Crack on shuttle's wing? (unconfirmed image)

Apparently this image is taken from a frame of a video shot during the conversation between Ramon and Sharon, as Ramon attempted to show a scene of the earth.

If correct, this seems to show obvious damage to the left wing.


Also: www.cnn.com...
This shows a potential source of under-side damage during take-off.




[Edited on 3-2-2003 by William]

If they were the cause, then surely the astronauts must have known something was seriously wrong.

wow, they MUST have known something about it....

That is the scary thought, did those guys have any idea what was going to happen, or was it all too fast...


NASA released film of what appears to be debris hitting Columbia's left side 80 seconds after liftoff January 16.


www.cnn.com...

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas (CNN) -- NASA officials Monday concentrated on whether a piece of debris that was dislodged during the launch of the space shuttle Columbia may have struck a seam on a landing gear door, a retired NASA engineer told CNN.

A top NASA official said engineers who reviewed the incident shortly after launch determined it "was not a safety of flight issue," but felt there could have been some damage to the shuttle's heat protection system.

[Edited on 3-2-2003 by Netchicken]

Latest News reports I am getting show the left wheel housing assembly overheating and causing unwanted darg. Apparently this has been an accilies heel for the shuttle design..This time is was pushed too far.

Chris

I gurantee the damage during launch was discussed at the Johnson Space Center and on the Shuttle. It's just one of those risks of going into space. It comes down to bad luck.

My cousin flew on the Challenger twice in the 1980s doing medical studies work just like the Columbia crew was doing this mission. I believe he was on the last Challenger flight before it blew up during launch...it just comes down to luck.

The picture is most definately a fake.

The shuttle wing doesn't have any stovepipes sticking out of it. Furthermore, the light and shadows are wrong -- and the color of the wing is white. Not yellow.

Hoaxer. Spread the word.

The shuttle wing doesn't have any stovepipes sticking out of it.

I don't know byrd, they gotta cook somewhere ...

Sincerely,
no signature

I just a little while ago saw that same image on Sky News (here in the UK) and I doubt that they would doctor the image.

There was a very large crack on the outer fuselage which was clearly visible in the image shown.

Look at the video here, you can clearly see the the debris hitting the wing. Interesting article that goes with it.

www.msnbc.com...

MMkay... I do see published evidence of the photo with good provenance:
www.iol.co.za... 212&set_id=1

I don't know if THAT is the picture they published, however. It just doesn't look right.

Furthermore, as the above article points out:

(Tim Stevenson, an engineer at the Space Research Centre at Britain's University of Leicester) "To be honest, the crew would have observed (a big crack) very quickly, particularly if it was big enough to be observed in any kind of video footage, and they would have acted very differently if they had observed it."

Another point, he said, was that a large, visible crack on the top surface of the wing "would manifest itself as a structural failure very early on.

Them's my feelings. Sensors would have caught it and the crew would NOT have sat around saying, "golly, them's funny cracks on the wing." They'd have been on the radio to NASA and would have refused to return if they thought the situation dangerous.

They could have evacuated in the Russian space craft if it was necessary (there's an old one that can be used as a "lifeboat" attached to the station.)

[Edited on 4-2-2003 by Byrd]

The Columbia wasn't fitted with a docking collar, therefore to refuse to return would have been a slow death, as no craft could dock with the shuttle. Someone mentioned in a previous post that they didn't have any EVA suits either, so they were effectively trapped within the shuttle.
In my opinion they knew full well the seriousness of the damage but had no alterrnative but to return.

Well all this saying "they didn't have that and didn't have this" just isn't going to cut it.

They didn't have a docking collar, which I agreed with, but can't answer a specific aspect, which is why if they did truly feel there was too much danger, just wait while supplies were brought up, a whole other shuttle would actually have to have gone up though, and remove the science lab.

But...either way I don't think even then they really could have done anything, they were up for 16 days, long for a shuttle, and they don't stock those things with an abundance of supplies, just enough fuel to get down and probably enough food to eat a breakfast before re-entry.

What should be looked at now, is how long could they have waited before they expired.

I think they would have to wait too long for any other vehicles to be readied, before they dehydrated//suffocated what not.

Sincerely,
no signature

this could have gotten complicated

but couldn't they have used the remaining fuel to dock with the ISS?

we or the Russians could have readied an additional supply flight sometime later to replenish whatever stocks they use, and it would give us time to send a rescue flight

One more bit of news from this morning's news casts:

The damage was to the UNDERSIDE of the wing.

So that can't be a photo of cracks in the wing. Furthermore, that picture is of the RIGHT shuttle wing; not the left one.

And they do have some sort of flightsuit/space suit that they wear during launch and return... remember that they said when the Challenger blew up, that at least one of the crew members had their oxygen backpack supply turned on?

[Edited on 4-2-2003 by Byrd]

Originally posted by KKing123
this could have gotten complicated

but couldn't they have used the remaining fuel to dock with the ISS?

we or the Russians could have readied an additional supply flight sometime later to replenish whatever stocks they use, and it would give us time to send a rescue flight

If you had read hte previos posts, you would have realised that the Columbia wasn't equipped to dock with the ISS.

Cracks Are Creases In Insulation On Shuttle Rear Payload Bay Bulkhead - Not Wing

From Jeff Challender
[email protected]
2-4-3


Note - Mr. Challender is a world renowned researcher of NASA shuttle flight anomalies. -ed

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for publishing the Israeli newspaper picture on your site. I saw the pic on the net earlier today, but with red circles added, which made it hard to identify. Please compare the two photographs below.





Now that you have published a "clean" version, it can be properly identified after all. This photo does not show Columbia's wing. What it does show is the aft bulkhead of the payload bay. The angles are a little different, but this is essentially the same part of the Shuttle in both pictures. The black object is part of the equipment...and the "crack" is merely a crease in the insulation blanket. I, too, was shocked by the first viewing of the photograph from Israel, but now it is just a nice picture from space.

Kindest Regards,
As Always,
Jeff

rense.com...

Thanks for posting the explaination, William.

I knew that couldn't be right, but I couldn't do anything more to identify what in the heck it is. It's (sort of) a relief to know the identity of the object.