2/7/03 Hunt for secret shuttle part Probably looking for the point where the insulation hit the wing so it can be "disappeared".

2/7/03 Photos 'show damage' to shuttle wing "The damage is in roughly the same area where a piece of insulating foam appeared to strike the leading edge of the wing after breaking off the shuttle's main tank at lift-off. But there was no indication on Thursday night that the impact was the cause of the damage. " NASA would have you believe that a photo of a rock hitting a window together with the broken window is not proof that the rock broke the window. NASA is looking at a huge scandal over knowing that the wing was damaged at launch, and doing nothing about it for the 16 days the Shuttle was in orbit.

2/7/03 NASA Probing Air Force Photos of Shuttle "Although Kostelnik confirmed that NASA had received the military photos, he said it would be speculation to comment on what the photos show. " Yes, according to NASA, it's 'speculation' to say that the photos show a ragged hole in the wing where the ET insulation hit. NASA is just digging itself in deeper with this ongoing denial of what happened.

2/7/03 Damage to Columbia shuttle's wing before break-up

2/5/03 Astronauts knew of wing damage Sen. George Allen, R-Va., said in a televised speech on Tuesday that the brother of Columbia astronaut David Brown disclosed receiving an e-mail from orbit that conveyed the crew's "concern" about the left wing, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch reported in Wednesday's paper.

2/5/03 Good info on Columbia

Shades of Challenger

When Challenger exploded on launch January 28, 1986, the cause was quickly determined to be from a burn-through on the solid rocket booster caused by launching the spacecraft with frozen O-rings. Subsequent investigation showed that burn-throughs had happened before and concern raised, but the necessary changes were not made because of budgetary constraints, and because the prior burn-throughs had been relatively harmless. On Challenger, however, the burn-through from the SRB hit a major structural component, causing it to fail.

Now Columbia is gone, apparently from loss of heat tiles causes by a loss of insulation from the external tank. and once again we find that heat tiles have been lost on previous flights, as well as insulation from the external tank, and once again concerns were raised, but necessary changes were not made due to budgetary constraints, and because previous tile and insulation loss had been relatively harmless. On Columbia, the insulation from the external tank appears to have knocked loose a large number of tiles exposing a critical location to the heat of re-entry, causing the left wing of the shuttle to fail.

It was known a problem might have occurred at launch. But all of the tools built to deal with such a situation, to repair heat tiles in space, had been left behind. Budgetary constraints. It costs money to take along an extra EVA suit, the remote arm, and the tile repair materials, or the extra fuel needed to get over to the space station if something does go wrong.

7 people are dead and a national treasure evaporated, because someone looking at a budget decided you can pay for half a space flight and still get a complete mission. We've seen the same arrogance and stupidity before, in the men who decided to sail Titanic with fewer lifeboats, or that Hindenberg could be safely flown with hydrogen instead of helium while painted with powdered aluminum paint, or that Challenger could be launched knowing that the SRB had a tendency to spring leaks, especially when cold.

Barring a sudden "revelation" involving politically expedient "terrorists", I have no doubt that NASA itself will be made the scapegoat for the Columbia disaster. But in truth, Columbia was a victim of stinginess, and misplaced priorities. America's space program was one of the few aspects of our society that we could all look to with pride, yet it received minimal funding, far less than the money spent on the military.

As a nation, we all spend more on pizza than on the space program. And yet someone, last March, cut NASA's budget for the shuttle even more, and specifically complained about "inefficient safety systems". Not "ineffective", "inefficient", as in "too costly for the perceived benefit".

And that is the real reason Columbia lies scattered across the center of the United States. It was "cheaped" to death. Someone wanted space as a blue-light special. We're so busy preparing for war that someone forgot that space flight isn't just a flagpole in orbit. Space flight is not repeating the same mistakes over and over again because it looks less expensive to do it that way. Space flight is taking the time and energy to learn how to do it right. Because doing it right, not the flagpole in space, is what made America proud.

2/4/03 FOAM HAS PLAGUED NASA FOR 5 YEARS

2/4/03 Columbia "There will be those who claim sabotage or terrorism, but this appears to be nothing more than a freak accident that now holds the nation's attention. "

2/4/03 Networks milk story of shuttle disaster

2/4/03 Russian Ship Docks With Space Station Fears rise the US will abandon the Space Station.

2/4/03 Experts fired after questioning safety Panel had warned NASA program was headed for trouble

2/4/03 A Terrible 'Glitch' To Blame? Glitches happen. The idea is to have backups and safety systems to deal with them. Columbia didn't.

2/4/03 Many investors flee NASA contractors

2/3/03 CLOSE UP OF DEBRIS HITTING COLUMBIA'S WING There is no question but that the tiles on the underside of the wing were seriously damaged. I watch this over and over and cannot fathom how anyone could think this was not important enough to follow up on. The sin isn't that NASA could not save the crew. The sin is they did not try.

2/3/03 BBC replay of Columbia incident. Very complete.

2/3/03 A Look At Shuttle Debris

2/3/03 Sifting the Shuttle Debris for the Hand of God

Ohhh, that IS fast, CNN!

2/3/03 BUSH WARNED BUDGET CUTS THREATENED SHUTTLE SAFETY

2/3/03 Boeing and Lockheed Face Questions in Shuttle Inquiry Attention Air Force: Who built that plane you're bombing Iraq with?

2/3/03 NASA 'ignored' shuttle safety alert The "new" NASA keeps doing that, it seems. Challenger exploded when the "new" NASA ignored warnings from Morton Thiokol engineers about the behavior of frozen O-rings.

2/3/03 Project Prometheus

2/3/03 NASA retracts statement about Columbia crew remains

2/3/03 BREAKING: INTERNAL NASA MEMO WARNED OF POTENTIAL GASH TO LEFT WING THERMAL TILES FROM LAUNCH ACCIDENT. Gash estimated to be 7½ by 30 inches ! It is nonsense to suggest that a gash this size would not be a problem, since the tiles to the rear would be torn off in the slipstream during re-entry.

2/3/03 COLUMBIA CARRIED NUCLEAR MATERIALS Now we know why such a wide area was cordoned off around certain pieces.

2/3/03 Experts who warned of disaster claim NASA tried to gag them When you manage a science and engineering project, it helps to listen to the scientists and engineers.

2/2/03 Tragedy could unite Americans for war Talk about dancing on the graves...

2/2/03 Remains of all 7 astronauts have been recovered, NASA says Maybe.

2/2/03 NASA: Shuttle Temperature Rose Suddenly As more facts come out, it becomes more apparent that the left wing lost a significant number of thermal tiles on the underside due to the impact of the insulation falling away from the external tank. Without the remote arm to inspect, an EVA suit and tile repair kit to make repairs, or fuel to reach the space station, Columbia was doomed before it ever got into orbit.

2/2/03 NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe is Dick Cheney's man

2/2/03 Bush puts White House in crisis mode after shuttle loss

2/2/03 Israeli writer starts spinning Columbia as terror attack. Bush will be SO pleased! Here is the transcript of those final words. Mission Control: "Columbia, Houston we see your tire pressure messages and we did not copy your last." Columbia: "Roger, uh, ..." (transmission breaks off after the crew member starts to stay a word beginning with the sound "buh.") The "buh" appears to have been in response to the "did not copy your last".

2/2/03 "A piece of tile fell within 75 miles of President George W Bush's ranch in Crawford."(8th paragraph) Why don't you put that on your desk, Dubya, and look at it the next time you want to cut NASA's budget.

2/2/03 Australian astronomer's 'extraordinary account' of mishap This times out to 7 minutes before the break-up, consistent with the final telemetry. In hindsight, there must have been massive damage to the underside of that left wing where the ET insulation hit.

2/2/03 India mourns loss of astronaut

2/2/03 May 2002: NASA looking for old parts to keep space shuttles aloft The US can have the latest and greatest in weapons of war, but NASA was still using equipment most computer hobbyists would throw out!

2/2/03 COLUMBIA PAGE Columbia gets a permanent page to collect stories as they occur.

2/2/03 6 NASA scientists FIRED in March 2001 for warning about shuttle safety problems. Last 9 paragraphs. "Testimony at that hearing highlighted $229 million in budget cuts to shuttle safety upgrades in the last three years' budgets. "

"Testimony at that hearing highlighted $229 million in budget cuts to shuttle safety upgrades in the last three years' budgets. "

2/2/03 French astronaut says Columbia should have been discontinued "There should have a long time ago been "higher-performance spacecraft in operation for more ambitious missions, with a more constructive scientific aim...."

2/2/03 Circumventing the Memory Hole What did Leroy Cain say? (Major butt-covering in progress)

2/2/03 The space shuttle Columbia was "doomed" from the launch of the mission, a leading British scientist has claimed. Professor Andre Balogh, of London's Imperial College, told Sky News he thought the spacecraft had effectively been crippled on take-off. At the time, 16 days ago, a piece of protective foam was seen to have come loose as the shuttle left the ground, striking the shuttle's wing.

This is the crux of the disaster. NASA had ample reason to be concerned about the ET insulation hitting the orbiter wing, and yet did nothing about it, because all the systems designed to deal with damage to the tiles were not on the flight, because the budget for safety had been cut! "Testimony at that hearing highlighted $229 million in budget cuts to shuttle safety upgrades in the last three years' budgets. "

2/2/03 Columbia Flight Press Kit

2/2/03 Shuttle Crash & Smug NASA Managers "I F-ing Warned Them!"

2/2/03 NASA Unlikely to Build New Space Shuttle The design is outmoded. And here is a suggestion. Had NASA taken the cost of the original shuttle fleet, and instead of building just a few one-of-a-kind "prototypes", built an assembly line instead, NASA could have had a fleet of 30 shuttles for the same price as 5. Something to think about as we move forward.

2/2/03 Problems began on left wing

2/2/03 NASA got spare parts on the Web

2/2/03 How the Tragedy unfolded!

2/2/03 Columbia crew probably knew something was wrong

2/2/03 International space station crew retrievable even with shuttles grounded

2/2/03 "Eagles or vultures?" "So now we can get on with mourning seven people (and I do) while we are plotting to exterminate 800,000 more (who didn't sign up for a dangerous job consciously). "

From a year ago, here is WHY Columbia did not have the safety systems to deal with the emergency.

2/1/03 NASA budget cuts human flight, pushes nukes "The space shuttle program, which Bush administration budget documents scold for inefficient safety upgrades, would receive about $65 million less than its $3.3 billion last year. "

2/1/03 Fears of a catastrophic shuttle accident were raised last summer with the White House by a former Nasa engineer who pleaded for a presidential order to halt all further shuttle flights until safety issues had been addressed.

2/1/03 JUST WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO SHUTTLE STS-107?

BREAKING: SHUTTLE COLUMBIA BREAKS APART ON RE-ENTRY

HINDUSTAN TIMES: Portion of external tank insulation detached on launch and struck shuttle wing.

"On launch day, a piece of insulating foam on the external fuel tank came off during liftoff and was believed to have struck the left wing of the shuttle.

"Leroy Cain, the lead flight director in Mission Control, had assured reporters Friday that engineers had concluded that any damage to the wing was considered minor and posed no safety hazard."

White House back-pedals, says "no indication of terrorism at this time". Meanwhile, media focus continues primarily on Ramon, the Israel Astronaut. I am now listening to the THIRD TIME we are being reminded that Ramon was one of the pilots who bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor.

Reports of explosion-like sounds likely sonic boom from shuttle supersonic speed.

At this time it looks like the left wing may have had several leading edge tiles damaged by external tank insulation during launch. If the tiles dislodged during reentry, the tremendous heat would weaken the wing's internal structure.

2/1/03 From July 2002: NASA: Fuel-Line Cracks Affect Entire Shuttle Fleet

2/1/03 Shuttle launch was problematic

2/1/03 AP: Israeli Astronaut Brought Joy, Then Familiar Sense of Dread to a Troubled Country Say, was there anyone else on that thing?

2/1/03 SHUTTLE DISASTER=TEXTBOOK PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE OPERATION -- MASS DISTRACTION/MASS UNIFIER I do not agree this was intentional, but I agree that this is how the warhawks will try to use the disaster.

2/1/03 FEMA in charge of recovering Shuttle Debris Oh? And where does NASA and the NTSB come in?

All debris locations will be cordoned off by military police, AND OVERHEAD AIRSPACE WILL BE NO FLY ZONES!

2/1/03 Astronomer saw shuttle apparently in trouble over California So, figure about 7 minutes before the actual break-up, the warning lights had to be flashing.

Propaganda matrix IS REPORTING THAT BBC showed footage of Bush at the podium BEFORE he made his Columbia speech - he was visibly laughing - the footage then cut and only re-started when the speech began

2/1/03 READER PHOTOS OF SHUTTLE DEBRIS

2/1/03 'Major Systems Failure' Indicated "However, press reports noted that during the launch of the space shuttle Columbia 16 days ago, a piece of insulation came loose and appeared to hit the left wing of the shuttle. It's not clear what the extent of the damage may have been, if there was any damage at all. "According to Melton's research, 'shuttle orbiters use a system of 30,000 tiles made of a silica compound that does not ablate, but does rapidly radiate heat away from the orbiter. These tiles can be repaired in space.' " Except that this mission did not have either the remote manipulator arm or the EVA suits needed to either inspect the wing or repair the tiles if needed, nor enough fuel to reach the Space Station in the event of a problem. Too many corners were cut. The much-bragged-about NASA backups and redundancy wasn't included on this mission. In hindsight, one less passenger and one more EVA suit might have been the way to go.

2/1/03 Insulation problem may have caused shuttle's disintegration Scientists have warned Congress for years that the space shuttle program needed more money and newer equipment or else it faced dangerously rising safety risks, and six NASA scientists were fired in March 2001 after issuing such warnings for years.

A transcript of the final radio transmission between Mission Control and space shuttle Columbia, shortly before 9 a.m. EST.
Mission Control: "Columbia, Houston we see your tire pressure messages and we did not copy your last."
Columbia: "Roger, uh, ..." (transmission breaks off after the crew member starts to stay a word beginning with the sound "buh.")

2/1/03 Columbia's Problems Began on Left Wing

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