picture of cracked shuttle wing - is this a hoax?

Admiral Piett · Post by **Admiral Piett** » 2003-02-03 02:51pm

Vertigo1 wrote:The landing would've been scrubbed and another shuttle would've been launched to get them off the shuttle.

Provided that one could be prepared before they ran out of consumables.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-02-03 02:52pm

Admiral Piett wrote:
Vertigo1 wrote:The landing would've been scrubbed and another shuttle would've been launched to get them off the shuttle.
Provided that one could be prepared before they ran out of consumables.

Wouldn't they have just remained on the ISS until one could be sent up?

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 2003-02-03 02:52pm

They would've used the Soyuz, which is what the current crew will have to use.

Admiral Piett · Post by **Admiral Piett** » 2003-02-03 02:53pm

Beowulf wrote:There is no place on the shuttle that you can see the wings from the inside. They could not make a space walk to see the wings. The wings are this funky yellow color. It's almost definitely a fake.

The website claims that the image was taken by an external camera of the Shuttle that was used to show Sharon the space.The tape was aired on the israeli televisions and has been aired on the italian ones this evening.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-02-03 02:54pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
Admiral Piett wrote:
Vertigo1 wrote:The landing would've been scrubbed and another shuttle would've been launched to get them off the shuttle.
Provided that one could be prepared before they ran out of consumables.
Wouldn't they have just remained on the ISS until one could be sent up?

The Columbia didn't have the necessary airlock mechanism to attach to the ISS, IIRC.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-02-03 02:56pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Wouldn't they have just remained on the ISS until one could be sent up?
The Columbia didn't have the necessary airlock mechanism to attach to the ISS, IIRC.

But couldn't they have made it into the ISS through a spacewalk?

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-02-03 02:56pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
Admiral Piett wrote: Provided that one could be prepared before they ran out of consumables.
Wouldn't they have just remained on the ISS until one could be sent up?
The Columbia didn't have the necessary airlock mechanism to attach to the ISS, IIRC.

Or the fuel to get there in the first place.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-02-03 02:57pm

Wait, I don't know what kind of mission they were on, so I have no idea where the Columbia was in relation to the ISS. I just assumed it was bringing more stuff to the station.

So what were they doing, anyway?

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 2003-02-03 03:00pm

LEO science experiments, life in space.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-02-03 03:01pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
Admiral Valdemar wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Wouldn't they have just remained on the ISS until one could be sent up?
The Columbia didn't have the necessary airlock mechanism to attach to the ISS, IIRC.
But couldn't they have made it into the ISS through a spacewalk?

I believe that NASA said they didn't have any mobility units for the EVA suits, so while they could dangle out of the hatch on a rope, that's all the could do, they had no way of controlling where they went.

They could try and grab a hold of the ISS, but it would be tricky and they'd need to have a good reason to try such a risky manouevre since no one could really predict this tragedy.

Admiral Piett · Post by **Admiral Piett** » 2003-02-03 03:02pm

Ted wrote:They would've used the Soyuz, which is what the current crew will have to use.

A rendez vous between the Soyuz and the Space shuttle?
Tricky.Besides can you stuff seven people in a capsule designed for three?

It would be interesting to know if they had enough fuel to get to the ISS.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-02-03 03:03pm

How long would it take NASA to mobelise one of the other (two?) shuttles to launch, anyway? Like a few days or something? It would have to be done in at least a week, I'm assuming.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-02-03 03:06pm

Admiral Piett wrote:
Ted wrote:They would've used the Soyuz, which is what the current crew will have to use.
A rendez vous between the Soyuz and the Space shuttle?
Tricky.Besides can you stuff seven people in a capsule designed for three?

It would be interesting to know if they had enough fuel to get to the ISS.

No, they'd be smashed around and everyone likely killed. However combining the supplies of the shuttle and ISS might allow for sufficient time for another shuttle or a couple Russian jobs to be gotten together to save them all.

I don't know about fuel though. They should have some reserves for the secondary engines.

Warspite · Post by **Warspite** » 2003-02-03 03:08pm

Hummm, a yellow wing???

Also, don't all transmissions from the shuttle go through the Mission Control? A crack THAT size wouldn't surely be missed by a few people!

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-02-03 03:16pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote: Wouldn't they have just remained on the ISS until one could be sent up?

More than likely. They've got enough food on there to last them for months.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-02-03 03:19pm

It doesn't matter what they could have done or not at the ISS. They had barely a tenth of the fuel they would have needed to make the proper orbit.

