Space Shuttle Accident

[Sixpipes]

Looks like the space shuttle exploded on re-entry over North Texas this morning. The initial explosion rattled the windows in our house a little after 8 o'clock. All seven astronauts were undoubtably lost during the incident. Channel 8 news was covering the re-entry live at the time of the accident. The incident happened at an approximate speed of 12,000 mile/hour at an altitude of 200,000 feet. Probably the end of space exploration as we know it, today. Speculation is that falling debris during take off might have damaged the tiles leading to a catastophic failure of the heat shield system.
http://www.fordvschevy.com/forum/images/smilies/usaribbon.gif

[blueoval01]

Sad day ........ :(

[J.D. Blackwell]

I just read about it. I didn't believe it til I saw this thread.
My prayers for the astronauts' familys.:(

[99WhiteBeast]

I was mountain biking this morning at Cedar Hill. I knew something was up when about 8 Army helicopters came streaming by heading southeast.

Very sad indeed
:(

[tliss]

It is really sad to see this happen. I think the most unfortunate part of this is going to be the speculation around how this happened. That really depresses me.

There have been several days in my lifetime that I will never forget because of the event that transpired that day...the Challenger explosion, 9/11, and now this one (I would say Kennedy's assasination, too, but I wasn't born yet:p). These are the days you wish never happened and wish you could forget.

I really feel for the families of those astronauts and the American people.:crying: :crying:

Tom

[Crawford]

:(

[98Cobra]

I too couldn't believe this happened. Things are a little different than in 1986 though. After that accident, shuttles didn't fly again for at least 2 years. This time, we have people aboard the Internation Space Station, that only have supplies til June. So there will have to be another mission in pretty short order.

[wesman]

Originally posted by 98Cobra
I too couldn't believe this happened. Things are a little different than in 1986 though. After that accident, shuttles didn't fly again for at least 2 years. This time, we have people aboard the Internation Space Station, that only have supplies til June. So there will have to be another mission in pretty short order.


But they can actually leave the space station....there is a Russian space vehicle that resides there that could remove them if need be.

--wes

[MadMax]

My prayers go out to the families. :(

[98Cobra]

Originally posted by wesman
But they can actually leave the space station....there is a Russian space vehicle that resides there that could remove them if need be.

--wes

That's a last resort thing though. I sure wouldn't want to trust a Russian built spacecraft unless I had not other choice.

http://www.theonion.com/onion2919/secretoffire.html

[MadMax]

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/tps/carbon.html

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts_sys.html

[Winterhawk]

:(

[cpeapea]

such a sad tragedy

[Skank Dog]

Ive heard sonic booms before, but this was MUCH more intense. It literally shook our house for 60-90 seconds! Truely a sad and tragic day.:(

[Wht95Lightning]

http://webpages.charter.net/silverspurs21/shuttleatgates.jpg