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Author Topic: some history on the shuttle Columbia... Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 02-02-2003 01:27 PM                    I decided to make this a seperate thread from the current one. We can use that one to post condolences and this one to post anything about the shuttle or events related to the accident.... NASA weighed retiring Columbia in 2001 Richard Stenger CNN The space shuttle Columbia, lost with its seven-person crew in a catastrophic re-entry accident on Saturday, was considered for retirement in 2001. The oldest orbiter in the fleet, it had experienced engineering problems before during a long career that begin with the first shuttle mission more than 20 years ago. Yet none of the previous glitches on Columbia, which underwent a $90 million, 17-month overhaul that began in September 1999, were thought to have contributed to the fatal mishap. The 90-ton shuttle, heavier than other spacecraft in the fleet, was the only one not outfitted to dock with the international space station. NASA had considered mothballing it in 2001 because of budget constraints, but decided to keep it in service, in part to ensure flying several scheduled missions. They included the one known as STS-107, which, after years of delays, went into space in mid-January for a rare mission devoted solely to science. The $2 billion craft has been part of numerous NASA milestones since becoming the first shuttle to go into orbit in 1981. In 1999, it deployed the powerful Chandra X-ray space telescope, with the first female commander at the helm, Eileen Collins. But that mission began with major problems. The shuttle had leaked thousands of pounds of fuel during liftoff, leaving it in a lopsided but functional orbit. And seconds after launch, a short circuit knocked out computers that controlled two of three shuttle engines. A backup computer system kicked in, narrowly avoiding the need for an emergency landing. NASA grounded the fleet for months to inspect and repair exposed wiring on the four orbiters. Each has 100 miles of electrical wiring. On the most recent, fatal flight, NASA technicians reviewing video noticed that a number of heat insulation tiles seemed to have fallen off from one of the wings during the shuttle's eight-minute race to orbit. The tiles protect the shuttle from the intense friction heat of atmospheric re-entry. Similar instances have happened in the past but whether their loss this time played a role in the disaster remains unknown.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 02-02-2003 01:36 PM                    Columbia's 16-day mission featured more than 80 experiments ranging from the effects of space travel on astronauts to the possibility of creating a new perfume. ``The folks on the ground were just ecstatic with the amount of science that they were reaping,'' said Ron Dittemore, space shuttle program manager. ``Some of it was - will be - their legacy.'' Some research results were lost forever when the shuttle disintegrated over Texas, others were downloaded to Earth earlier. Spiders, flowers, cancer cells, ants, carpenter bees, fish embryos, silkworms and rats were all on board. ``I hope they can salvage something,'' said Hideaki Moriyama, a University of Nebraska biochemist who supplied vials of proteins to the flight in hopes of finding clues to diseases like HIV-AIDS, Huntington's and Alzheimer's. ``It took more than four years to prepare those experiments,'' Moriyama said. Mohamed Abid, aerospace engineer from the University of Southern California, had a combustion experiment on board. He saw video of his tiny fireballs ping-ponging around the shuttle's laboratory, a safely isolated area. But Abid said the data - designed to help researchers model combustion in car, airplane and rocket engines - was lost. In another experiment, shuttle crew members collected samples of their own blood, urine and saliva to detect possible bone loss, kidney stones, muscle loss or weakening of immune systems. Students from Fowler High School in Syracuse, N.Y., also had a hand in the science. They worked with Syracuse University researchers for three years on an experiment to find out whether ants tunnel at a slower rate in microgravity. Columbia was the first shuttle in three years not headed to the international space station or the Hubble Space Telescope. The Israel Space Agency and Tel Aviv University sponsored a $2 million experiment on board. It involved aiming a pair of cameras at the Mediterranean and Atlantic in search of huge dust plumes from the Sahara Desert that might affect Earth's climate. Soon after the cameras were positioned, NASA reported receiving remarkable details of the clouds. Perhaps the most commercially viable experiment on board was sponsored by International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., which sent a miniature red rose plant with six buds and an Asian rice flower with a jasmine scent. Astronauts extracted and preserved essential oils from the flowers so fragrance experts back home could recreate the smell. A 1998 space shuttle experiment yielded a new scent incorporated in the perfume Zen, and a body spray called Impulse. Northeastern University contributed another kind of experiment to Columbia's last flight. They sent zeolites, a kind of crystal, into the weightless environment. The center is working on ways to improve zeolite materials for more efficient storage of hydrogen fuels. A project by two Arizona State University researchers was to help turn crew member urine and wastewater into clean water for drinking, cooking and bathing. David Warmflash, a scientific investigator with the Johnson Space Center, had been expecting to study bacteria cultures brought back to space Saturday afternoon. Instead, he was mourning the fate of the shuttle. ``It's just one more experiment for us,'' Warmflash said. ``It's not in the same category as losing a crew.'' One of the experiments Warmflash worked on, examining how well bacteria grew on rocks in space, was put together by an Israeli graduate student and a Palestinian undergraduate studying in the United States. ``In space, you find your similarities outweigh any differences,'' Warmflash said.