1-27-1986

2011-01-30 09:36:33

#176

HollisHurlbut: Member; +51|6272

Kmar wrote:
^ the external tank broke open and it erupted in a fireball.

The external tank ruptured, forcing Challenger's orientation to change with respect to its direction of travel, ripping apart the shuttle stack, disintegrating the oribter and the ET, and releasing all the propellant in the tank, which was too cold to "explode" and instead just combined to form a white puffy cloud of the same nature as those we see every day: water vapor.

Your quote says as much twice. First, it refers to a "breakup" of the orbiter, not the "explosion," although since it wouldn't have been the oribter exploding in any case, that could be ambiguous. What's not ambiguous is the second reference: that the crew had activated their PEAPs. Had the ET actually exploded, the entire stack would have been completely destroyed instantaneously, killing all the crew and leaving nothing of the PEAPs for us to examine to see if they turned them on.

I don't mean to be pedantic but it just bugs me when this subject comes up because it's so clearly not what happened... and I'm also pedantic.

2011-02-01 04:03:50

#177

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,054|7046|PNW

I only roughly remember watching something about it (at the time; I'm much more familiar with the events now, of course), but I was like five.

SEREMAKER wrote:
collapse the airforce and route that money to NASA

Sort of unnecessary, given how the two entities are already relatively intertwined.

2011-02-01 04:09:34

#178

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6875|132 and Bush

HollisHurlbut wrote:
Kmar wrote:
^ the external tank broke open and it erupted in a fireball.
The external tank ruptured, forcing Challenger's orientation to change with respect to its direction of travel, ripping apart the shuttle stack, disintegrating the oribter and the ET, and releasing all the propellant in the tank, which was too cold to "explode" and instead just combined to form a white puffy cloud of the same nature as those we see every day: water vapor.

Your quote says as much twice. First, it refers to a "breakup" of the orbiter, not the "explosion," although since it wouldn't have been the oribter exploding in any case, that could be ambiguous. What's not ambiguous is the second reference: that the crew had activated their PEAPs. Had the ET actually exploded, the entire stack would have been completely destroyed instantaneously, killing all the crew and leaving nothing of the PEAPs for us to examine to see if they turned them on.

I don't mean to be pedantic but it just bugs me when this subject comes up because it's so clearly not what happened... and I'm also pedantic.

Don't really know if you are taking exception to what I said or not. I think maybe you just like talking about semantics. I know well the events surrounding the tragedy.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2011-02-01 04:14:13

#179

Dilbert_X: The X stands for; +1,816|6380|eXtreme to the maX

Why not just read the report?
http://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/genindex.htm

Fuck Israel

2011-02-01 04:29:53

#180

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6949|Canberra, AUS

Feynman. What a champion he was.

Had to be said, sorry.

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2011-02-01 21:14:09

#181

HollisHurlbut: Member; +51|6272

Kmar wrote:
Don't really know if you are taking exception to what I said or not. I think maybe you just like talking about semantics. I know well the events surrounding the tragedy.

It's not semantics, it's a quantitative difference between "explosion" and "breaking up." If you know the difference between them and what actually happened to the vehicle, more power to you because I think 95%+ of the population has no idea what happened beyond an o-ring.

I don't take exception to what you said, I'm just making sure everyone else knows the facts because it seems no one ever does.

2011-02-01 21:15:03

#182

HollisHurlbut: Member; +51|6272

Spark wrote:
Feynman. What a champion he was.

Had to be said, sorry.

Yes.

Only Sagan gives him a run for his money as far as science outreach goes.

2011-02-01 22:25:13

#183

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6875|132 and Bush

Hawking, Brian Greene, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Dr. Kaku are all following in Sagans footstep with regards to bringing science into the mass media. Though I don't think any of them have done anything as spectacular as Cosmos.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2011-02-01 22:58:44

#184

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6875|132 and Bush

2-1-03, Columbia .. RIP

Xbone Stormsurgezz

BF2S Forums 1-27-1986

Kmar wrote:

SEREMAKER wrote:

HollisHurlbut wrote:

Kmar wrote:

Kmar wrote:

Spark wrote:

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