wing is in fact the cause of the accident. Second, they do not have the ability in a space walk to even get to that side of the shuttle to observe if there was any damage. I doubt that they would commit murder or manslaughter of people that they worked with and in the case of the flight director almost grew up with.

I think it was just a tragic accident and not the machinations of NASA.

Max

Sunday, February 02, 2003 - 09:34 am EditMoveDeleteIP
In looking at the tapes of the launch when the piece of foam broke off, I'm not sure they could have aborted at that point. It was pretty much during full ignition, wasn't it?

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as 100% safe in any circumstance, much less in aeronautical engineering. It's sad, but it's still an accident. Always easy to second-guess afterwards.

Cyn

Sunday, February 02, 2003 - 09:47 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Yes indeed a tragic accident.