[ale] OT: Space Shuttle Columbia

[Jeff Hubbs]

On Wed, 2003-02-05 at 16:16, Jonathan Rickman wrote:
> On 5 Feb 2003, Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> 
> > Do you think for a second that if one of the seven astronauts walking up
> > to the gantry elevator just suddenly stopped and said, "that's it - I'm
> > not going up.  There are problems that aren't fixed to my satisfaction,"
> > that he'd be escorted into the Orbiter and strapped into his seat?  Or
> > court-martialed?  Someone check me on this, but I don't think that ANY
> > NASA astronauts on space flights who were active military were UNDER
> > ORDERS to complete their flights, nor do I think they undertook them in
> > as part of their military duties (except for perhaps the classified
> > Shuttle flights).
> 
> Last post for me on this one...
> 
> Jeff, you're still totally missing my point. Forget that I ever used the
> words "military" and "ordered" mkay...
> 
> The point is, flying the space shuttle is freaking dangerous. It will
> never be completely safe. This is not a trip across town in a Volvo, it's
> a big friggin plane that travels through the upper atmosphere at a speed
> greater than a rifle bullet. IT IS DANGEROUS. I'm not implying that those
> brave souls were expendable, but it's foolish to think that we're gonna
> successfully eliminate all risks. Those folks knew it, and accepted it.
> Who the hell are we to argue with them?

I am well aware of all this; you're not informing me further here.  But,
I know that if it were me onboard, I'd be placing a HUGE amount of trust
on the people on the ground.  The people who watch for problems.  Like
video of a big slice of rock-hard insulation whacking my left wing.  

It is starting to look as though chronic ET insulation shedding plus
indifference to post-launch damage detection and assessment and
insufficient contingency planning will go down as root causes.

I've been thinking - what if the ISS were totally unreachable and they
KNEW they couldn't land the Columbia?  Could they have dumped the
mission plan in favor of a long-duration orbit until another Orbiter
could go up?  The other three would have been at various stages in the
pipeline; would it have been possible to get one up in maybe three
weeks?  Perhaps also lob up a few Soyuzes?

Instead, I get the distinct impression that Houston did not perceive an
emergency situation until the Orbiter was beginning to disintegrate over
California even though one may well have existed from T+80 seconds on.

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