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 02-02-2003 05:49 PM                    At this time there is no evidence that any heat shield tiles came off during the boost phase. What is known is that a bit of external fuel tank foam insulation came off and may have hit the left wing. This was discovered during analysis of the films of the launch and in the discussions they felt it might have damaged some tiles but, to paraphrase their words, that it would be an issue for the turnaround (prepping for another launch) not a safety issue. Given what happened they now consider this event to be "interesting." As it was, they say, there was nothing they could do during orbit. --- Now let me go into speculation mode here. What if the films would have shown a big bunch of tiles missing? A few here and there could cause damage during reentry but not, they say, loss of the vehicle. But what if they knew that the orbiter was fatally damaged? I don't think you could ready a Soyuz or other craft fast enough to effect a rescue. Would they announce this fact to the public? Or would they just let the mission come to an inevitable tragic end since nothing could be done anyway?  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 02-02-2003 06:23 PM                    I have thought the same thing. Would they have told anyone if there were known problems that they knew were going to put the shuttle into a catostrophic situation. Interestingly though had they known this, there may have been an ability to do a rescue mission because they had a shuttle ready in the preperation hanger. It was in it's prep stages for a march 1st launch. How fast they could speed up this prep stage and get it to the launch pad is a good question. Would it actually be possable to get a shuttle into orbit on the same trajectory and close proxemity to the other shuttle to complete a rescue without destroying both shuttles in the process. Something you could make possable in a movie but in reality may not be possable. Now we know you can dock with the space station but it's orbit may be slower than the orbit of a space shuttle in flight.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 02-02-2003 06:33 PM                        Apparently the crew not only had no way of seeing the part of the wing that was hit by foam, but they also were not equipped to do a "spacewalk" external inspection. And as Steve noted, there was nothing that could be done about missing tiles -- you can't just super-glue a replacement in place. One has to wonder if there's a contingency plan for a situation where a mission is crippled, cannot return to earth, and a rescue cannot be mounted in time. I'm sure there must be such a plan. As for whether they would tell the public that a crew is doomed, I believe they would. But I also believe they would go to extraordinary lengths to mount a rescue.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-02-2003 06:54 PM                     THose tile weigh next to nothing so maybe they should be able to store spares on the space station and then just manover the shuttle around it to view the ones on it and then do a space walk to silicone them on  |  IP: Logged Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-02-2003 07:11 PM                        Yah except I believe that they are all slightly different from each other for different places on the bottom of the wings and fuselage etc. They'd have to take a complete set of spares!  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 02-02-2003 07:20 PM                        Some shuttle expert being interviewed on TV said there's no way for the crew to replace tiles while in orbit. I'm paraphrasing him but basically he said you don't just slap on some glue and stick them in place.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-02-2003 07:35 PM                     Even if they could replace them while in orbit each tile is different from the next. They used to have a silicon like gun to fill any viod left by a vacant tile but NASA researched it and found that the difficulty of performing that in outer space would actually jepordize other tiles while the spacewalker tried to manuver him/herself into ptoper position to fill in the spot. The arm doesn't reach toevery point on the underside of the shuttle either. Don't they film each launch in Imax....? They sure ought to be able to see exactly what happened in the boost phase in that format.... News said they have recovered remains of all seven astronauts, and some remains are already at the AFB in Louisiansa. Few remnants have been removed from the ground as of yet. The EPA will be doing that due to the toxicity on and around them. close to 30 people have checked into the local emergency room for treatment from exposure to harmful chemical vapors. One area coordinator in TX said they also had an inversion hanging around there making the chemical exposure problem more severe than it might otherwise be.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 02-02-2003 10:18 PM                        AFAIK, every launch is covered by numerous instrumentation cameras, including high speed, high resolution film cameras. I believe these were instrumental in pinpointing the cause of the Challenger disaster, and may help in seeing any damage that might have happened to Columbia during launch.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 02-02-2003 11:14 PM                    Info about the heat shield tiles Seems to me that carrying a few spares and some means to custom shape and mount them might be prudent.  