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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (60735)	8/16/2004 2:38:24 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793964

"The killer environmentalists." I figured this at the time. They really hate Freon. Confirmed: Environmental Laws Killed Columbia Crew' Wizbang blog The 7 members of the Shuttle Columbia crew lost their lives because of a needless environmental law. Read these cuts from today's report carefully: NASA Identifies Foam Flaw That Killed Astronauts NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The foam that struck the space shuttle Columbia soon after liftoff -- resulting in the deaths of seven astronauts -- was defective, the result of applying insulation to the shuttle's external fuel tank, NASA said on Friday. ... A suitcase-sized chunk of foam from an area of the tank known as the left bipod, one of three areas where struts secure the orbiter to the fuel tank during liftoff, broke off 61 seconds into the flight. It gouged a large hole in Columbia's left wing. ... The fault apparently was not with the chemical makeup of the foam, which insulates the tanks and prevents ice from forming on the outside when 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are pumped aboard hours before liftoff. Instead, Otte said NASA concluded after extensive testing that the process of applying some sections of foam by hand with spray guns was at fault.... NASA has made extensive changes in the foam-application process, but still has tests and perhaps more procedural changes before the tanks can be certified for flight. "It was not the fault of the guys on the floor; they were just doing the process we gave them," Otte said. "I agree with the (accident investigation board) that we did not have a real understanding of the process. Our process for putting foam on was giving us a product different than what we certified." This report is devastating when you know the rest of the story. Foam falling off the tank is nothing new. It was first documented in 1981. But it greatly increased in 1997. You see, in 1997 NASA was forced by environmental regulations to use a different method to apply the foam to the tank. The old method used Freon and we all know the environmentalists consider it the worst substance ever created. (except maybe DDT) So NASA was forced to use a different method than the engineers had originally called for. Following the change, the November 1997 mission had 308 ceramic tiles damaged. The usual number was 40. Since that time NASA has tried to improve the method of applying foam but it has not been easy. Indeed, Lockheed's Charles Martin said at Tulane University that compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency's rules on the space shuttle project was "much more difficult than anticipated." Rather than making the shuttle as safe as possible we made it as politically correct as possible. That cost 7 astronauts their lives-- not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars. While there are many reasons for NASA to gloss over the Freon connection, the most obvious is that NASA probably could have gotten a waiver to the rule if they tried. Of course the environmentalists would have gone nuts and they represent a large hunk of NASA's supporters. Worst of all, Congress banned freon having no idea what it really does in the atmosphere. Many people have theories but we have no proof it attacks ozone at all. (and anyone telling you they know what freon does in the atmosphere is lying to you) Even if we knew that it attacked Ozone we still don't know what that means in real terms. It's all conjecture, but we banned it anyway. Congress routinely bans things because they MIGHT hurt the environment while paying little or no attention to the obvious benefits of the product-- even if that benefit is millions of lives saved. DDT, which was also banned based on poor science, is now coming back because banning it caused millions of people to die from malaria. As long as we make policy based on environmental mythology rather than science, people will continue to die. We can add the names' of the 7 Columbia astronauts to that list. NOTE: I wrote most of the bottom part just 2 days after the shuttle crashed, well before all this was confirmed. I did not save the hyperlinks back then but the original sources were: Hampton Roads Daily Press, VA Newark Star Ledger, NJ Florida Today, FL wizbangblog.com