NM0 586 Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 I heard Columbia's boom 10 years ago. Was outside in the morning clearing the chili patch. It was such a distinct sound that I went in the house and checked the news to see what happened. There was debris in our state. What a way to go out.....condolences to the families. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
armory 142 Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 "Acts 2:19 " I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke." Shine on Columbia. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NM0 586 Posted February 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 No one experienced/heard the Colombia breakup? Also remember Challenger on the news in friends dorms between classes while in college. Again...what a way to go, and I don't mean that in a negative way. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zombiehunter762 376 Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 I remember Challenger. I was in the 7th grade and we where outside watching it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mogunner 240 Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 My father-in-law was an engineer for Lockheed in CA at the time of the Challenger explosion, worked in the "blue building" at the Santa Clara facility. He was immediately shipped out to help with the investigation, as part of his work was the wiring and electrical systems. We had a chunk of the insulation that covers the outside of the shuttle, that was amazing stuff. He heated it up with torch till it was red hot then tossed it at me. Not thinking, I caught it...in the time it took to "fly" the 5-6 feet between us it was room temp. Shoulda snagged it when I left the wife but was about the farthest thing from priority at the time, then she screwed up and lost the house with everything in it. Bet the people cleaning it out had no clue as to what it was... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
frz1197 128 Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 I went to school down Daytona. The landing before I went down to canaveral to hear the sonic booms and see it come in. Was pretty cool to see a large white spec right before it went under the trees. And sonic booms kick ass. I remember when Columbia went up, I didnt go out side to watch. Figured there would be a bunch more to see. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DogMan 2,343 Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 I remember watching the very first shuttle launch an thinking....."OK, this is just a big bomb going through a controlled explosion. Too many things have to go right here. This just can't go right every time." A few years later......Challenger. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
devildogdakota 804 Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 I remember watching the Challenger launching live on television in high school. What a tragedy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Maxwelhse 1,285 Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 I remember watching the Challenger launching live on television in high school. What a tragedy. Same here... Except I was in 5th grade. I believe it was the last live broadcast shuttle launch... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
patriot 7,197 Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 I remember that. I was in stationed at NATO/SHAPE at the time. One of my buddies knew Christa McAuliffe. He took it pretty hard. All those good people burned to death. What a horrible way to go, to die screaming. RIP. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Voltia 375 Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 I grew up in Florida. I take a lot of the things people say about the shuttle and "oh it can't go right every time" personally. There was a risk analysis done on the shuttle program, and the amount of incidents about equaled the predictions. But, let me tell you something. On the day they launched the Challenger and she went up, it was cold. Way colder than normal. Ice on the launchpad. Outside of parameters. They knew about the problem that caused the explosion. Engineers told executives. Executives didn't listen. People died. Let me tell you something else. Columbia went down due to a hole in the thermal tiles. It was caused by a chunk of foam breaking off of the tank. That foam was an "environmentally friendly foam" that wasn't tested enough that was forced on the program by morons. If it hadn't of been used, Columbia would have lived. Once again, engineers told executives, they didn't listen, people died. People get upset when engineering fails, and they want to blame the engineers. That bridge that fell in Minnesota years ago. Overloaded beyond spec. No one cared, shoot the engineer. Never mind that it was operating outside of parameters. Moral of this rant is that the shuttle's engineering program was as damn close to perfect as the USA has ever gotten, and to apply some sort of spit on the ground, hitch your pants and say something like "Welp, we wuz trying to touch God and He done touched back." thinking is extremely disrespectful to thousands of people, all of whom are smarter than you or I (and I have a few engineering degrees myself) who made the best spacecraft the world has had yet go. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Maxwelhse 1,285 Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 People get upset when engineering fails, and they want to blame the engineers. That bridge that fell in Minnesota years ago. Overloadedbeyond spec. No one cared, shoot the engineer. Never mind that it was operating outside of parameters. As an ME, I tell people this ALL the time. If we had our way nothing would ever wear out. It would also cost a $bazillion and weigh 5x more than it does today. When it comes to safety related stuff, I've flat out refused to compromise before. I've gotten my way every single time once it got high enough. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mancat 2,368 Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 The worst part about it, is something that was recently revealed. That is that NASA fully expected the shuttle to breakup on re-entry, and deliberately chose not to inform the crew. This is beyond all logic to me. Rather than let the crew contact family, friends, and prepare what may have been their final goodbyes, they got nothing. NASA chose to simply let them die without even so much as a hint that their re-entry may not go off as planned. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Voltia 375 Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 I'd love to see a source on that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bws1 58 Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 I remember both tragidies as if they were yesterday. Both times I was driving, both times they broke into radio programming to announce what happened and both times I pulled over and cried. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mancat 2,368 Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 (edited) I'd love to see a source on that. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/01/columbia-space-shuttle-anniversary-nasa http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/nasa-knew-space-shuttle-columbia-1569567 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/columbia-shuttle-crew-told-problem-reentry/story?id=18366185 "Don't you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?" Edited February 4, 2013 by mancat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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