Admiral Piett · Post by **Admiral Piett** » 2003-02-03 03:19pm

Warspite wrote: Hummm, a yellow wing???!

That could be an optical effect.Besides if it is a fake,then it is a fake footage,not a fake photo,as I have seen it with my eyes this evening.

Warspite wrote:
Also, don't all transmissions from the shuttle go through the Mission Control? A crack THAT size wouldn't surely be missed by a few people!

Well,think to it for a moment,if there was absolutely nothing that could be done,no help that could be sent there before they ran out of consumable and not enough fuel to get to the ISS,then even if they noticed it what could they have done?
I do not want to sound like a conspiracies fanatic but I do not find totally off
that they might have actually seen it and not told to the astronauts.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-02-03 03:22pm

Vertigo1 wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote: Wouldn't they have just remained on the ISS until one could be sent up?
More than likely. They've got enough food on there to last them for months.

Its not food or that would be an issue. It would be the capacity of the atmospheric system; even if there's enough oxygen the system likely can't move it fast enough. That would leave them needing to transfer supplies back to the shuttle; I doubt they have the cabling for electricity nor piping or containers for air. But they might be able to rig somthing up.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-02-03 03:23pm

Vertigo1 wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote: Wouldn't they have just remained on the ISS until one could be sent up?
More than likely. They've got enough food on there to last them for months.

IIRC The Columbia was in low orbit around equator and the ISS is in a much higher orbit in the high northern latitude. they would have needed to make several sustained burns of the main RCS thrusters to bring them to both the proper altitude and latitude. they did not have enough fuel to do so.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-02-03 03:26pm

Admiral Piett wrote:
Well,think to it for a moment,if there was absolutely nothing that could be done,no help that could be sent there before they ran out of consumable and not enough fuel to get to the ISS,then even if they noticed it what could they have done?
I do not want to sound like a conspiracies fanatic but I do not find totally off
that they might have actually seen it and not told to the astronauts.

That doesn't explain why they would continue to hid the fact for days after there all dead. Nor the reaction at mission control. I doubt NASA is out to destroy its credibility with the public and goverment.

Bartman · Post by **Bartman** » 2003-02-03 04:14pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:IIRC The Columbia was in low orbit around equator and the ISS is in a much higher orbit in the high northern latitude. they would have needed to make several sustained burns of the main RCS thrusters to bring them to both the proper altitude and latitude. they did not have enough fuel to do so.

You remember correctly. The Columbia was the oldest and least useful of all the Shuttles. In its final configuration it had 1/3 to 1/2 the payload capacity of the others. In fact the Columbia never made a single ISS trip. Generally it was restriced to the lowest/lightest missions.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-02-03 04:38pm

Bartman wrote:You remember correctly. The Columbia was the oldest and least useful of all the Shuttles. In its final configuration it had 1/3 to 1/2 the payload capacity of the others. In fact the Columbia never made a single ISS trip. Generally it was restriced to the lowest/lightest missions.

Who's latest refit was not too long ago IIRC.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-02-03 04:39pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:How long would it take NASA to mobelise one of the other (two?) shuttles to launch, anyway? Like a few days or something? It would have to be done in at least a week, I'm assuming.

According to the paper, Discovery could have been scrambled with a four man crew if Columbia stretched its supplies and they ignored all pre-flight checks of Discovery. Considering that's the next-oldest shuttle, though, that might not have been a good idea. And there are three shuttles left: Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor (OV-103, OV-104, and OV-105...OV-101 was Columbia, OV-102 was Challenger. I believe OV-100 was Enterprise, the atmospheric test model). The newest of them (Endeavor) was built in 1982, though it didn't fly until 1992.

That photo's fake, though. From what NASA's saying, the damage was on the bottom of the wing, where the tiles are black. And there's no way video like that would have been suppressed. NASA's not that good.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-02-03 04:41pm

*smacks forehead* Oh, duh! Atlantis!! I forgot about that one...

Yeah, but how long would something like that take? I'm guessing about a day or two.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-02-03 04:43pm

Vertigo1 wrote:
Bartman wrote:You remember correctly. The Columbia was the oldest and least useful of all the Shuttles. In its final configuration it had 1/3 to 1/2 the payload capacity of the others. In fact the Columbia never made a single ISS trip. Generally it was restriced to the lowest/lightest missions.
Who's latest refit was not too long ago IIRC.

im not sure exactly when columbia had it's last refit, but it was wthin the last few years and get this according to time magazine the columbia's main computer system consisted of old 8086 microprocessors up until it's latest refit!