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Participated in two threads (here and here) and decided to repeat my words here.
• We should avoid confusing religious and philosophical issues with technical issues. If you want to find a "meaning" to this, it's the former; if you want to know why this happened and how to fix the problem, it's the latter.
• [Jewish luck] Yes, there was a Jewish astronaut in Columbia and there was one in Challenger. So what? There were 3 large catastrophes in the US space program (Apollo 1 in training, Challenger on liftoff, Columbia on landing) as well as 3 large catastrophes in the Soviet space program (Bondarenko in training, Soyuz 1 on landing, Soyuz 11 on landing). Jews, if you insist on counting, were present in 2 of the 6 cases, and did not pilot either craft. On the other hand, there were several Jewish astro- and cosmonauts whose missions were completed successfully.
• What could have been done, had they had a chance to know about the problem in advance? They could not walk around the shuttle, because there were no technical means for that. But they could dock at the ISS (International Space Station), since the docking mechanisms are unified. This is a difficult maneuver, but no more difficult than landing. Both crafts can maneuver, in case there was not enough fuel in the shuttle tanks. Then the shuttle crew could use the attached Soyuz craft to land, and another Soyuz would have to be launched quickly (this is the tricky part, since there is no replacement Soyuz craft ready, AFAIK, but I am sure a Progress could be adapted, since it is essentially a modified Soyuz anyway). Fuel and other consumables could be replaced by the Progress ready to launch (it would have to be repacked, of course). In addition, the shuttle attached to the station could be space-walked, the problem diagnozed and fixed, if possible.
Disclaimer: I have no idea what I am talking about. I just think this is a better way to commemorate, and I prefer commemoration to commiseration.
• We should avoid confusing religious and philosophical issues with technical issues. If you want to find a "meaning" to this, it's the former; if you want to know why this happened and how to fix the problem, it's the latter.
• [Jewish luck] Yes, there was a Jewish astronaut in Columbia and there was one in Challenger. So what? There were 3 large catastrophes in the US space program (Apollo 1 in training, Challenger on liftoff, Columbia on landing) as well as 3 large catastrophes in the Soviet space program (Bondarenko in training, Soyuz 1 on landing, Soyuz 11 on landing). Jews, if you insist on counting, were present in 2 of the 6 cases, and did not pilot either craft. On the other hand, there were several Jewish astro- and cosmonauts whose missions were completed successfully.
• What could have been done, had they had a chance to know about the problem in advance? They could not walk around the shuttle, because there were no technical means for that. But they could dock at the ISS (International Space Station), since the docking mechanisms are unified. This is a difficult maneuver, but no more difficult than landing. Both crafts can maneuver, in case there was not enough fuel in the shuttle tanks. Then the shuttle crew could use the attached Soyuz craft to land, and another Soyuz would have to be launched quickly (this is the tricky part, since there is no replacement Soyuz craft ready, AFAIK, but I am sure a Progress could be adapted, since it is essentially a modified Soyuz anyway). Fuel and other consumables could be replaced by the Progress ready to launch (it would have to be repacked, of course). In addition, the shuttle attached to the station could be space-walked, the problem diagnozed and fixed, if possible.
Disclaimer: I have no idea what I am talking about. I just think this is a better way to commemorate, and I prefer commemoration to commiseration.
no subject
Could you check that ?
I wonder if one could adjust the trajectory of descent if you know it is probable you'll be
losing protection tiles.
no subject
Could you check that ?
Columbia was not logistically in the ISS program, that's true. Was it not equipped for docking? Let me see waht I can find...
I wonder if one could adjust the trajectory of descent if you know it is probable you'll be
losing protection tiles.
If the tiles are not well attached, they are going to be lost whatever the trajectory. I cannot imagine there is any part of the vehicle surface where the external forces would be so soft as to let what is essentially a partially detached tile stay stuck.
Tiles are a weak spot in the design. Perhaps the weakest spot, because I do not see how it could be fixed at all (save for developing an even stronger glue, if that is a solution).
Shuttles are not a particularly good idea anyway. They are too expensive to operate, and the failure rate is too high. But it is good to have more than one way to do things, and in addition to the (succesful, IMHO) Soyuz capsule, it would be good to have an alternative. Just something more reliable than what we have now.