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 02-03-2003 06:40 PM                     Several topics to cover here..... As an Aircraft Mechanic and Machinist, I can offer the following: First, those tiles are amazing. One of my college instructers, who is a Metalurgist specializing in Failure Analysis at the University of AZ brought one of the tiles into class. He proceeded to put the tile in our heat treat oven at a few thousand degrees F for a couple of hours. A few minutes before the end of class, he removed the tile and was immediatly able to hold it in his hand and pass it around! These tiles are a VERY light-weight material and are sure something to behold. What is now being said is that budget cuts and politics are jeopardizing safety at N.A.S.A. As an Aircraft Mechanic, college trained with both civilian and military experience on both heavy and light aircraft, I can definately relate to this! One of the things that was instilled into me by my teachers was to beware of being pressured into preforming jury-rigged maintenance by politically motivated supervisors and private aircraft owners. God, how they were right! I lost track of how many times in both the civilian sector and military I was pressured into doing just that! My conscious is clear because I was able to resist that pressure...but in doing so I did get myself into political trouble! In fact, last year, at a major Tucson maintenance facility, a mechanic was pressured into preforming jury-rigged maintenance. He resisted, and this resulted in his employment being jeopardized. Luclily, he was able to document what happened and won a $1.5 million settlement in court! And by the way, did not politics and jury-rigged maintenance surrounding the O-Ring lead to the previous Shuttle disaster in 1986? There is also talk regarding the Shuttles' age. Keep in mind that in the aerospace industry component and system lifespan is measured in hrs of operation (service) or cycles, example being that each time an airframe is pressurized and depressurized this is considered to be a cycle. After so many cycles, the airframe structure will begin to weaken. However, there are intense F.A.A. instuted airframe overhaul procedures by which an airframe can be returned to 0 hrs. Also keep in mind that many of the C-141s and C-5 A/B aircraft in the USAF have exceeded their "rated" lives by literally thousands of hours. So, considering the Shuttles' age, I do not know what does or does not apply...or how a thourough overhaul would affect the airframe.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 02-03-2003 07:32 PM                    According to NASA engineers the shuttles are designed to fly 100 missions. Columbia was only on it's 28th mission I think. NASA also said that the external fuel tank was a phased out design much heavier. But you must understand that they do not reuse these fuel tanks after a launch. The just drop into the ocean. They used to paint them white but then stopped doing it because it was just adding weight and unneeded cost to something that was only being used once. They reuse the booster rockets. The problem in the Challenger desaster was that each section of the booster rocket only used two O-rings. Experts were telling them that these rings could fail in extreme cold weather. The day before the Challenger launch the temperature had dipt way down below freezing at the altitude of the rocket sitting on the pad. Ice was formed everywhere. The O-ring design was changed and a third one was added to each section of the booster rockets. I still believe that the initial cause of this accident happend on the launch pad. That piece of foam or whatever it was hit the wing at great force. Enough to either tear or loosen some tiles. I think some thought by the engineers may be put torwards designing some type of shield that could be placed between the fuel tank and the shuttle for protection.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 02-03-2003 08:10 PM                        quote: The problem in the Challenger desaster was that each section of the booster rocket only used two O-rings. Experts were telling them that these rings could fail in extreme cold weather. And weren`t there also indications of problems with this (Columbia) space shuttle before as told in the first post? It appears that those incidents are much less "tragic" than caused by sheer negligence... A few years ago in Germany, a high-speed train derailed and hit a bridge. The waggons were folded together like an accordion. Hundreds of people died horibly. It turned out that an iron ring around one of the wheels had come loose. It was a known problem and structural weakness of the part had been diagnosed just before the "accident". But it hadn`t been defined who was responsible for this problem and who was to be notified. Several rail managers and engineers went on trial. Will someone be held responsible for the shuttle crash?  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 02-03-2003 08:32 PM                    Will someone be held responsible for the shuttle crash? That's a very good question. What type of launch pad inspections that are done to look for any visable problems needs to be determined. Was someone responsable for inspection the insulation prior to launch for any problems. Why did they have to use the phased out fuel tank. Many questions will need to be asked before someone can be blamed. This is not the first time something has fallen off the tanks. That's why I say they need to design somekind of shield protection for the shuttle durring launches. If that is even possable only the engineers can determin that. Had they gotten closer looks at the shuttles wings using high powered telescopes and could determin that there was a major problem nothing could have really been done to save them. They did not have enough fuel to get them to the orbit of the space station and if they did they could not dock it. They would have to float over to it.  |  IP: Logged

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