Have you seen the photo of the $240 million satellite that fell over? LOL

http://www.msnbc.com/news/964067.asp

"A nearly completed, $239 million weather satellite toppled to the
floor as it was being moved at a Lockheed Martin plant and was
seriously damaged, officials said Tuesday." *
* *
"According to a source close to the program, bolts that were supposed
to secure the satellite to the "turn over cart" had been removed a day
earlier by a crew working on another satellite project. The crew
working on NOAA-N Prime did not notice the bolts were missing when
they tried to flip the satellite, the source said, speaking on
condition of anonymity."

Ellen

In article ,
ElleninLosAngeles wrote:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/964067.asp

At least they got it in the horizontal :-)

My kingdom lost for the want of a nail... or rather, my satellite in the
horizontal, QUICK, for the want of 24 bolts.

-Dan

Imagine being one of the workers involved

Talk about a bad day

"Hallerb" wrote:
Imagine being one of the workers involved

C'mon Bob... be consistent.

Blame it on management.


:/

Roger
--
Roger Balettie
former Flight Dynamics Officer
Space Shuttle Mission Control
http://www.balettie.com/

Well, not seen it, but from description, it sounds like it was lucky nobody
was in the way when it went. You would think that some tie down clamps would
have been in place if it was being left overnight unfastened to anything
anyway, just in case of accidents. health and safety needs a kick up the
rear end.

So, I'd imagine its a rebuild then?

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________
__________________________________


"ElleninLosAngeles" wrote in message
om...
| http://www.msnbc.com/news/964067.asp
|
| "A nearly completed, $239 million weather satellite toppled to the
| floor as it was being moved at a Lockheed Martin plant and was
| seriously damaged, officials said Tuesday."
|
| "According to a source close to the program, bolts that were supposed
| to secure the satellite to the "turn over cart" had been removed a day
| earlier by a crew working on another satellite project. The crew
| working on NOAA-N Prime did not notice the bolts were missing when
| they tried to flip the satellite, the source said, speaking on
| condition of anonymity."
|
| Ellen


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.518 / Virus Database: 316 - Release Date: 11/09/03

In article ,
says...
Well, not seen it, but from description, it sounds like it was lucky nobody
was in the way when it went. You would think that some tie down clamps would
have been in place if it was being left overnight unfastened to anything
anyway, just in case of accidents. health and safety needs a kick up the
rear end.

So, I'd imagine its a rebuild then?

Probably. Although this is not exactly unheard-of in the space biz. I
was re-reading the Apollo Spacecraft Chronology the other night, and
among the items listed were two incidents of hardware damage due to
stupidity. In one case, a Block I Apollo CM was being hoisted from one
place on the factory floor to another when it slipped out of the crane
harness and fell 1.8 meters to the concrete floor, resulting in "serious
damage." In another case, the interstage ring meant to fit between an S-
IC and S-II stage was set on the floor of the VAB, awaiting its placement
in a flight vehicle (very possibly in AS-501), but was set too close to a
large, power-driven door. The door was opened and slammed into the ring,
causing serious damage.

These incidents show that people make mistakes, and some of the mistakes
result in hardware damage. Sometimes severe hardware damage.

What it all comes down to is that NO system can ever be made foolproof,
because fools are so ingenious...

--

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for | Doug Van Dorn
thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup |

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
...
Well, not seen it, but from description, it sounds like it was lucky
nobody
was in the way when it went. You would think that some tie down clamps
would
have been in place if it was being left overnight unfastened to anything
anyway, just in case of accidents. health and safety needs a kick up the
rear end.


I think you missed the full story. It WAS bolted down. Or so they thought.
A different team came along and essentially "borrowed" the bolts for their
own use and didn't tell anyone.

Of course the team for the satellite was supposed to double check that the
bolts were still there. :-)




So, I'd imagine its a rebuild then?

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:

Doug... wrote:
Probably. Although this is not exactly unheard-of in the space biz. I
was re-reading the Apollo Spacecraft Chronology the other night, and
among the items listed were two incidents of hardware damage due to
stupidity.

You forgot the most famous case of such damage...

Apollo 13's LOX tank.

There's also the damage to the S-IVB LOX dome on 15 IIRC.

These incidents show that people make mistakes, and some of the
mistakes result in hardware damage. Sometimes severe hardware
damage.

And it also shows such incidents happened on the all-holy perfect
template for the future what the Apollo program is frequently held to
be.

D.
--
The STS-107 Columbia Loss FAQ can be found
at the following URLs:

Text-Only Version:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq.html

Enhanced HTML Version:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq_x.html

Corrections, comments, and additions should be
e-mailed to , as well as posted to
sci.space.history and sci.space.shuttle for
discussion.

"Roger Balettie" wrote in message
...
"Hallerb" wrote:
Imagine being one of the workers involved

C'mon Bob... be consistent.

Blame it on management.

No, that's DCRAZY. Bob's task now is to make five or six posts over the next
few days with titles like:

"What happns when a satlitte falls over? "
"If a stellite falls on you what do you do?"
"I think abot sateltiteses falling on me all the time"
"In 1998 a satellite almost fell on somone WHY WAS IT COVERED UP"
"Did you evr see that Northren Exposure eipisoded where maggies boyfriend
was killed by a satelite"

Eh, this is too easy to be any fun...

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
...
Well, not seen it, but from description, it sounds like it was lucky
nobody
was in the way when it went. You would think that some tie down clamps
would
have been in place if it was being left overnight unfastened to anything
anyway, just in case of accidents. health and safety needs a kick up the
rear end.

So, I'd imagine its a rebuild then?

My uneducated guess would be that the upper 2/3rds (at least from the yellow
part upwards) are going to need repair and inspection.

Oh wait... I forgot, you're blind. OK... The satellite is a long
rectangular box-type truss structure with a yellow covering over the middle
50% of its length. There are wires and small box-like assemblies on this
truss, which is maybe 15-18 feet long. This structure sits on top of what
looks like a small inverted salad bowl about 6 feet in diamter. The whole
thing has fallen sideways off of a frame of some sort onto the floor, so the
top of the truss is on the floor and the salad-bowl bottom is about a yard
off the floor, still on the frame. There's some expensive looking assemblies
on top that are squished and bent, and the upper corner of the yellow
covering is touching the floor. It looks like about 25-30% of the satellite
is actually in contact with the floor.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall for the meetings that result from this...
"OK... Who dropped our satellite?"