Columbia Accident Board Preliminary Recommendations

fwc writes "The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) has released some preliminary recommendations to NASA - To do a better job at inspecting the leading edge of the shuttle's wings, and also to ensure that pictures of the orbiter are taken while in orbit. More recommendations are to follow in the full report which is expected in June. More detailed information on the recommendations are at space.com and spaceflightnow.com. NASA Administrator O'Keefe seems optimistic that they will be able to return the shuttle fleet to flight by the end of the year since there has been no show-stopping problems which have been discovered during the investigation."

show-stopping problems

[ih8apple]

The problem I have with there being no "show-stopping problems" is that they are white-washing the risk away. There is inherent risk in space flight and the public is stupid if they think that it's now somehow safe (until they are shocked when the next O-Ring or Leading-Edge-of-the-Wing fails.)

Here's a good analysis from 1996 [gladwell.com] about the Challenger disaster and inherent risk that people need to accept.

Funny man

[iworm]

from the picking-up-the-pieces dept.

Michael, you are either (a) thoughtless or (b) have one sick sense of humour. Or both.

Re:Wait a sec...

[Wyatt Earp]

A chunk of the craft didn't fall off.

Some insulation on the fuel tank did.

So far the Columbia Accident board has said that before resuming shuttle missions NASA must do a better job inspecting the leading edge of the spaceplanes' wings and ensure that the nation's spy satellites capture detailed images of the orbiter during each flight.

Re:Show stoppers?

[codegen]

Would you use software that crashed 1-in-50 times

You mean like Windows 95, which could not stay up for more than 49 days continuously (MS technote Q216641)?

Re:show-stopping problems

[amabbi]

you are oversimplying things. the soyuz safety record, i believe, is actually worse than the shuttles (the shuttle had 2 catastrophic failures in 140 some-odd flights, the soyuz had 2 catastrophic failures in 130 some-odd flights.. or something to that effect). previous shuttle flights have come back with meteor damage, wing damage, tile damage..

Re:Interesting thought: Build new shuttles!

[HarveyBirdman]

I stopped caring about about the US's image long ago. We could be the biggest, bestest favorite uncle to everyone in the world, and we'd still be hated. The global community does not work like a junior high school class- playing the popularity contest game will only get you frustrated misery. There's billions of people out there who only understand one thing: "mess with me or mine, and pay the consequences." Pacifists get eaten for lunch. The human animal is basically rabid even in areas where the thin veneer of civilized society is more than one coat thick.

I don't like it, but I'm an engineer and a scientist. I have to accept reality as it is, and act accordingly. It blows white hot chunks of suckiness that the world is like this, but ignoring it won't change it. Clinging to "can't we all get along" will fail. Those "million Bin Ladens" would have come about anyway despite the hand-wringing of the various peanut galleries of thew world.

I hate to break it to everyone, but these are the early shots of a a WWIII that has been brewing for a very long time- since before either President Bushes were even born. The first real shots were fired (IMHO) in Munich in 1972. This is a knock-down, drag-out fight for the future of civilization itself. By the end of this century, theology, ideology, economics and everything else we know today will unrecognizable to contemporary eyes.

Yeah, it stinks, but people who like science and would rather tinker with a computer or their car are hugely outnumbered by those who would rather poke their nose into other people's business, or those that can't get through a day without controlling someone else's life- be they a Western politician or an Eastern imam.

I'd rather be researching nuclear fusion and building industrial complexes out at L5 and peering through 50 meter lunar farside telescopes. Problem is the world has other ideas.

Smoking Gun? Launch data showed temp spike.

[dasboy]

ABC News [go.com] has an article [go.com] that discusses data from the magnetic tape of the OESS (Orbiter Experiment Support System). According to the article, the launch data show a spike in temperature just after the foam struck the leading edge of the left wing. The spike was in the area of a sensor behind one of the left wing's spars and was registered for 40 seconds. It goes on to say that this sensor would have normally shown a steady to decreasing temperature under normal conditions.