'I think they would rather not know. (Crew of Columbia Shuttle)

[mrclose]

Full Title: 'I think they would rather not know. Wouldn't it be better to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than know there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?' How Columbia crew died in ignorance

NASA has revealed that the Columbia crew were not told that the shuttle had been damaged and they might not survive re-entry.

The seven astronauts who died will be remembered at a public memorial service on the 10th anniversary of the disaster this Friday at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

The shuttle was headed home from a 16-day science mission when it broke apart over Texas on February 1, 2003, because of damage to its left wing.

Ten years ago, experts at NASA's mission control faced the terrible decision over whether to let the astronauts know that they may die on re-entry or face orbiting in space until the oxygen ran out.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2271525/It-better-die-unexpectedly-Columbia-Shuttle-Crew-Not-Told-Possible-Problem-With-Reentry.html

[thundley4]

Damn! Parts of that story were hard to read. 

[Freeper]

Hard to believe that was ten years ago.

I still recall the DUmmies being classless enough to try to pin it all on Bush.

[ColonelCarrots]

I remember that day.

I was at a friend's house. Her birthday was the next day so they were having a party. She wanted to watch the reentry.

[Airwolf]

With both Space Shuttles ending up the way they did it's a wonder why NASA is still in business. For years they have let the crews go up with no way to rescue them once in orbit. There was nothing that could have helped Challenger except to not launch that day. However since the Apollo 1 fire they could have asked and gotten funds to have some type of rescue mission on hand if they had just done it and designed a system they could use. After the Columbia accident they had a second shuttle on hand in case another failure of the tiles happened. There was even a book about it called "Marooned" by Martin Cadin about how NASA had a rescue vehicle that they sent up to save the crew of a Skylab type mission when their main engine failed to burn when it came time to come home. There was a movie based on it too and it's not bad but it did show that it could be done. They have the DSRV for when Submarines get into trouble but nothing for when they send up a crew of astronauts and they make it to orbit.

[NHSparky]

They have the DSRV for when Submarines get into trouble but nothing for when they send up a crew of astronauts and they make it to orbit.

They have "escape trunks" on submarines too.  We called them "mommy hatches", as in, "See, mommy?  It's okay, we can get out."

What we didn't tell them is that the depth restriction on them covers less than 1 percent of the ocean.  DSRV's are nice, but good luck 1--getting them where they're needed in time, 2--in water shallow enough to where the boat hasn't already imploded (see aforementioned depth restriction.)

Bottom line, if we went down, it was a question only of whether we'd freeze (like the guys on the Kursk did), drown (possible), get an embolism if we tried to use the Steinke hoods, or incinerate (adiabatic compression of the fuel vapor when the hull imploded.)

[txradioguy]

I remember that day.

I was at a friend's house. Her birthday was the next day so they were having a party. She wanted to watch the reentry.

My youngest daughter's 6th birthday was that day...a saturday IIRC.

[Undies]

It sounded like an empty metal dumpster being dropped by a truck somewhere off in the distance.  I had no idea what I had heard at the time. 

[Airwolf]

They have "escape trunks" on submarines too.  We called them "mommy hatches", as in, "See, mommy?  It's okay, we can get out."

What we didn't tell them is that the depth restriction on them covers less than 1 percent of the ocean.  DSRV's are nice, but good luck 1--getting them where they're needed in time, 2--in water shallow enough to where the boat hasn't already imploded (see aforementioned depth restriction.)

Bottom line, if we went down, it was a question only of whether we'd freeze (like the guys on the Kursk did), drown (possible), get an embolism if we tried to use the Steinke hoods, or incinerate (adiabatic compression of the fuel vapor when the hull imploded.)

Thanks Sparky .I wondered just how good having the DSRV around would be. Still It's more then what NASA has.