NASA managers dithered about the problem with Columbia’s foam strike. They were convinced it wasn’t an issue. When they were asked to have the NRO or other resources take imagery of Columbia, they wasted time. Finally, Columbia was imaged by the AMOS telescope on January 28th. The released images are quite sharp. However, it seems no one thought of imaging the bottom of Columbia. All of the images I’ve seen were to the top side. This is odd, considering that the launch video clearly showed the foam hitting the bottom of the wing.
Could they have done anything to save the crew had they known of the problem sooner? Maybe, maybe not. Had they known of the problem early in the mission, they could’ve ordered the crew to turn off all non-essential systems to preserve consumables. That might have bought them another week or so, perhaps enough time to mount a rescue mission or take some other action. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, in the end, NASA managers did nothing and 7 people died.
In the Mission Control photo, that sure looks like Jeff Foust sitting next to Wayne…
I think the fundamental problem with Shuttle was that it didn’t make sense as a program. That disconnect with reality filtered down and tainted the operations. Actions had to be judged by some artificial means rather than if they ultimately served the purpose of the program, because that purpose was incoherent or even fraudulent.
The picture shows the real failure was a lack of diversity. In all NASA triumph stories, the pictures show a diverse team in this story, everyone is white male.
NASA managers dithered about the problem with Columbia’s foam strike. They were convinced it wasn’t an issue. When they were asked to have the NRO or other resources take imagery of Columbia, they wasted time. Finally, Columbia was imaged by the AMOS telescope on January 28th. The released images are quite sharp. However, it seems no one thought of imaging the bottom of Columbia. All of the images I’ve seen were to the top side. This is odd, considering that the launch video clearly showed the foam hitting the bottom of the wing.
Could they have done anything to save the crew had they known of the problem sooner? Maybe, maybe not. Had they known of the problem early in the mission, they could’ve ordered the crew to turn off all non-essential systems to preserve consumables. That might have bought them another week or so, perhaps enough time to mount a rescue mission or take some other action. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, in the end, NASA managers did nothing and 7 people died.
In the Mission Control photo, that sure looks like Jeff Foust sitting next to Wayne…
I think the fundamental problem with Shuttle was that it didn’t make sense as a program. That disconnect with reality filtered down and tainted the operations. Actions had to be judged by some artificial means rather than if they ultimately served the purpose of the program, because that purpose was incoherent or even fraudulent.
The picture shows the real failure was a lack of diversity. In all NASA triumph stories, the pictures show a diverse team in this story, everyone is white male.