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Old July 28th 05, 07:56 PM
Chris L Peterson
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On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 07:10:22 -0400, John Steinberg
wrote:

And speaking of shuttle foam, can someone explain the physics involved
in what most of us have already seen, i.e., big hunk of foam coming
off big external fuel tank. Was the shuttle in the vacuum of space at
the time of *separation?


The foam came off the ET after the SRBs were jettisoned. So the shuttle
was 40 miles high, maybe more. Not a hard vacuum, but close enough if
you had to suck it. Still, given the launch vehicle velocity, there were
aerodynamic forces present.

Presumably, this failure was like others- moisture got behind the foam,
froze, and cracked a section. Then all it took was a combination of
vibration, thermal effects, and aerodynamics to pull it away.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com