From Paul Maxson:
"Dosco Jones" wrote ...

snip
Speak for yourself. I was actually doing something, and no, you don't get
to hear about it or about what happened. Important things happen in the
real world. For everything else, there's Usenet.

Like taking a ride in your new 350Z in California Mr. Two Balls? (Dos Cojones)
Welcome back Stuf.

I'm glad to be posting here again. I agree with DoscoJones' point
that important things happen in the real world (the people I contacted
had specialties in Shuttle Entry, Orbital Debris Impact and Crew
Training).

Not sure about the reason for DoscoJones being closed off. I am well
aware that there are many who read this forum who work at NASA. For
all he knows, I myself was at meetings with Leroy Cain, Wayne Hale,
Linda Ham, Ralph Roe and Ron Dittemore and that I had sat in the
trench craning my neck up to the big screens with Steve Stich, Digger
Carey, etc behind me.

Regardless of anything that happened within the walls of NASA, I am
not as quick to brush off the value of Usenet. Cyberspace happens to
be an integral part of the "real world". Over the last month alone,
there is a case where a large corporation responded to complaints
raised within a web forum - a cyber community. This corporation was
well aware that the reputation of their product was dependent upon the
information being shared within this niche community.

The most amazing part is the speed in which this corporation responded
(~2wks).

Prior to -107's fatal entry, I am certain that some combination of
Usenet, print media and network television would have had an impact on
NASA's decision making.


Now I can understand why people with technical knowledge and
experience who work within media circles plugged in to major networks
would be reluctant to go public with the story of the "STS-107 launch
anomoly". It's very possible that such action would have increased
the trauma by orders of magnitude with no positive effect on the end
result. That's the flipside of my original point. But no public
outcry occurred, so we will never know if it would have helped Rick
and his crew.

The best time to call a time out was *before* the mission. The
warning signs were there. Here's a link to a photo from February at
KSC showing Wayne Hale, Linda Ham, Ron Dittemore and Ralph Roe staring
at wreckage from Columbia:

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/st...lemanagers.jpg

Their facial expressions say it all.


~ CT