Apr 13 1981
From The Space Library
Press reports on the Space Shuttle Columbia's launch noted the loss of some insulating tiles from engine-pod coverings visible, television viewers from an aft-facing cockpit window when astronaut Robert Crippen opened the payload-bay doors to dissipate heat into space as a way of cooling the orbiter. The areas lacking tiles, nine on the right-hand engine pod and four to six on the left-hand pod, had undergone the greatest stress during blastoff and ascent. Astronaut John W. Young relayed the view to Earth so flight directors could estimate the damage.
The two astronauts evinced so little concern about the missing tiles that, during a six-minute telecast late on Monday, neither mentioned the subject. As flight directors wanted to know whether the underside of the fuselage was intact, Deputy Operations Director Eugene F. Kranz announced that supersecret U.S. Air Force cameras in Hawaii and Florida would photograph the orbiter in an attempt to discover further areas of damage. His statement hinted at the highly classified capability of DOD cameras: photographing areas lacking tiles of a moving craft 170 miles up would be like reading license plates in a Moscow parking lot from orbit, the Washington Post commented.
The fuselage's underside housed Shuttle electronics and hydraulics systems that would navigate the craft on its return; move the elevons, keeping it on course during the last 1,000 miles; and lower the landing gear. Should loss of tiles expose the surface to reentry heat that could burn through the fuselage and the underlying systems, the orbiter without its landing gear lowered would have to crash-land at more than 200 mph. If photography showed underside tiles missing, Kranz said the crew would handle the reentry "to avoid a possible catastrophe," not specifying the alternatives. Officials said that the areas known to be missing tiles were not critical to reentry; all visible edges of tail and wings appeared intact, suggesting that tiles were lost during the stress of launch only on the engine pods. (W Post, Apr 13181, A-I, A-20, WSJ, Apr 13/81 3; NY Times, Apr 13/81, 1; W Star, Apr 13,'81, A-1)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
