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To: Condor who wrote (435)	2/7/2003 12:25:15 PM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (1) of 603

Loss of the Shuttle nytimes.com This is the NYT's online feature on the Columbia disaster. Within that page under "Interactive feature: Possible Damage to WIng" is this flash footage from the launch: nytimes.com . It's being discounted somewhat now. On the one hand, the correlation with the failure area is scary, but on the other hand , it was pretty low density foam and I don't think the relative velocity could have been that great. This mission didn't go to the space station, and as I understand it it couldn't have gotten particularly close even if it wanted to. The orbital parameters are set at launch and can't be adjusted to any major degree in space. Also, see this: Columbia Was Beyond Any Help, Officials Say nytimes.com Even if flight controllers had known for certain that protective heat tiles on the underside of the space shuttle had sustained severe damage at launching, little or nothing could have been done to address the problem, NASA officials say. Virtually since the hour Columbia went down, the space agency has been peppered with possible options for repairing the damage or getting the crew down safely. But in each case, officials here and at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida say, the proposed solution would not have worked. One way the shuttle could be reactivated fairly quickly is for all missions to be dedicated to the space station, where the bottom could be inspected and the crew could camp out if there was a problem. Under suspicion, a damaged shuttle could be brought down empty under full automatic control. It'd still be a mess, but perhaps a somewhat more manageable mess than the current situation.

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