February 7, 2003
For those who haven't been following the Columbia incident, not a whole lot has happened since Saturday. A lot of attention has been focused on the piece of insulating foam that fell from the external fuel tank and struck the left wing of the shuttle 80 seconds after take off. When it happened, NASA said they studied it and determined no significant damage could have been caused (besides the fact that if there were damage, it would be unfixable anyway). After Saturday, a lot of attention has been placed on the foam incident to see if it could have caused the break up, but yesterday, Ron Dittemore came back and said that the foam theory has been all but thrown out -- that it couldn't have caused enough damage. As for what the real cause is, they have no idea. I'll be impressed if they ever do find an answer. For something that breaks up at Mach 18, 200,000 ft in the air, I can't imagine finding anything obvious.Ron Dittemore is the Program Manager for the Space Shuttle at NASA, a job that must be incredibly tough, considering the shuttle is the most complex system ever created by man. I was impressed with his calmness and responsibility on Saturday, and I later came to realize that he is the father of one of my friends here in Utah, he was at church with her (and me) the Sunday before the accident, though I didn't formally meet him. She told me that the media had been calling her and that she's fine, but she feels bad for her father. I think she has good reason to feel that way and I hope he's doing well.
Posted by charr at 1:40 AM
Reader Comments
Wow. That's pretty cool. It's true, it really is a small world after all.
Yeah, I think it is pretty cool. She is too. I was just over at her apartment tonight.
This article says, "the engineers who saw little risk from the debris that hit the Columbia's left wing had scant information to back up their assertion."
I read another article with the same quote. I think it all comes down to the fact that no one has a clue what happened or what caused something to happen. This leads to speculation. I think they are trying their best, and the investigation is still young, but in all honesty, I don't really think they'll ever find the root cause.
I have nuttin to do but read this gay thing. IT MAKES NO Sence.
hey, yougot to hide your love away
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Wow. That's pretty cool. It's true, it really is a small world after all.
Posted by dan at February 8, 2003 3:34 AM