Re: Columbia Last Words: "We are ballasting." ?

[Doug...]

In article >,
says...
>
>
> OM wrote:
>
> > On Sat, 28 Jun 2003 02:31:59 -0400, Tom Whicker
> > > wrote:
> >
> > >What you guys are trying to call "static" is in fact a valid A/G
> > >transmission that was being chopped by the plasma trail.
> >
> > ...Or, more specifically, a chaff effect caused by melting aluminum
> > getting caught in the plasma trail and momentarily jamming the uplink
> > to TDRS.
> >
> > >Approximately 50% of the data words are missing, but the
> > >existing data is very obviously human speech.
> >
> > ...Perhaps, but I can pretty much guarantee that no matter how many
> > messiahs Lizzy has partying in her fat gut, they'll never be able to
> > fill in the blanks so that the complete phrase says anything other
> > than what would be expected during routine communications.
> >
>
> Well, that has been my basic message all along! I only got into
> analyzing the garbled audio from the perspective of a "debunker".
> Back in early February, there were a bunch of kooks coming up
> with quotes like "doomed" and "burning" , etc. It really got my
> blood pressure up.
>
> So I decided to look at the audio with all
> the tools I could gather.
>
> Of course I found none of the hysterical stuff was there,
> but in the process of perhaps 100 hours of work (most of Feb,
> lots of March), I became more and more convinced that
> the garble is indeed A/G transmission from the orbiter.

I felt it was garbled voice transmission from the first time I heard it.
The only thing that doesn't sound like "routine communications" is very
early in the static period, where a very clear transmission of what
sounds like a heavy breath right into the microphone comes through. I
recognize the sound from hearing it several times during EVAs, especially
when the crew is doing some fairly heavy work. Note, you can get this
sound any time you breath right into the mike -- it may have been quite
routine, one of the crew may have just turned his/her head sideways and
taken a big breath. Nothing to indicate that something was "wrong"...

> If conspiracy nuts and religious weirdo's are going to post
> insane stuff about the audio, then it's up to somebody
> to give a counter argument. But it is also disingenuous to
> just say...."it's static; you're crazy." The truth is a
> bit more complicated.
>
> Sure, NASA could give us a much better idea about the
> transmissions. But I'm sure they've decided it has no
> bearing whatsoever on the investigation, so why open
> a can of worms that the public has already forgotten about?
> Can't blame them. But it would be a nice tribute to the
> crew to know how cool they were right up to the end!

I have a fascination for what was said... I certainly don't feel that I
have a "right to know," but I'd like to hear it, regardless.

One small note -- I noticed that the very end of the entry videotape,
when the camera has been stowed (i.e., not being handheld), shows some
cabling (possibly back to the camera) which seems to be moving around
quite a bit. I don't recall that degree of vibration on earlier entry
tapes/films -- the entries tend to fly quite smoothly, is my
understanding. I keep wondering whether the crew may have been noticing
some unusual vibrations by the time of the staticked transmissions, and
were trying to comment that they seemed to be feeling more buffeting than
was normal... seems to make more sense than "ballasting" and it scans
quite similarly.

--

I don't expect life to be fair; | Doug Van Dorn
I expect it to be unfair in my favor! |

[cndc]

Doug writes:

> I felt it was garbled voice transmission from the first time I heard
> it. The only thing that doesn't sound like "routine communications"
> is very early in the static period, where a very clear transmission
> of what sounds like a heavy breath right into the microphone comes
> through. I recognize the sound from hearing it several times during
> EVAs, especially when the crew is doing some fairly heavy work.
> Note, you can get this sound any time you breath right into the mike
> -- it may have been quite routine, one of the crew may have just
> turned his/her head sideways and taken a big breath. Nothing to
> indicate that something was "wrong"...

As I understand it, the astronauts normally do not have their vocal
communication set to automatic but rather they need to press a button
to speak on re-entry, which makes that "eerzing" breath sound strange
- they would have been pressing the button to speak or they switched
over to automatic noticing something was amiss.

> One small note -- I noticed that the very end of the entry
> videotape, when the camera has been stowed (i.e., not being
> handheld), shows some cabling (possibly back to the camera) which
> seems to be moving around quite a bit. I don't recall that degree
> of vibration on earlier entry tapes/films -- the entries tend to fly
> quite smoothly, is my understanding. I keep wondering whether the
> crew may have been noticing some unusual vibrations by the time of
> the staticked transmissions, and were trying to comment that they
> seemed to be feeling more buffeting than was normal... seems to make
> more sense than "ballasting" and it scans quite similarly.

"Roger, uh,..." buffeting more than usual?

Elizabeth

[Doug...]

In article >,
says...
>
> <snip>
>
> > One small note -- I noticed that the very end of the entry
> > videotape, when the camera has been stowed (i.e., not being
> > handheld), shows some cabling (possibly back to the camera) which
> > seems to be moving around quite a bit. I don't recall that degree
> > of vibration on earlier entry tapes/films -- the entries tend to fly
> > quite smoothly, is my understanding. I keep wondering whether the
> > crew may have been noticing some unusual vibrations by the time of
> > the staticked transmissions, and were trying to comment that they
> > seemed to be feeling more buffeting than was normal... seems to make
> > more sense than "ballasting" and it scans quite similarly.
>
> "Roger, uh,..." buffeting more than usual?

Perhaps not even a full statement, at that point. Husband was responding
to Houston's call, he could have been saying something about "both tires
are showing flags" or something like that... but it occurs to me that you
might get some kind of audio indication onboard the shuttle when you lose
comm off the tail, a brief burst of static or somesuch, and that Husband
may not even have finished his thought.

I dunno, it always seemed to me that the "uh" after the "Roger," in the
last clear transmission was a verbal pause while Husband tried to
evaluate the tire pressure message from Houston, integrate it into what
he was seeing on his cockpit displays, and with how he was feeling the
vehicle fly through the seat of his pants. He might have been trying to
clarify the tire pressure messages, or he might have been trying to
correlate them with other symptoms of problems that may just at that
point have begun to make themselves apparent to the crew. We just don't
have the data to be sure.

--

I don't expect life to be fair; | Doug Van Dorn
I expect it to be unfair in my favor! |