NASA was releasing info and they said quote "The shuttle is gone, let's leave it at that for now"

Re: hmm
 

You'd be surprised how little it can take to cause an accident like this.

it might of been something small that caused this.
but still NASA knew about that it can't be that they overlooked it.

But they repaired the thing that came off before, and said it wouldn't be a problem...

but still they might have thought it wasnt that bad when truely it might have been.... btw this is the foam that is sprayed on the outside of the tanks to keep them cool and is usually fozen... so when it hit the wing it could have left some minimal damage that was made worse during re entry...

and this was during takeoff so there was no way to repair it until it comes back to earth.... unless they do it in space...

At those speeds and add in the variables of space which is not a controlled environment, there are so many chances for things to go wrong. If a hole the size of a baseball can cause a jet to depressurize and explode, then who is to say what could have caused it. The Columbia was the "old workhorse" of the fleet. We've lost astronauts and a pliece of history. there are 3 left now:

Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

Sad news indeed. Reminds me of the Challenger explosion that happened in '86. It's a shame the astronauts were lost especially the "guests" who were on board. Instead of flaming, why not say a lil' prayer for the families affected. And if you don't believe in God, how bout showing respect and leaving the flaming out of this one thread?

Well said Arkan.

just heard the news also. what a tragety. may god be with the crew of 7 and their loved ones. its a sad day in space exploration.

The chances that the foam damaging the wing is very small. If anything it chipped one of the heat plates and that will cause big problems. And another reason could be pilot error. He may have been in too steep of a decent and over stressed the shuttle. Never count out pilot error no matter how good of a pilot they may be.

it could have been 1 of millions of things... but i just think its strange how a large piece of frozen foam fell off and hit the wing during liftoff... like he said it could have chipped on of the heat resistant tiles causing the tiles to fail and the spacecraft to break up. Even though its a small chance that that happened... small errors on spacecraft can be catastrophic as seen with the challenger...

BRAVERY
 

we go a long time without a mishap and forget just how dangerous it is to sit on top of all that rocket fuel and fly that bomb into space and return. we get so we dont pay much attention to it. the launch and the reentry and landing. we forget just how dangerous this is and the thousands of things that can go wrong at any second and create the loss of life we see now.these people didcate their lives to be able to fly into space.these people are some of the bravest people this country has to offer.its a sad day for the familys of these 7 brave people.in the future when theres a lauch maybe we sould consider the bravery and sacrifice these brave flyers are willing to make in the name of science and do what they dreamed of doing.our hearts should go out to these brave flyers and their familys for making the ultamate sacifice.mine does.

What times the president gonna speak?

Re: BRAVERY
 

Im certain the astronauts always knew of the danger. As for the foam, if you have ever watched a takeoff from the look down cam on the tower you will see huge chunks of ice hitting the shuttle. if I had a chance I would still go up in one of those shuttles, even if I was told it would implode in space and never return, but it was my only chance to go into space, I would absolutly go. I would rather die in space than get shot in the face during war, or bleed to death in a car accident.