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From: devils1@hou2g.UUCP (D.DARBY)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: Re: Challenger SRBs
Message-ID: <794@hou2g.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 31-Jan-86 17:09:42 EST
Article-I.D.: hou2g.794
Posted: Fri Jan 31 17:09:42 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Feb-86 07:32:50 EST
References: Challenger SRBs <4270@mhuxd.UUCP>, <958@ihuxx.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 30


>It's my belief that NASA Launch Operations will regret that they
>intentionally destroyed the SRBs.  As I understand that situation,
>there was only a POSSIBILITY that the SRBs could have fallen on
>populated areas.  They surely would have burned for only a few
>more seconds.  Would the parachute recovery mechanism have worked even
>after the shuttle explosion?  Recovering those SRBs, even after
>a fall of ten miles, might have provided some evidence concerning
>the tragedy.
>
>Ron Kukuk

---
You have to remember that it only takes multiple seconds for the
SRBs to reach the ground, and that even with the parachute deployed,
they may have drifted out of contol.
  As I understand it, (please correct me if I'm wrong) they destruct 
the SRB by re-directing the thrust, forcing the rocket to blow itself up.  
Without any fuel left in the rocket, there would be no way to destruct it.
  The decision must be made before there is even the slightest chance 
that some debris will fall on some populated area.  
  They had already lost the seven crew members, shuttle and payload: 
they surely didn't want a lawsuit on their hands.
---

                                          Dave Darby
					  AT&T Bell Labs
					  Holmdel, NJ
we won't forget them!!!