O'Keefe is supposed to speak at 1pm (EST) about the situation, but I doubt that there will be any answers at this point.

 

This is so sad.

My father just told me some of the thermal tiles had come off the shuttle when it took off on January 16.

 

i think they should do some major updates to the remaining shuttle or shuttles
or design some completely new ones

 

They have sevral more shattles, amd i think it was some sort of sealing foam that fell on take off, not a thermal tile. a wish the best to all the family's of those invalved

 

NASA has launched a full investigation to try to determine the cause of the break up. They are currently treating the take-off incident and the break up as two totally unrelated events. You can bet that the entire fleet is grounded until this is straightened out (cause known, fix for rest of fleet).

The remaining astronauts on the ISS are not stranded, as they have a Soyuz "life boat" that they can use for re-entry if they need to.

The entire shuttle fleet has recently recieved major updates in their computer and avionics systems.

Hopefully this will help re-launch the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) to determine the feasability and technology required for a 2nd and/or 3rd generation reusable launch vehicle.

Currently the shuttles aren't planned to be replaced until after 2020...

 

sad day for sure,why not push forward a new shuttle of some sort money? well whats this going to cost.how many more good people lost on a friggin 60s design.

 

If you have ever flown on a 727, 737, or 747, chances are it is 30yrs old, and some up to 40 yrs old. Aircraft and space craft are inspected and basically rebuilt so many times that age is not the controlling factor, it is cycles, or times flown. In aviation terms, that shuttle is still a baby at 28 flights.

Josh

 

As Ronald Reagan said after the previous shuttle disaster -



quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Rick D. Husband, Commander
William C. McCool, Pilot
Michael P. Anderson, Payload Commander
David M. Brown, Mission Specialist
Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist
Laurel Clark, Mission Specialist
Ilan Ramon, Payload Specialist

We salute you, and will mourn with your families.

Let us hope that this does not stop us reaching for the stars.

Josh

 

Well, first off, the suttles were designd for about 100 flights each, the colombia is the oldest, with only 28 flights, and the cost of one shuttle is 2 point something bilion, and thats the cost of building it, not designing it.
Truly a sad day, but did you hear whats going on in iraq? their dancing in the streets! those basterds!

 

has anyone been injured on the ground?ihave not seen anything reported on it if so.maybe someone more local could fill us in if it has.and what would you expect from those crazy iraq they just wish it had landed on the white house.