Challenger's "White Steam" During Ignition and Late Lift-off -- Withholding Begins
- From: "maxson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <maxson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 09:27:47 -0800 (PST)
On Nov 21, 2:59 pm, "max...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <max...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
<snip>
In an open hearing on March 7, 1986, Dr. Feynman kicked off the "white
smoke" discussion:
MR. MOSER: It comes out from, in the proximity of the aft field
joint.
DR. COVERT: And that's close also to that ring there that we can see
there?
MR. MOSER: Pardon me?
DR. COVERT: We can see a strap going around with some cork insulation
or something under it, and that is reasonably close?
MR. MOSER: Yes, sir.
DR. COVERT: And that is also reasonably close to where the external
tank attaches to the solid rocket motor.
[1128] MR. MOSER: That is correct, sir.
DR. COVERT: Thank you.
DR. FEYNMAN: Isn't it, so is this the black smoke you're talking about
at .5 seconds? Isn't it true that in even the first few frames
immediately after the ignition that you can see some white smoke
earlier?
MR. MOSER: From comparing the color of that smoke to this smoke, it
appears to be a lighter color, yes, sir. I think there is some
disagreement as to what the color actually is, whether it is less
dense or whether it is the reflections.
DR. FEYNMAN: I'm not worried about the color, but the time. It seemed
to me that it was an extremely early incident in the pictures that
could see that.
MR. MOSER: I don't believe it would be before a half a second, though,
sir. That is the first visible evidence that we see.
CHAIRMAN ROGERS: Which is the first visible evidence? How would you
describe, based on the first photograph that you've seen, the first
visible evidence was what? Was it white smoke or black smoke?
As shown above, Dr. Feynman and others observed "white smoke" prior to
0.5 seconds ("in even the first few frames immediately after the
ignition").
To further show that Dr. Feynman had his timeframe correct, allow me
to quote and reference from a closed session held three weeks earlier
at KSC, on February 13, 1986:
MR. KOHRS: [432] The first movement was plus .05 seconds. The key
thing here, you will see on the pictures at .445 seconds, is our first
evidence of black smoke from the right-hand SRB near the aft field
joint, and we will show you that coming up.
<http://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v4p450.htm>
(Notice that Kohrs' reference is to black smoke, as seen by camera
E60. This is the proof I wanted to present to show that Dr. Feynman
had his timeframe correct on March 7, for the "white smoke" seen
earlier. In other words, by March 7 the time of the first "black
smoke" had been moved out -- from 0.445 seconds to 0.531 seconds. See
link below.)
<http://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v5p1165.htm>
On March 10, 1986, Aviation Week & Space Technology published one
photo from camera D67 (without time). It is the first photo ultimately
presented on page 23 of the PC Summary (without time):
<http://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v1p23.htm>
As the Summary's final timeline shows, the time noted at the bottom of
page 23 is for a frame from a different camera, Camera E60 (never
shown in that Summary):
"Confirmed smoke above field joint on RH SRM -- 0.678 -- E60 Camera"
In the March 10 issue of AW&ST, the caption below the D67 photo
alleges the following:
"Black smoke visible here venting from the aft joint of Challenger's
right booster occurred after a puff of white steam was ejected from
the same area. The white steam is not visible in this view, which was
taken after the steam ejection had passed."
Most importantly for the purposes of this post, that caption goes on
to report:
"NASA has not yet released photos showing the white steam clearly."
Nevertheless, we know Dr. Feynman and others saw it, and that many at
NASA saw something very similar continuing until after t+12 seconds.
JTM -- <http://www.mission51l.com>
.
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