Spaceflight 🚀Feb 1, 2023

#BBC #Columbia #SpaceShuttle Investigation https://youtu.be/2eTRaJGDe-8

'You know, there is nothing we can do about #damage to the TPS. If it has been damaged it’s probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Don’t you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on #orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out ?'”
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150130-what-caused-the-columbia-disaster

#HumanSpaceflightSecurity #SpaceMaintenance #SpaceAgency #SpacePolitics

Columbia Shuttle Investigation | Last Flight of Space Shuttle Columbia | BBC

YouTube
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀
As #Columbia thundered into #orbit, #Atlantis' main engines had already been installed. So an in-orbit rescue was at least #feasible. Mission planners believed they could stretch Columbia's supply to cover a total of 30 days ⌛ https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/the-audacious-rescue-plan-that-might-have-saved-space-shuttle-columbia-2/2/
The audacious rescue plan that might have saved space shuttle Columbia

The untold story of the rescue mission that could have been NASA's finest hour.

Ars Technica
Feb 3, 2023 at 10:26pmWeb
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Oct 1, 2023
#NASA used #RCC tiles for the #SpaceShuttle to withstand the higher temperatures 🌡️. #DreamChaser has no RCC-type panels on the vehicle. The vehicle is covered with more than two thousand 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ individual tiles which also help normalize the #temperature within the craft. Temperatures can get as hot as 120° C 🍳 during #orbital daylight ☀️ https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/09/dream-chaser-tps/
How Sierra Space Protects America’s Next Space Plane, Dream Chaser - NASASpaceFlight.com

Dream Chaser, the so-called “mini shuttle”, is set to bring back the capability of returning…

NASASpaceFlight.com
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Jan 25, 2024
#NASA had designed the #SpaceShuttle hatch 🚪 to open outward. It was a relatively simple procedure, requiring little physical force, as the hatch opened into the vacuum of #OuterSpace. Overmyer was clearly concerned. So he put #DuctTape on the hatch as a stop-gap. The next day, Wang did receive permission to work on the experiment, and he eventually got it working. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/01/solving-a-nasa-mystery-why-did-space-shuttle-commanders-lock-the-hatch/3/
What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he’s not coming back?

If you guys don't give me a chance to repair my instrument, I'm not going back."

Ars Technica
Show threadLuna chanAug 1, 2023
@spaceflight
If they never canceled the HL-20 rescue would have been strait forwards.
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Aug 2, 2023
@Luna or if they had eject seats https://techhub.social/@spaceflight/110362246226666025
Spaceflight 🚀 (@[email protected])

#CNN 📆 December 2017 The #Buran https://youtu.be/ASQl2b0-yDQ also had #emergency eject seats 💺 for all crew members 👨‍🚀 👩‍🚀 (absent on the #US shuttles) and was free from the specific design flaws that contributed to the destruction 💥 of two shuttles in flight, the #Challenger in 📆 1986 and the #Columbia in 📆 2003.https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/baikonur-buran-soviet-space-shuttle/index.html #SpaceShuttle #SpaceHistory

TechHub
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Feb 23, 2025

📆 January 28, 1986 : #Challenger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster
📆 February 1, 2003 : #Columbia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster

#OurWorldInData : https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-space-visits

#SpaceShuttle #HumanSpaceflight #Safety

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Wikipedia

Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Jan 8

'You know, there is nothing we can do about damage to the TPS. If it has been damaged it’s probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Don’t you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die 💀 unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out ?'” https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150130-what-caused-the-columbia-disaster

#SpaceShuttle #Columbia #NASA

Show threadSpaceflight 🚀9h ago

#SpaceShuttle #Columbia reentry 2003 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster#Crew_survivability

#HeatShield #damage

Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Feb 20

The #Buran also had emergency ejection seats 💺 for all crew members (absent on the #US shuttles) and was free from the specific design flaws that contributed to the destruction 💥 of two shuttles in flight, the #Challenger in 1986 and the #Columbia in 2003 https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/baikonur-buran-soviet-space-shuttle/

#SpaceShuttle #NASA #HumanSpaceflightSecurity

Two abandoned Soviet space shuttles left in the Kazakh steppe

Two Soviet-era space shuttles from the Buran program lie abandoned in a hangar in the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

CNN