Columbia Crew Knew | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Thu, Jul 17, 2003

Columbia Crew Knew

...for a Minute or So

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board on Tuesday told NASA formally what a lot of the fraternity knew already, or at least strongly suspected: the Columbia astronauts, protected in their capsule, most-likely lived for a minute or so, after their final communications with the ground.

The debris examination of the shuttle pieces, now ongoing in Florida's Kennedy Space Center, is carried on in two distinct areas: the crew capsule area... and everything else. Workers won't talk about what they know... but they know.

MSNBC quotes one anonymous worker as noting, "It's a pretty good container they have the crew in; that's the last part to come apart, just like it was in Challenger. It stayed together for a pretty long time." He continued, speculating that NASA could have done something, if it had recognized the threat the displaced foam had brought: "As we sit there thinking about what they were going through, or what their last thoughts were, it kind of angers you."

Eileen Hawley, a NASA spokeswoman in Houston, told MSNBC, "I am unaware of any announcement that NASA plans to make about how long the crew cabin remained intact."

Sensor readings from instruments in the cabin indicate that conditions there were survivable until 15 seconds after 9AM; the last transmission to Earth was interrupted at 8:59:28.

The news report continued, "Data transmission to the ground continued for 5 more seconds after the [interrupted voice] message, then ceased for 25 seconds, then resumed for two. In those two seconds, data received on the ground (but not analyzed for some days afterward, because it was partly garbled) indicated that the conditions in the cabin were benign."

The recorder onboard kept working for 19 seconds additional, and finally malfunctioned.

FMI: www.nasa.gov

Advertisement

More News

Airborne 07.02.25: TikToker Arrested, Vietnam A/L Ground Hit, ATC Modernization

Also: Outlaw Prop 4 Mooney, Ready 4 Duty, Ukrainian F-16 Pilot Lost, Blue Origin Flt On his journey to become the first pilot to land solo on all seven continents, 19-year-old Etha>[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 07.03.25: Sonex HW, BlackShape Gabriel, PRA Fly-In 25

Also: DarkAero Update, Electric Aircraft Symposium, Updated Instructor Guide, OSH Homebuilts Celebrate The long-awaited Sonex High Wing prototype has flown... the Sonex gang tells >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.07.25): Discrete Code

Discrete Code As used in the Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System (ATCRBS), any one of the 4096 selectable Mode 3/A aircraft transponder codes except those ending in zero zero; >[...]

Classic Aero-TV: DeltaHawk Aero Engine Defies Convention

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Deviation from the Historical Mean Racine, Wisconsin-based DeltaHawk is a privately-held manufacturer of reciprocating engines for aircraft and hybrid >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.07.25)

Aero Linx: Formation and Safety Team (F.A.S.T.), USA The Formation and Safety Team (FAST) is a worldwide, educational organization dedicated to teaching safe formation flying in Wa>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC