Jorge R. Frank wrote:

Stuf4 wrote in
:

(I don't even remember it
addressing the option of sending an astronaut on EVA at the end of the
arm to look at the wing from the top to get an idea of how badly it
was damaged.)

1) Columbia did not carry the RMS on STS-107.

2) The CAIB addressed the option of an inspection EVA - without the arm -
in Volume 1, Section 6.4, page 173.

or 3) take a few pictures of the damage, because ?We couldn?t do anything
about it anyway. We were in the best possible position, and so we elected
not to take any pictures...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077590/
Again, one end of the spectrum, but not the other...could even be argued a
majority view point among certain groups at NASA at the time. If your
interested, here is one of the better articles from back then on this
subject of being in the "best possible position"
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200311/langewiesche
....The caib investigator who asked the engineers what conclusion they had
drawn at the time from management's refusal later said to me, "They all
thought, 'Well, none of us have a security clearance high enough to view
any of this imagery.' They talked about this openly among themselves, and
they figured one of three things:

"'One: The "no" means that management's already got photos, and the damage
isn't too bad. They can't show us the photos, because we don't have the
security clearance, and they can't tell us they have the photos, or tell us
the damage isn't bad, because that tells us how accurate the photos are?and
we don't have the security clearance. But wait a minute, if that's the
case, then what're we doing here? Why are we doing the analysis? So no,
that can't be right.

"'Okay, then, two: They already took the photos, and the damage is so severe
that there's no hope for recovery. Well ... that can't be right either,
because in that case, why are we doing the analysis?

"'Okay, then, three: They took the photos. They can't tell us they took the
photos, and the photos don't give us clear definition. So we need to do the
analysis. That's gotta be it!'"

So, the both ends of the spectrum were present at NASA during the disaster.
--
Craig Fink
Courtesy E-Mail Welcome @