#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 itโ€™s probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Donโ€™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 ?'โ€
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
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 โŒ› 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
#NASA used #RCC tiles for the #SpaceShuttle to withstand the higher temperatures ๐ŸŒก๏ธ. #DreamChaser has no RCC-type panels on the vehicle. The vehicle is covered with more than two thousand 2๏ธโƒฃ0๏ธโƒฃ0๏ธโƒฃ0๏ธโƒฃ individual tiles which also help normalize the #temperature within the craft. Temperatures can get as hot as 120ยฐ C ๐Ÿณ during #orbital daylight โ˜€๏ธ https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/09/dream-chaser-tps/
How Sierra Space Protects Americaโ€™s Next Space Plane, Dream Chaser - NASASpaceFlight.com

Dream Chaser, the so-called โ€œmini shuttleโ€, is set to bring back the capability of returningโ€ฆ

NASASpaceFlight.com
#NASA had designed the #SpaceShuttle hatch ๐Ÿšช 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 heโ€™s not coming back?

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

Ars Technica
@spaceflight
If they never canceled the HL-20 rescue would have been strait forwards.
Spaceflight ๐Ÿš€ (@[email protected])

#CNN ๐Ÿ“† December 2017 The #Buran https://youtu.be/ASQl2b0-yDQ also had #emergency eject seats ๐Ÿ’บ for all crew members ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿš€ ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿš€ (absent on the #US shuttles) and was free from the specific design flaws that contributed to the destruction ๐Ÿ’ฅ of two shuttles in flight, the #Challenger in ๐Ÿ“† 1986 and the #Columbia in ๐Ÿ“† 2003.https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/baikonur-buran-soviet-space-shuttle/index.html #SpaceShuttle #SpaceHistory

TechHub
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Wikipedia

'You know, there is nothing we can do about damage to the TPS. If it has been damaged itโ€™s probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Donโ€™t you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die ๐Ÿ’€ unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out ?'โ€ https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150130-what-caused-the-columbia-disaster

#SpaceShuttle #Columbia #NASA

The #Buran also had emergency ejection seats ๐Ÿ’บ for all crew members (absent on the #US shuttles) and was free from the specific design flaws that contributed to the destruction ๐Ÿ’ฅ 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