Replies to post #72758 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[sylvester80]

I think they have a complete tracking system for all space debris and as you mentioned the onboard radar should have avoided such as well. Plus, I think the crew would have reported something like that (it's not like they wouldn't have felt it I don't think). On the tire issue, we don't yet know if that was the left or the right tire. Plus high heat could have easily increased tire pressure enough as to blow the tire inside the tire well which in turn could have caused more damaged to the hydraulic and other lines that were near by.

[maury]

For Zeev, et al. Re: Columbia. NASA says they have compared
this mission with all previous shuttle missions and found no
unusual differences in tile damage. They also found that the
computers not only made extreme inputs to control surfaces
to maintain directional stability, but also fired its retro
rockets in attempts to maintain directional and pitch
stability.

I appears that when Columbia passed over the west coast, it
began shedding structure much more substantial than just
tiles. By the time it reached Dallas, Columbia apparently
began to depart violently from scheduled heading and pitch
attitude. The craft could not tumble and fly sideways at that
speed and altitude without total loss of structural integrity.
Maury Siskel