In August, 2007, the space shuttle Endeavor suffered minor damage to the heat shield tiles during liftoff. After the Columbia burned up on reentry in 2003 due to damaged tiles, NASA developed a protocol for repairing damaged tiles while in orbit. After much consideration, the decision was made NOT to attempt to repair the tiles on Endeavor while in orbit. Find a minimum of three different references discussing this incident and the decision made by NASA. Summarize the reasons both for and against repairing the tile while in orbit.
Seven crew members lost their lives. The high profile nature of the “Teacher in Space” mission required an independent commission to review the accident and risk management processes that were in place at NASA and associates at the time. The “Teacher in Space” Mission • 3. The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster When the Apollo program finished in the 1970s, NASA had begun planning for the next phase of space exploration, an interplanetary expedition to Mars. This involved three core projects- A Space Shuttle- A reusable transport vehicle A Space Station- The launch platform Manned Mars exploration Due to budgetary constraints, only one of these NASA projects could be supported.
Columbia Disaster ABSTRACT On re-entry the space shuttle Columbia burned up in the earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated into a maelstrom of debris that stretched across all most of Texas and Louisiana. At launch foam loss collision caused a weakened structural integrity in the left wing. The disaster killed all crew members. This disaster occurred about 40 miles above the earth’s surface only a few minutes before the shuttle was scheduled to land. AUTHOR POV The Columbia was an NASA orbiter in operation from 1981 to 2003.
The surface of Mercury and the moon share similar physical characteristics but also differ in certain aspects as well, outlining variations in their respective geological histories. In general, both the moon and Mercury show great similarity in size and from their substantial amount of craters which can be attributed to their lack of a prominent atmosphere that would burn up any primordial impacts. However, a closer look shows many differences. For example, the moon has 14 maria (lava flow regions), a relatively large number when compared with Mercury as it has few maria. This gives us a hint as to how fast Mercury and the moon cooled in relation to each other, as the cooler planet would
The movie “Star Trek” is many things, but completely realistic is not one of them. For example, in the opening scene of the movie two warships meet and a battle ensues, which involved many explosions and flames. Now these occurrences may be plausible to some degree. There is oxygen inside the impacted ship which would cause a brief flame, but this doesn't explain how most of the fires that occurred on The Enterprise were long lasting. Since space is a vacuum, these flames would not last as nearly as long as they would in real life and dissipate much more rapidly due to the oxygen being quickly sucked out of that specific area.
It involved the death of seven crewmembers including the first civilian (Teacher-in-Space) chosen to go into space and it also destroyed the orbiter’s satellite cargo. Manufacturing engineers tried to stop this mission, because they were concerned that the cold weather might potentially affect the flight. NASA ignored those concerns and took the risk of flying the shuttle in the cold weather because of their delay in launching shuttles, and they could not stand against the pressure. Even though this catastrophic event severely set back the United States’ space programs in the 1980s, it improved the United States’ space shuttle program and crew safety in the long run. Preparation for the twenty-fifth space shuttle mission STS 51-L started about two years before its launch.
In the end, the whole planet would be on fire. Although asteroid have predictable orbits, comets can come from anywhere in the solar system. Comets also give us a shorter time to prepare for impact. Even most small comets could have disastrous impacts. Even though we can try to stop asteroids and comets from
In one scene the team successfully follows the instructions on how to build a CO2 filter from the items available to them on the space craft. This example is key as to how teams can function effectively, since the initial construction of the filter was done by the ground control team and then communicated by radio to the spacecraft. Another scene which gives an example of similar problem solving skills was during an issue with the navigation equipment, in which the crew loses access to navigation tools. The team worked together to keep the moon centered in a small window to avoid losing their trajectory to Earth. A quick response to such a serious situation could only have been achieved by an experienced team.
The mission was put off several times for reasons ranging from problems with machinery to bad weather. The launch was delayed the next day by problems with the exterior access hatch. First, one of the microswitch indicators used to verify that the hatch was safely locked malfunctioned. Then, a stripped bolt prevented the closeout crew from removing a closing fixture from the orbiter’s hatch. When the fixture was finally sawn off, crosswinds at the Shuttle Landing Facility exceeded the limits for a Return to Launch Site (RTLS) abort.
Engineers had warned their superiors that rubber components that were located in the rocket boosters on the external fuel tank (which were the parts that fell off after take-off leaving the shuttle to its’ mission) called O-rings, which sealed the joints of said rocket boosters, were prone to failure at low temperatures. Low temperatures could cause a brittle rubber thus breaking the seal easily. Due to the reluctance to delay the mission yet another day, those warnings went unheeded. Challenger took off at 11:39 a.m. Seventy-three seconds after take-off the main fuel tank exploded sending the shuttle into a plummet into the Atlantic Ocean. Millions watched the coverage including the astronauts on board, who had to witness their imminent death in front row seats as there was nothing