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Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.space,net.columbia
Subject: Re: Shuttle Challenger Explosion?
Message-ID: <6358@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Feb-86 12:00:51 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6358
Posted: Wed Feb  5 12:00:51 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 5-Feb-86 12:00:51 EST
References: <661@tekigm.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 27

> ...I have heard from an uncertain source that the Hubble telescope was
> aboard. Is this true?...

Fortunately, no.  The payload was the second Tracking and Data Relay
Satellite, plus assorted odds and ends.  Losing a TDRS is a considerable
pain, but nothing like losing the space telescope would be.  The Hubble
telescope was originally set to fly late this summer.

> Second, the latest video tape images of the shuttles right engine
> show what appears to be fire  (flame)  coming from above the main
> nozzle,  about where you would expect to see the  nozzle join the
> booster body. Is this a correct assumption?

Actually it seems to be about at a joint between two of the booster
segments, which is extremely suspicious.

> Third,  what is the shape if the fuel vessels within the external
> tank shell?  How far towards the nose  of the tank does  the fuel
> extend? ...

The tank is essentially full, with only minor unused volumes.  The
oxygen tank is in the nose, and is almost spherical.  The rest of the
tank is hydrogen.  (Liquid hydrogen has a very low density and hence
is very bulky.)
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry