At 11:52 AM 2/8/2003 -0500, you wrote: >If NASA had realized there was a problem there are many other hypothetical >alternatives like staying in orbit longer, going to the international space >station, sending up a another space shuttle or Russian rockets with empty >space escape pods like the one pod that is attached to the international >space station now for use in an emergency. Solutions could have been found >if the problem had been detected. David Brown while in orbit did take >pictures of the left wing for some reason but didn't transmit them to earth >and of course they were lost with the ship. > >In a message dated 2/8/03 9:57:33 AM Eastern Standard Time, >sgflack@prodigy.net writes: > Guys, There was no way for the shuttle to change orbits to match the space station. They had no gear that I am aware of to allow transfer to another vehicle - rescue or otherwise. Had they any clue that the wing was damaged they would not have come down. It is not difficult to imagine the psychological effect a disabled shuttle with no hope for rescue or exploded orbiting debris and people would have. I hope the science policy-makers consider this. RE the pictures - given that all other indications were that the problem was with the left wing it seems reasonable to suspect that the smear visible in the picture is not a digital artifact. Telemetry data from when the picture was made 60 seconds or so before the break-up may indicate something. AZ Build a Lookaround! The Lookaround Book. http://www.panoramacamera.us
