Columbia Investigators Fire Foam Insulation at Shuttle Wing, Blowing Open 2-Foot Hole; The crowd of about 100 gasped and cried, "Wow!" when the foam hit.

Shuttle Foam Test Yields Hole in Wing
Columbia Investigators Fire Foam Insulation at Shuttle Wing, Blowing
Open 2-Foot Hole

The Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO July 7
The team investigating the Columbia disaster fired a chunk of foam
insulation at shuttle wing parts Monday and blew open a gaping 2-foot
hole, offering dramatic evidence to support the theory of what doomed
the spaceship.

The crowd of about 100 gasped and cried, "Wow!" when the foam hit.

The foam struck roughly the same spot where insulation that broke off
Columbia's big external fuel tank during launch smashed into the
shuttle's wing. Investigators believe the damage led to the ship's
destruction during re-entry over Texas in February, killing all seven
astronauts.

It was the seventh and final foam-impact test by the Columbia Accident
Investigation Board, and it yielded by far the most severe damage.

The 1.67-pound piece of fuel tank foam insulation shot out of a
35-foot nitrogen-pressurized gun and slammed into a carbon-reinforced
panel removed from shuttle Atlantis.

The countdown boomed through loudspeakers, and the crack of the foam
coming out at more than 500 mph reverberated in the field where the
test was conducted.

Twelve high-speed cameras six inside the wing mock-up and six outside
captured the event. Hundreds of sensors registered movements, stresses
and other conditions.

NASA will continue gathering more information about the poorly
understood pieces that line the vulnerable leading edges of shuttle
wings, board member Scott Hubbard said.

One month ago, another carbon shuttle wing panel smaller and farther
inboard was cracked by the impact, in addition to an adjoining seal.
This time, the entire 11 1/2-inch width of the foam chunk rather than
just a corner during previous tests hit the wing, putting maximum
stress on the suspect area.

"Jay" wrote in message
s.com...
Shuttle Foam Test Yields Hole in Wing
Columbia Investigators Fire Foam Insulation at Shuttle Wing, Blowing
Open 2-Foot Hole


WOW :O

Doug

Good article at

http://www.msnbc.com/news/867336.asp?0cv=CB10#BODY



Shuttle Foam Test Yields Hole in Wing
Columbia Investigators Fire Foam Insulation at Shuttle Wing, Blowing
Open 2-Foot Hole





-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----

On Mon, 7 Jul 2003 17:50:55 -0400, "Lynndel Humphreys" wrote:

Good article at

http://www.msnbc.com/news/867336.asp?0cv=CB10#BODY

From the article-

“There’s a lot of collateral damage,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard also said he believed the test showed that it
would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to repair
the foam damage during orbit.

If an in-orbit repair capability is one of the requirements for
a return to flight, what do they do now?

Dale

On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 14:55:37 -0700, Dale wrote:
If an in-orbit repair capability is one of the requirements for
a return to flight, what do they do now?

Um, redesign the fuel tank so it doesn't shed foam on liftoff?


Ron
-
http://www.christianfamilywebsite.com
http://www.iswizards.com
Definition: Nelp: Contraction of "no help". Colloquial: Help
messages that are of no help whatsoever. Pretains to help files,
messages or documentation that convey no useful information, or
pedantically repeat the blindingly obvious.

Jay wrote:
Shuttle Foam Test Yields Hole in Wing
Columbia Investigators Fire Foam Insulation at Shuttle Wing, Blowing
Open 2-Foot Hole


Picture of hole at Houston's KHOU-TV 11 Website:

http://www.khou.com/



Rusty Barton - Antelope, California

Visit my Titan 1 ICBM Website at:

http://www.geocities.com/titan_1_missile

--
Direct access to this group with http://web2news.com
http://web2news.com/?sci.space.shuttle
To contact in private, remove nn7ospp+9a-m

If an in-orbit repair capability is one of the requirements for
a return to flight, what do they do now?

It is my understanding there is no repair option for the RCC. It is a risk
of flight just as birds have been known to bring down planes. The RCC is a
TPS so a protection system for the TPS seems reasonable. Just like driving a
car there is a risk of a wreck. Safety first but would you stop cars,planes,
or trains after the first accidents. Or would you stop going into tall
buildings because an elevator fails? The risk is not to minimize risk or to
minimize risk.




-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----

My god.

Picture of hole at Houston's KHOU-TV 11 Website:

http://www.khou.com/

If an in-orbit repair capability is one of the requirements for
a return to flight, what do they do now?

Dale

Redesign time/

Sure looks real tricky to fix in flight.
Hand me that duct tape.

Yeah -- duct tape made up of RCC. That's the ticket! (Yeah, right...)

Better idea than using the cargo bay doors as thrust reversers.




-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----