NASA puzzles over mysterious debris that struck shuttle

Endeavour astronauts inspected the space shuttle's heat shield Wednesday, while NASA puzzled over a mysterious piece of debris that may have struck the shuttle's nose just after launch.Officials at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas refused to speculate on the origin or even the size of the debris captured on camera 10 seconds after launch. Nor are they sure if it struck the shuttle.

"It looks like it's not coming from the orbiter, and you can't really tell if it strikes the orbiter or not," flight director Mike Moses told reporters after viewing video of the debris.

"I can't even begin to speculate on what it could be," Moses said, stressing that specialists would be analyzing it in great detail

Anyone wanna take a shot? My guess is space junk.

afp.google.com...

I don't see how it could be space junk as the event occurred 10 seconds after launch. However, I can't offer an explanation of what it could have been either.

Originally posted by Master_Wii
Anyone wanna take a shot? My guess is space junk.

The article says it hit the orbiter 10 seconds after launch, so it's probably not space junk. My guess is a big bird of some kind. How high are they at 10 seconds? Could they have hit a gull?

Other than that, maybe a little remote alien probe didn't get out of the way fast enough.

reply to post by Nohup


My guess too. It's certainly possible.



Ouch!

Thanks for the video Xeros, star for you. I think that answers the question. That was obviously a bird.

"I can't even begin to speculate on what it could be," Moses said, stressing that specialists would be analyzing it in great detail"

My question after seeing the video, is how can Moses not tell that it was a bird?

That sure didn't look like 10 seconds after launch though. That was more like 2 seconds. I wonder if the bird knocked something loose that came off a few seconds later.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
That sure didn't look like 10 seconds after launch though. That was more like 2 seconds. I wonder if the bird knocked something loose that came off a few seconds later.

I could be wrong, but doesn't the launch counter start when the engines are fired? If so, that could conceivably be at 10 seconds.

Well the other thing is that they launched at 228am. I know we just started daylight savings time, but it's awfully bright in that video for 230 in the morning. And most birds tend to not be flying around that early.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
Well the other thing is that they launched at 228am. I know we just started daylight savings time, but it's awfully bright in that video for 230 in the morning. And most birds tend to not be flying around that early.

Wait a sec, you know what? You're correct. The launch was at night. Xeros, I think that may be from a different launch. I found it quite odd that was obviously a bird and the flight director didn't know what it was.

Given the fact that the launch was at night, it will probably be very difficult to tell what the object was.

Remember, Xeros's 'bird strike' lift off vid, above, was STS114.

STS-123 was a dark liftoff. ( 2:28 a.m. EDT )

The Flame Trench
Shuttle Endeavour's launch today was the 30th after-dark liftoff in 122 flights to date. The 18-story spaceship poked its way through a low cloud bank over launch pad 39A and was lost from site within seconds after solid rocket booster ignition.

Doh! Sorry Z', I drifted right past your post, somehow.

[edit on 12-3-2008 by Jbird]

Just to clarify, the clip I posted was of STS-114 launch, not the recent STS-123. I was just trying to show that, it's maybe not unlikeley for a large bird to have struck the shuttle.

Edit: What Jbird said Sorry to confuse.

[edit on 12-3-2008 by Xeros]

Originally posted by Xeros
Just to clarify, the clip I posted was of STS-114 launch, not the recent STS-123. I was just trying to show that, it's maybe not unlikeley for a large bird to have struck the shuttle.

Edit: What Jbird said

Sorry to confuse.

[edit on 12-3-2008 by Xeros]

You did not confuse, I see where I was mistaken. You said it was possible for a bird to strike the shuttle and posted a previous instance of it happening. That bird certainly got fried though.

Looks like two instances of possible debris sightings. One at 10 seconds and one at 83 seconds .

www.floridatoday.com...
NASA does not yet know what, if anything, struck the orbiter 10 seconds into flight on ...
the object seen on launch films is very small. Second, the space shuttle is not moving very fast at the time the debris was spotted.
...
Ground crews spotted some falling debris when Endeavour was 83 seconds into flight, but the size of the debris and whether it could have caused any damage isn't known, NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said.

Docking at 11:25 EDT tonight.


Check to see if you can watch the ISS and STS flyover from your location.

Sighting Opportunities

Pick your Country , state and city for best viewing chances.

Check the MAX ELEV column, for the highest elevation.
Anything over 60 degrees is high enough to spot, even with a limited sky view.


[edit on 12-3-2008 by Jbird]

Three birds and one got hit by a rocket.Might be dead now,

reply to post by Xeros


For the record. That video was uploaded to Youtube on May 08, 2006, so it's not the current launch.

This is most unusual. Most birds would be roosted at 2:23 in the morn. Unless they were startled by huge rocket which is entirely possibile. And then the threads of a white orb circling just before launch. Maybe they threw some croutons at it. Updated stories I have read say it is in good shape, let us hope so. What strikes me as odd is the height as well as the duration. I heard as much as 10 seconds. Terrrorists taking pops at it with a shotgun? Who knows.

[edit on 13-3-2008 by jpm1602]

I take it this "bird" actually fell onto the nose of the Shuttle ? The reason I say this is because any living animal within a certain distance of a launching Shuttle would be blasted apart by the noise of the rocket boosters.

There is a reason why the closest observers to a launch are three miles away.

reply to post by Nohup


At 10 seconds into flight, they are traveling about 120 MPH and it should be a few hundred feet in the air.

Nevermind, I guess that video already shows the bird. Sorry, can't view youtube.

[edit on 13-3-2008 by ngchunter]

Originally posted by jpm1602
Terrrorists taking pops at it with a shotgun? Who knows.

[edit on 13-3-2008 by jpm1602]

Too difficult to get into range. Your best shot would be to sneak onto property a day or two ahead of time and sleep in the brush, but it still seems like a longshot at best since it's heavily patrolled and you're likely to encounter plenty of gators out there . If a terrorist was going to attack the orbiter it probably either be through sabotage (which would require a long dormant sleeper cell to pass KSC's background check) or through hacking the range safety system on launch (which would require a powerful transmitter within a few miles of the launch site and some knowledge of the frequencies and tones they use).