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From: jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Jonathan A Bishop)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: weekly world news
Message-ID: <1991Jan30.153059.481@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu>
Date: 30 Jan 91 15:30:59 GMT
References: <1991Jan29.887.1616@canrem.uucp>
Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Lines: 19

mike.knox@canrem.uucp (mike knox) writes:

>Subject: Weekly World News publishes Challenger tape transcript
> 
>Henry Spencer writes:
>>To put it bluntly, it's all wrong.  For one thing, there *is* no
>>"ditch procedure" for an orbiter:  ditching one is 100% fatal, because the
>>orbiter is too fragile to survive.
> 
>Are you sure of this? I remember seeing pictures of a mock-up orbiter
>in the water with frog-men "rescuing" astronauts in some kind of training
>exercise.

     There is a "ditch procedure" only in the crew has no choice other than
to try ditching if land cannot be reached.  The chances of survival are
minimal, but it's probably still worth practicing a little bit just in case.
In his book, Rep. Bill Nelson also said that even if the orbiter did not
break up on impact, the shock would probably disorient the astronauts enough
that they could not get out before the orbiter sank.