The crew were told of an issue

but basically that it wasn’t worth mentioning but only did as the press would ask about it when they got back.

From those who spoke about it, the management didn’t take the issue seriously because foam often comes off on launch, and never been a problem but they’d just got lucky before. Engineers were concerned but either ignored or risked losing their jobs if spoke out. The NASA guy said right after the crash, it can’t have been the foam as too light to cause the damage, then they ran a test and it went straight through 😬

Yeah unlikely they could have been sure of the damage even if spy satellites got involved. Should have stayed grounded until they fixed the issue with foam coming away which happened often.

Posted By: SCC 28 on March 1st 2024 at 14:54:30

Message Thread

The Columbia shuttle series was interesting (General Chat) - SCC 28, Mar 1, 14:12:59
- Was very good (n/m) (General Chat) - revsimon, Mar 1, 15:49:51
- Very interesting how problems encountered during every flight (n/m) (General Chat) - um_gah, Mar 1, 15:14:20
  - Incredible. Not exactly rocket science. (General Chat) - Ken Dodds Dads Dog, Mar 1, 15:28:31
    - You set em up and I'll tap em in (General Chat) - Chris Peacock, Mar 1, 15:52:35
- slight change of tack but crash related... (General Chat) - Tombs, Mar 1, 14:50:20
  - Jesus (n/m) (General Chat) - SCC 28, Mar 1, 14:56:14
- Watched loads of documentaries on it over the years (General Chat) - littletinyphil, Mar 1, 14:46:04
  - Atlantis @ Kennedy space centre is incredible. (General Chat) - megson, Mar 1, 15:45:53
    - Haven’t been to Kennedy space centre since 1999 (General Chat) - littletinyphil, Mar 1, 16:06:57
      - 100% Never forget the look on my space mad daughters face, pure wonder & joy (General Chat) - megson, Mar 1, 16:26:15
        
        Wow love it (n/m) (General Chat) - littletinyphil, Mar 1, 17:38:06
  - Also one in the Washington air and space museum. (General Chat) - um_gah, Mar 1, 15:15:51
    - Yeah been to that one, the one in los angeles sounds cool (General Chat) - littletinyphil, Mar 1, 15:29:03
  - The crew were told of an issue (General Chat) - SCC 28, Mar 1, 14:54:30
    - I read a report that spy satellites were used (General Chat) - littletinyphil, Mar 1, 15:00:52
      - Those interviewed said it was (n/m) (General Chat) - SCC 28, Mar 1, 15:03:35
        
        requested but then the management said no (General Chat) - SCC 28, Mar 1, 15:04:55
        
        Think it was more a security issue, paragraph from the net (General Chat) - littletinyphil, Mar 1, 15:08:51
        
        Procedures and comms sounded awful (n/m) (General Chat) - SCC 28, Mar 1, 15:21:36
  - The Challenger disaster was first reported by... John Craven's Newsround (General Chat) - norwaay, Mar 1, 14:49:15
    - Presented by Roger Finn (General Chat) - SCC 28, Mar 1, 15:02:00
      - *Shudders* (General Chat) - norwaay, Mar 1, 16:27:25
- I thought it was Challenger? (n/m) (General Chat) - MonkeyPuzzle, Mar 1, 14:33:21
  - wasn't Challenger on take of... (General Chat) - ghostof barry butler, Mar 1, 14:39:50
    - Yep. (n/m) (General Chat) - norwaay, Mar 1, 14:49:40
  - Challenger 86 (General Chat) - SCC 28, Mar 1, 14:38:27
    - A great start but crashed back down to earth (n/m) (General Chat) - norwaay, Mar 1, 14:50:18
      - Pretty much (n/m) (General Chat) - SCC 28, Mar 1, 14:57:14

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