Path: utzoo!censor!geac!jtsv16!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tekig5!robina
From: robina@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Robin Adams)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: shuttle escape systems
Keywords: Expensive, Unreliable, Dangerous, Nope
Message-ID: <4923@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM>
Date: 17 Oct 89 18:14:09 GMT
References: <538.252A3A3B@mamab.FIDONET.ORG> <1989Oct12.021826.7915@utzoo.uucp> <5475@umd5.umd.edu>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or.
Lines: 49

In article <5475@umd5.umd.edu>, rossh@umd5.umd.edu (Hollis "NeXT-Dood" Ross) writes:
> In article <1155@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes:
> >  I wish the public could know just what the state of the astronauts was
> >after the failure (a) before water impact and (b) after. Certainly after
> >the breakup the cabin dropped subsonic, it would be worth thinking about
> >a chute system at that point, something which isn't all that heavy. It
> >would cover the case in which the cabin survived, as it seems to have
> >after the fast burn and breakup.
> >
> >-- 
> >bill davidsen	(davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen)
> 
> Here are my opinions on the above (I'm not a rocket scientest, but I 
> play one on TV).  Assuming that a system such as you suggest had been
> implemented, then it would have to work in the following way: 
> 
> 	1)	Seperation of the Crew compartment from the remains
> 		of the shuttle body.  Some sort of ................

Ok. Some of your points were very good. So now maybe we can begin to condense 
and summarize.

Some events (real or potential) which may have saved the total devastation
of Challenger:

	o  (Old) NASA Management listening to engineers regarding effects
	   of the chill weather.

	o  Substition of booster units (solid, liquid or hybrid) which
	   could have been shut down at the earliest sign of malfunction 
	   (- Presumably the excessive engine gimballing in this case).

	o  (Possibly:) An auto' deployable parachute attached to the crew
	   compartment casing, as well as a device to arrest tumbling (-
	   On the assumption all or some of the crew may have been alive
	   after initial separation).

I"m sure others can add to this list. It might seem a case of what's done is
done. But the reality is that the worst possible accident has not yet happen-
ed: The possibility that "one" of the solid rocket boosters may fail to ignite
properly while still on the ground. We need to put pressure on NASA to make thatcorrection a priority in their new design issues.

                                  
		                                   *    |_____
                                              *         |     |/   Robin
                                                      * |          Adams
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