Re: O'Keefe to leave NASA soon

From: Pat Flannery (flanner_at_daktel.com)
Date: 12/13/04 

Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 18:56:58 -0600

Brian Thorn wrote:

>The only part you missed was that there is no communications blackout
>anymore and Mission Control did know there were big problems in the
>wing. Sure, they lost comm eventually from interference by the melting
>wing, but that's not the same as the old "blackouts", and by then they
>were really worried about the wing and left gear.
>

Yes, I did miss that; I forgot that the Shuttle can stay in touch with
the ground during reentry...does it uplink through the TDRS satellites?
We were very luck that Columbia had more sensors on board than the
other shuttles, and that we found that tape data recorder in such good
condition. Another piece of luck was that the foam impact was filmed
from the ground; if clouds had been in the way we might never have seen
that occur, and wouldn't have had our prime suspect for the loss pinned
down so fast.
What really amazed me was that weather radar image that OM found showing
all the debris over Texas.

Pat

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