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Pastimes : Shuttle Columbia STS-107 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MulhollandDrive who wrote (60)	2/1/2003 3:54:26 PM
From: J.B.C.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 627

Yes there is, depends on what the malfunction is. That's why there are several landing sites overseas that have to meet certain weather conditions before the launch can proceed. Jim

To: MulhollandDrive who wrote (60)	2/2/2003 3:33:55 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Respond to of 627

Re: do you know if there is a mission abort protocol when a malfunction during lift off is detected? I have watched previous launched of Shuttle vehicles and there is a "go-no go" decision point about 40 seconds into the flight, as I recall, where the decision is made to ignite the second stage or to abort the mission. Which means that when the debris fell off the booster housing, mission control had less than 40 seconds to decide whether to scrub the mission. Since there would be a standard list of parameters for aborting that couldn't possibly consider every hazard, by following standard operating procedures, the flight would have been allowed to proceed. To do otherwise would have meant taking initiative on the part of a bureaucrat and taking such a decision would have ruined the career of the mission control commander. No matter whether his/her decision saved lives or not.