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African Phisher Scammer:

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Eliminate him...

After STS-45 landed, it was discovered that Atlantis' right number 10 RCC panel had sustained damage. Something had struck hard enough to nearly punch a hole in the panel. Investigation showed that the damage was caused by a man made object, probably during ascent. The panel had to be scrapped.

The not-quite hole was only approximately 2 sq. in., but seems to me to be a significant impact. I don't know if it was ever conclusively determined to be a foam strike, can anyone shed some light on this?

Were major foam strikes causing near misses in re-entry before the loss of STS-107?

one down, two to go...

Interesting side note... I read the entire CAIB document, and it has pretty much everything that the shuttle book has in it. Very good read IMO, it is not biased either way.

It looks like even with the suggestions CAIB made, it will be nearly impossible for NASA to implement all of them before they attempt another launch in early 2005.

I am thinking about getting that LOST IN SPACE book, but I want to be sure that it is not too biased against NASA by someone who was burned by them. Anyone have any info?

I think it will likely be either #2 or even #5. In all my life's experience, nothing that I have seen gives me any hope that humans have what it takes to survive their animalistic tendancies. I mean, seriously people, we can't get along with each other, because one person's "god" is called something other than someone elses. Not that it is our fault really, if not for the genetic instinct to outcompete and fight with each other, we may have never evolved to this point anyways. The number one question in the universe which I wish to know is whether or not this is the same for all sentient beings, or if the endpoint of evolution is really extinction. Are we too powerful for our own good, ready to erase ourselves for such petty reasons as religion?

Unfortunatly, I have to be the pessimistic one here, and say that we will either wipe ourselves completely out, or a plague wipes out 99.9% of the population, and we have to start over.

I actually read some of the Shuttle book tonight.

It was obviously written by non-technical people, most likely journalists. However, it did give a bit more detailed explaination of things than one would obtain from a news site. From the portions I read, thier position seems to be that while NASA probably should not have dismissed the potential for severe damage resulting from the impact, there was not really much they could have done even had they had a high-res photo of the hole in the left wing.

What could have realistically been done if we had known beyond a shadow of a doubt that Columbia would not survive re-entry? Short of sending up another shuttle as a rescue ship in the days after Columbia launched, probably nothing...

Someone else will have to confirm this, but I think it is because space craft require less energy overall to launch in the ecliptic plane...

Indeed a historic event!!! Congrats to Rutan and Scaled for a job well done. Now do it a few hundred more times!

Wow, I am totally blown away by these images.

I like to think about how happy people like Kepler and Huygens would be seeing these...

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone. I am enjoying reading all of your posts, and am pleased to say that I have learned tons of stuff about this subject in my short time among you. I only hope I can contribute in some small way to the advance of our knowledge on this subject. After all, isn't that the job of science? To stand on the previous person's shoulders, thus increasing our overall knowledge base?

MC

Indeed those photos will be spectacular, I have been stoked about this mission since I heard about it prior to launch in 1997. And I think it is fitting that they named the probe after one of the most influential and enlightened minds of all time....Constantijin Huygens...

I totally agree, all I want before I die is to see humans walk on Mars, regardless of where they are from. Secondly, for the question of life on another planet (my money is on Europa, Titan is another interesting local) to be definitively answered.

That's not too much to ask is it?

To answer the original question, I think it will likely be a combination of several groups, NASA, the international community, and the private sector. NASA will certainly not be left out of the deal, besides, they could bankroll much of the cost. I would think that as the first mission to Mars be undertaken in a world setting, with several countries contributing to the cause. The private sector is the unknown, it still remains to be seen what new advances they will contribute. I'm thinking inovative technologies like Dr. Zubrin's ISPP.