Breaking News: Space Shuttle Columbia explodes (1 Viewer)

[Scooter]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77266,00.html

 

[DaveF]

Very sad. Like everyone else, I immediately thought of the Challenger explosion (I was in High school).

And Friday afternoon I was talking with a friend at work about wanting our nation be lead to greater efforts in space exploration to re-ignite the national vision toward greater accomplishments. And now this reminds me of the great danger in such tasks.

:frowning:

 

[Robert Crawford]

Let's stop with the political or religious agenda with any further violations of our forum guidelines being cause for disciplinary action!





Crawdaddy

 

[Matt Wallace]

I live in Longview, which is about 40 minutes North of Nacodgoches, Texas and things are a little crazy around here. I know that the forum has a few folks from this area, so they may have more experiences to report. I found this story which is a little more detailed (concerning debris) than the news stations are picking up..

http://www.news-journal.com/news/con...acshuttle.html

Take Care,

Matt

 

[Brian E]

May they rest in peace.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

More debris photos, from the newspaper local to Nacodgoches:

http://www.dailysentinel.com/

- Steve

 

[Seth Paxton]

Just horrible. I guess it's the heroic nature of the job that makes something like this hurt more than other tragedies. Similar to the police and firemen being killed in 911. Innocent lives are bad enough, but people that are putting it on the line for the best of causes are even greater losses to me. Yes they know the risks, but to me the fact that they are willing to face those risks would seem to earn them a free pass from danger. Obviously that is not the reality of it.

I was also in high school at lunch when the Challenger news came in. I have to say that it feels identical. The pain is just as sharp despite knowing that we made it past the Challenger disaster and were able to get the space program going again anyway.

 

[Eve T]

I posted this breaking news on a car web board that I frequent. Only 31 people have replied. Looks like carbs and exhaust systems are a little more important at this time.

This is a very sad day. I've been watching the story since it broke on the news this morning. NASA's statement is on now.

Terrible for the families who were so excited to be reunited with their loved ones and then to have it all turn out so terribly.
Horrific.
5 members of the 7 on board had children.
I doubt we will ever truly find out what went so wrong today. I fear that any answers that could help piece this together went up in the skies above us. :frowning:

 

[Mike I]

Another sad tragic day for our country....

 

[Carlos_E]

Can someone please provide details of the Nasa Statement that is suppossedly being transmited right now. I do not have access to a television right now.

Thank you.

Carlos

 

[Seth Paxton]

Probably all of you are watching news but I just heard them play the communication tape and Husband (I think) was talking to MC about a tire pressure problem of some sort and MC was looking at it. They asked him to repeat and he starts to answer and just stops, so they definately were in full contact and know exactly the moment things went wrong.

At this point I think the best bet is that there was no "explosion" but instead something got just loose enough to shift the shuttle and at that speed with all the superheated plasma (I guess that's the state of the air at that point) around the shuttle things would go right to hell in an instant.

So it could easily be the simpliest of things that was magnified by occurring at one of the worst possible moments in the flight.

I wonder if the tire pressure thing was heat getting to the tires, damaging and deflating them. Thus making the tire warning the first indicator. Of course that's wild speculation. And it's important to note that they use nitrogen in the tires because it's a stable gas, which keeps the tires from exploding from heat.

But maybe something was already torn off and heat was starting to build up somewhere it wasn't supposed to.

Honestly, I feel pretty confident that with the massive amount of telemtry and recovery of physical pieces that they will have a good idea of what happened.

 

[ThomasC]

Carlos, I don't think there was much new stuff in the statement, but I wasn't listening to it very closely. Do you have speakers with the computer that you're at right now? MSNBC has free live video streams at their website:

http://www.msnbc.com/m/lv/default.asp

There is also archived video here:

http://www.msnbc.com/m/v/video_news.asp

 

[Patrick_S]

What a sad day for the families, my prayers are with them.

These types of events are always magnified because our exploration of space is an on going, living example of mankind’s potential.

We'll get past this, as we always have and continue to strive forward to greater achievements.

 

[Tony-B]

Bush addresses the nation in around 3 1/2 minutes.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I wonder what they could have done rather than attempt a re-entry knowing of the wing damage. Perhaps they could have camped out at the space station until a relief crew could have been sent up. Or they could have used the Soyuz lifeboats at the space station.

I also wonder if this is more evidence of the fleet getting close to an age when we need to retire them in lieu of some new design. When the Columbia was built the company I work for was turning out 2 MHz processors. Now they are turning out 3,000 MHz processors. Technology has advanced a long way in the last 23 years.

 

[Carlos_E]

Thanks for the links, Thomas. Unfortunately, the site must be overwhelmed. I can't get the video to play.

So there was nothing new in the Nasa statement?

Carlos

 

[Clinton McClure]

I wish to express my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the gallant crew aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Your names shall forever be remembered with honor.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I can't believe this has happened again. My condolences to all who knew the crew. This is another sad day in history.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Am I right in thinking that the previous space shuttle disaster and the Apollo fire were both in late January/early February as well?

I think the radio talk about tyres was just routine, wasn't it? If I heard correctly, I don't think the status of the tyres was being specifically questioned.

If it's of any interest, Brit TV news was nothing but the shuttle explosion.

[Natalie, if you're still reading this thread, apologies - my message came out somewhat garbled].

 

[Jason Quillen]

A true tragedy for the nation. Best wishes to all the friends and family they left behind...
JQ