Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site eneevax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!decvax!decwrl!amdcad!lll-crg!gymble!umcp-cs!eneevax!hsu From: hsu@eneevax.UUCP (Dave Hsu) Newsgroups: net.columbia Subject: Re: Challenger disaster Message-ID: <496@eneevax.UUCP> Date: Thu, 30-Jan-86 10:32:18 EST Article-I.D.: eneevax.496 Posted: Thu Jan 30 10:32:18 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 1-Feb-86 05:47:25 EST References: <787@decwrl.DEC.COM> Reply-To: hsu@eneevax.UUCP (Dave Hsu) Organization: Imperial Widget Research Center, Kingdom of Maryland Lines: 41 In article <787@decwrl.DEC.COM> fisher@dec-star.UUCP writes: >--- >I was devastated by the disaster yesterday, as I am sure many of us were. >However, we must go on to find the cause, fix it, and continue to explore! >In that spirit of sorrow but unsquelchable interest: > >I have heard speculation that one of the SRBs exploded. After watching many >slow motion reruns, I don't think this was the case. After all, they did >take off on their own. One comentator (a >Discovery Magazine writer, not a newshack) noted vapor appearing around the >base of the ET just a few frames before the explosion. Looks to me like >a LH2 or LOX leak. Which is in the bottom of the tank, LOX or LH2? > >Another thing: Are the SRB recovery aids autonomous? Any chance that they >popped their chutes and landed intact after they finished firing? If they >are recovered, that would be (obviously) good evidence about the SRB explosion >theory. > >Burns It's Thursday now, and I'm still depressed. I was born the day Apollo 1 burned on the ground; one of my best friends celebrated his 23'rd on Tuesday. LH2 is in the lower tank, LOX in the upper. Although the umbilical area is located in the corrugated connector, I remember some other non-trivial connector being located in the lower mounting pylons near the bottom of the tank; does anybody know what this does? At least one of the SRB's appeared to have blown its chute, but as you know by now, ground control self-destructed both SRB's because one was threatening the Florida coast. I third the motion to rename this group. -dave hsu, explorer post 1275, Goddard Space Flight Center -- David Hsu Communication & Signal Processing Lab, EE Department University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 hsu@eneevax.umd.edu {seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!eneevax!hsu CF522@UMDD.BITNET "Vern Vern Vern Vern Vern Vern Vern, you've done it now, buddy..." -Ernest P. Worrell