At 11:08 AM 2/1/03 -0500, Gary L. Nunn wrote:
> They're now showing footage of a large piece of debris from > the external tank hitting the Orbiter wing during launch. > RichHas anyone said if NASA had the shuttle visually inspected for damage before re-entry ?
By now you may have heard (in response to that question by a reporter at the press conference) that they didn't.
Part of the answer:
(1) On a prior STS flight when there was concern over possible lost tiles, attempts were made with ground-base telescopes� were made to look for damage, but they could not tell anything from the observations, so no attempts were made on this mission.
(2) Had such damage been detected, there was nothing they could have done.
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�From my experience, some of the telescopes used to track satellites are capable of 10-cm resolution at LEO altitude.
-- Ronn! :)
Ronn Blankenship
Instructor of Astronomy/Planetary Science
University of Montevallo
Montevallo, AL
Disclaimer: Unless specifically stated otherwise, any opinions contained herein are the personal opinions of the author and do not represent the official position of the University of Montevallo.
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