[kode]

Originally posted by Alikchi
Well, I didn't see this coming..

I didn't see the shuttle coming either.

[Snakeseyes]

Originally posted by karajorma
BTW whatever happened to the russian space shuttle?

You mean Buran?

[castor]

I guess this is the end of the space shuttle era then.
Back to simpler solutions.

[Knight Templar]

wow.

this will really **** up the space program

we'll probably see more footage of little palestinian  and Iraqi kids dancing in the streets too

[an0n]

Originally posted by Sobek
i think he meant that this will give  their space program the chance to catch up and even possibly excel beyond the U.S.
They are taking notes.

No. I meant they blew up the shuttle so they could at least get to the Moon before America got to Mars.

[diamondgeezer]

Originally posted by karajorma
BTW whatever happened to the russian space shuttle?

Mate of mine who studies space pyhisics says they flew it once, and once only. You can buy them from the Russian government, if you have the cash...

Question is - what will happen to the ISS guys? Presumably the shuttle fleet will be grounded until further notice, and the Russians can use their Progress space craft to resupply the thing... but you just wonder whether they'll be ordered down (personally I wouldn't trust my life to that Soyuz capsule of theirs)

[EDIT] @ an0n. Hardly the time.

[Sobek]

Originally posted by an0n
No. I meant they blew up the shuttle so they could at least get to the Moon before America got to Mars.

i stand corrected then.

Does anyone else find it tragicly ironic that the shuttle, with the first isreali astronaut, crashed in Palastine Texas?

[Knight Templar]

Originally posted by Sobek

i stand corrected then.

Does anyone else find it tragicly ironic that the shuttle, with the first isreali astronaut, crashed in Palastine Texas?

Maybe more if it was israel texas and the astronaut was palestinian

[an0n]

Originally posted by Sobek
Does anyone else find it tragicly ironic that the shuttle, with the first isreali astronaut, crashed in Palastine Texas?

I'll probably be slated for this later, but: No, I find it ironically amusing.

I mean, Christ, seven people died. It's not that big of a deal. More people die from choking on Smarties, every day.

And it's not like they thought there was no element of risk involved in strapping yourself to the back of one of the largest rockets in the world and shooting yourself into a radioactive vacuum several dozen miles up.

People see an explosion and all of a sudden it's a tradgey.

[TheVirtu]

I read up on something, the shuttle was the oldest shuttle NASA has...20 years old...28 missions...now...isnt that a bit old? I would have decomissioned it.

[ShadowWolf_IH]

They are saying that a leading wing edge was damaged during launch.  On reentry this damage put stress on both wings, and they came off.  

I have a friend who works in the Houston Center, i'll see about getting an email to her.

The irony of this is that i was supposed to go fight in a tournament in Tyler Texas today.  If i had been there i would have been in the debris field, and before someone asks, no i would not grab a piece for myself.

Anyway, let's just all wish the best in whatever way we do for families of the people who were killed.  Let's try to keep this one on topic, those people deserve that much.

[an0n]

Originally posted by TheVirtu
I read up on something, the shuttle was the oldest shuttle NASA has...20 years old...28 missions...now...isnt that a bit old? I would have decomissioned it.

You see obselete equipment, I see reliable and trusted.

[Nobilis Draco]

Originally posted by castor
I guess this is the end of the space shuttle era then.
Back to simpler solutions.

they said the same thing after challenger. hmm... maybe they shouldn't have scraped the venture star program so quickly. ooh maybe they'll reinstate it.

[Corsair]

meh. I caught this on the news this morning. awful.

but I've been searching around, and so far the government has said that they do NOT suspect any terrorist activities involved. Also said was the fact that this piece of debris that hit the wing on launch was FOAM, aka very light and not capable of doing much damage. and the loud bangs heard were the pieces going through the sound barrier, not an explosion.

and Stealth, tell your friend not to touch the debris. the official NASA statement found  at www.nasa.gov says that debris should not be touched because they could be toxic from the rocket fuel used.

but as of right now, they're really just repeating what they know and showing the video clip of the one large ball with one plume separating into a few separate plumes with little pieces at the front.

my thoughts were the same, about Challenger. How everytime we put somebody onboard who isn't a part of the U.S. space program, something goes wrong. Although there are rumors about Lance Bass of 'N Sync going up with NASA...

as for what will happen to the shuttle program, I don't know. My guess is that it will continue after a thorough investigation of what went wrong. Although if NASA was at all up to speed, this new X-plane space thingy that they've been working on for like 15 years now would be in service already. but its not because government funding has put the project behind schedule by about five years or so. So it probably won't happen until like 2010 at the earliest. and this is an enormous blow to NASA, which is falling apart already. The U.S. space program needs a serious jump start right now, because it is currently going nowhere, except maybe down the crapper. Mars? Ha! We can't even get things right on this planet right now...

and China is most definitely observing the current situation with utmost interest.

[Corsair]

meh. I caught this on the news this morning. awful.

but I've been searching around, and so far the government has said that they do NOT suspect any terrorist activities involved. Also said was the fact that this piece of debris that hit the wing on launch was FOAM, aka very light and not capable of doing much damage. and the loud bangs heard were the pieces going through the sound barrier, not an explosion.

and Stealth, tell your friend not to touch the debris. the official NASA statement found  at www.nasa.gov says that debris should not be touched because the

EDIT: crap double posted

[Knight Templar]

Originally posted by Corsair

my thoughts were the same, about Challenger. How everytime we put somebody onboard who isn't a part of the U.S. space program, something goes wrong. Although there are rumors about Lance Bass of 'N Sync going up with NASA...

 

Oh god.. If only he was on it, this would be the newest national holiday

IIRC he's going up with the russians though, like that one billionaire. Don't ask, I watch MTV occasionally.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by TheVirtu
I read up on something, the shuttle was the oldest shuttle NASA has...20 years old...28 missions...now...isnt that a bit old? I would have decomissioned it.

It went through a major refit recently and had only flown one mission since then so it would have been a bit of a waste of money to decomission it (especially as it was doubtful they would get the money to build another one)

I think the problem is that everyone expects the Shuttle to fly every mission perfectly. Apparently even NASA themselves expected to have a disaster every 100 missions or so.

[Nobilis Draco]

they just played a radio transmision by the comander on jan. 27 comemorating the apolo 1 and chalenger disasters. that's ruff listening to a guy talk about that knowing he burnt up in a similar fashion a few hours ago.

[ZylonBane]

When I first heard about the Challenger disaster, I was in the computer lab in high school (Apple IIs, baby!). And now I hear about the Columbia disaster... sitting in the computer lab at my weekend college class. Freaky.

[CP5670]

This thing is all over the news and NASA is apparently holding some conference over the event right now.

well....while its tragic im slightly more worried about the impact on an already underfunded and flailing space programme.

These were my thoughts as well; it is probably going to be a while until another mission takes place. They still have three other shuttles, but those will not be flying anytime soon with the current turn of events. Then again, all of the really promising space telescopes are either already in orbit or will not be ready for a couple more years, so it doesn't matter as much as it could have.

Does anyone else find it tragicly ironic that the shuttle, with the first isreali astronaut, crashed in Palastine Texas?

heh, I noticed that too. Some kind of symbolic meaning intended there, maybe?

Actually, regardless of what the investigation comittees conclude, if the US government is smart then they would blame it on terrorist actions anyway. (two possible scenarios there are that an undetected pilot nearby launched an air-to-air missile or that a bomb was placed unboard before the launch) Now I will be particularly interested in seeing what the global responses to this are... (get ready for some dancing in the streets )

I mean, Christ, seven people died. It's not that big of a deal. More people die from choking on Smarties, every day.

And it's not like they thought there was no element of risk involved in strapping yourself to the back of one of the largest rockets in the world and shooting yourself into a radioactive vacuum several dozen miles up.

People see an explosion and all of a sudden it's a tradgey.

You summed up my thoughts on this very well. Space missions are risky business and one cannot expect success every time. As that Vasudan pilot says, "no sorrow but vengeance." It is more important to learn what exactly went wrong and conduct future missions accordingly.

I think the problem is that everyone expects the Shuttle to fly every mission perfectly. Apparently even NASA themselves expected to have a disaster every 100 missions or so.

In that case they are doing a pretty good job of sticking to that requirement, since there have been some 117 successful missions since the Challenger incident.