> ABCNews is highlighting a "thermal differentiation in the > left wing" where a piece of insulation struck the wing upon lift-off. > It is at least very remotely possible that the loose > insulation was the result of a sabotage/terrorism attempt > that failed during liftoff, but ended up producing enough > damage to cause disaster on the landing.
Of course this is all speculation and possibly stating the obvious, but even if they didn't have the robot arm, it almost seems like it would be irresponsible (for whoever makes the decision) to attempt re-entry without a visual inspection knowing that they took a hit of any kind at launch. It seems like there would be more than one way to make a visual inspection - from going out in a space suit to having someone on the ISS look out a window with binoculars. It seems highly coincidental that they experienced sensor malfunctions in the same area where the debris hit during launch. At the last news briefing they said that even if there was damage that they could have not done anything about it. That seemed like a very stupid thing to say on NASA's part. Certainly they would not have attempted re-entry if they had known about any damage? > The Shuttle did not have a robot arm loaded, and thus the > crew could not inspect the damage will in orbit. (Columbia > was also too heavy to dock with the ISS.) Ok, this is my space mechanic ignorance showing, but how could the shuttle have possibly been too heavy to dock in a weightless environment? _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
