OT: Shuttle Breaks Up During Re-Entry

[Chronon]

Originally posted by David Gervais:
I believe that the best way to honor the crew of Columbia (and the crew of Challenger) is to keep NASA and the space program up and running. These fine people knew the risks and choose to accept them in the persuit of science. I salute their bravery, respect their choice and honor there memory. May their dream live long and prosper.

It is, indeed, a very sad day for the space program, and I couldn't agree with you more David. Let's hope this turns into a wake-up call for a new approach (perhaps the spaceplane or something similar), rather than a rationale for shutting the program down (as I'm sure some politicians will argue).

[Ruatha]

As previus stated, it's a sad day.
But one can't say it's becouse the shuttles are old.
They're constantly being upgraded, and serviced.
They are supposed to be able to handle 100 take offs.

It could have been made yesterday and still crash, **** happens.
In sweden we built this great warship a couple of years ago, the Wasa. It sunk on it's maiden voyage out of the harbour!
There is always a risc, and sometimes it's worth taking. These people knew that.

[MacLeod]

Originally posted by Ruatha:
As previus stated, it's a sad day.
But one can't say it's becouse the shuttles are old.
They're constantly being upgraded, and serviced.
They are supposed to be able to handle 100 take offs.

It could have been made yesterday and still crash, **** happens.
In sweden we built this great warship a couple of years ago, the Wasa. It sunk on it's maiden voyage out of the harbour!
There is always a risc, and sometimes it's worth taking. These people knew that.

I agree. I seriously doubt NASA is just screwing around when it comes to maintenance. And even if Columbia is the oldest, it's not the most flightworn, the Discovery is (having about 30 launches to the Columbia's 21).

Bombs are damned unlikely as NASA engineers have certainly gone through the shuttle with a fine-toothed comb fifty dozen times before launch, and a missile is just damned near impossible.

Was probably a random mechanical problem, or one part of it needed to be gone over another ten dozen times than it already was.

As far as shutting down the space program, who wants to stay on this boring planet forever? Just hope we don't forget about the poor guys in the ISS in the meantime, though they reportedly have a good 4-5 months of supplies.

[Lord Kodos]

Truely, this is a horrible tragedy.

I must say, though, that, I do not feel putting the space program on hiatus is a good idea either. IIRC When the whole Challenger fiasco occured, the space program was put on hold for a while, not good IMHO.

Yes, this was a HORRIBLE accident, and yes, some time should be taken for us to mourn those brave men and women who died, in the name of science and furthering our understanding of the world around us, but, we should not pause the entire space program.

When one falls off a horse, does one simply give up, or does one get back on the horse, and, try again?

[minipol]

I also saw it in the news. Even in Belgium almost the whole news was dedicated to this catastrophy.
I was amazed by some of the comments: Apparently NASA people are NOT worried if debris slams into the shuttle. It happens all the time they say. Huh? When are they worried???

I believe that space exploration might one day save this planet. Think about the asteroids that might (and will!) come our way. How are you going to defend against that when you are not knowing what you are dealing with? That's one of the reasons why space exploration is necessary.

Other comments on TV said this might delay the program by some 2 years. Off course this is pure speculation but that wouldn't be very positieve.

Also, imagine what an explosion this must have been when people on the ground could hear it. It's just unbelievable. *sigh*

[sachmo]

Originally posted by minipol:

Also, imagine what an explosion this must have been when people on the ground could hear it. It's just unbelievable. *sigh*

I wish I could forget it. Seeing the images on the local news of smoking debris on a field where I have played football is just too much. I can't stop thinking about it.

[Desdinova]

i hope they dont cancel the space program. one thing that will help keep it alive is that the us does not use rockets to launch payloads very much anymore. also there are the 4, or is it now 3, independent companies/people trying ot win the couple million in prize money to make a new reusable vehicle. now that private enterprise is in this, we should see some new innovations in the future. hopefully.

[Tenryu]

Originally posted by Ruatha:
As previus stated, it's a sad day.

In sweden we built this great warship a couple of years ago, the Wasa. It sunk on it's maiden voyage out of the harbour!
There is always a risc, and sometimes it's worth taking. These people knew that.

Ya, Ruatha, well said.
These people knew that.
Those people knew that.
Those people know that.

[Instar]

I wish I had words to say that would help, but I doubt any eloquence or verbosity can take away the suffering.

[henk brouwer]

Originally posted by minipol:


Also, imagine what an explosion this must have been when people on the ground could hear it. It's just unbelievable. *sigh*

That most likely wasn't the sound of the explosion but the sound of the debris breaking the sound barrier.