Was The Shuttle Sabotaged by Terrorists?

[Lancecastor]

"Video shown on CNN showed the shuttled re-entering the atmostphere over Dallas and multiple streaks were observed shortly after.

CNN is also reporting calls to emergency services reporting a loud impact and search and rescue teams in the Dallas area have been put on alert."

 

[SpiceCake]

Let's hope it's not an act of terrorism, Lance.

 

[kiwiwolf]

How? It started coming apart on re-entry.

Shot down? No way... only an ICBM has that flight ceiling and the target was moving at thousands of miles an hour. Not a hope in hell.

I don't want to sound harsh here especially since 7 brave people just lost their lives but this isn't something that should turn into a witch hunt.

 

[kiwiwolf]

Washington have just said that it is "premature to suspect terrorism."

The shuttle came apart at "several hundred thousand feet."

I just watched the film again and the initial explosion happened ON BOARD the shuttle. There was no con trail leading to the shuttle.

An expert who has flown the shuttle is saying it is an onboard accident based on what he knows and what he sees on the film.

 

[Guest]

Damn.

People should always insist on being put in the black box when flying.

 

[Guest]

 

[JerseyBoy]

they're looking at what seems to be a tile or piece of ice that fell off on take off that might have damaged the ship...

 

[Lancecastor]

What are the chances of a catastrophic failure the first time an Israeli sets foot in a shuttle...and of the debris field being centered around a place called...Palestine, Tx?

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

 

[Lancecastor]

Could the shuttle have been sabotaged by external influences by remote attack of the on-board computer and/or comms systems?

Is that possible?

Anything is possible.

That's why Homeland Security is saying it is "highly unlikely" the event is terrorist related, instead of "completely impossible".

 

[Guest]

 

[dlj403]

The shuttle was at 275,000 feet when contact was lost. That's too far up for any air-to-ground missles. It's also at the point when instrument/radio contact is routinely lost as the shuttle re-enters. There is usually a blackout for ~ 2 minutes. So no, it would be highly unlikely for this to be terrorism. I guess that's one good thing, if there can be said to be any good thing in this

 

[Lancecastor]

My fellow Americas, I, the president of United States, ordered our Intelligence servicemen to blow up the space shuttle Columbia in order to stir up the suspition towards Al Qaeda and Iraq. Though, the American intelligencia will no doubt refute such connection, the most of dumb ass Americans will be pointing fingers at Saddam.

Let's roll.

"Space Program Assassinated Over Dallas."

 

[comeagain4]

my son-in-law is with the project. he just called. he says that sabatoge or shot down out of the question.

problem is that when the shuttle skims atsmophere for breaking effect there is a lot of stress as well as very high heat. if just one of the tiles on the front of the shuttle shakes off it will probably incenerate during re-entry.

 

[Lancecastor]

the shuttle skims atsmophere for breaking effect

Yes, apparently so.

 

[busybody..]

Why it's probably not terrorism: (1) if you planted a bomb, you'd want it to go off on takeoff -- that's when everyone is watching, and there's less time for stuff to go wrong, since you'd have to wonder whether a bomb would work after spending an extended time in space; (2) it's basically impossible to shoot down a reentering space shuttle because of its speed and altitude; (3) there are so many things that can go wrong with shuttles, especially Columbia, which is the oldest, without invoking terrorism. I suppose it's conceivable that a saboteur did some sort of subtle structural damage calculated to cause this sort of a failure while remaining unnoticed during ground checks, but that strikes me as unlikely for a variety of reasons.

From the video it looks like structural failure, followed by an explosion as the spacecraft disintegrated. That's unlikely to be the result of sabotage. Most likely it was failure in a wing spar or some other component, probably brought on by age and fatigue, though possibly caused by tile zippering and burn-through, or damage on launch. We'll see. No point getting ahead of things here, but plenty of reason to think it's not terrorism.

Prediction: This won't traumatize people the way Challenger did because (1) it's not the first time; and (2) we're at war now, and people's calculations of such things -- especially post-WTC -- are different. I hope, however, that we'll look at moving beyond the elderly and unreliable Shuttle now.

 

[zipman]

This isn't the first time that we had a shuttle disaster. The shuttle was flying over 8 x the speed of sound and at an altitude of over 250,000 feet and there is incrdible heat.

Combine that with the evidence of a piece of ice or tile breaking off on takeoff and it is easily explained as a tragedy.

 

[Cuckolded_BlK_Male]

I think that's ridiculous. If an anti-american terrorist group had the technological capability to shoot down an air craft at an altitude of 200,000 ft. and moving at around mach 24, then they are more advanced than the United States Airforce.

 

[busybody..]

The Shuttle and the War on Iraq.
Far fetched, maybe.


The Israeli aboard was a fighter pilot that participated in the destruction of the Nuclear Reactor in Iraq!!!!! (IRONIC?)

Is it possible that Iraq will believe this to a sign from G-D that they will be protected in the upcoming war?

As you may know, Saddam Hussein believes he is a direct descendant of Nebuchaezar.......who was equally protected by G-D when he went to war against Israel!


__________________

 

[WynEternal]

What are the chances of a catastrophic failure the first time an Israeli sets foot in a shuttle...and of the debris field being centered around a place called...Palestine, Tx?

I think you're reading too much into things. This isn't like getting into your car and going to the grocery store. A shuttle mission is highly dangerous and after seeing it over and over, we, as civilians seemed to have forgotten the magnitude of danger that is involved.

 

[Cuckolded_BlK_Male]

I think that's ridiculous. If an anti-american terrorist group had the technological capability to shoot down an air craft at an altitude of 200,000 ft. and moving at around mach 24, then they are more advanced than the United States Airforce.

 

[Lasher]

Thanks for being a consistent , Lance.

You're lack of respect for all involved is quite touching.

 

[Lancecastor]

Thanks for being a consistent , Lance.

You're lack of respect for all involved is quite touching.

Thanks for your childish attempt to make this tragic event a personal attack, asshole. Go fuck yourself.

This day will be a watershed moment in terms of the USA's mood towards the situation in the Middle East, whether it's directly related or not.

when i heard what sounded like firecrackers someone had thrown in the back of a truck that was getting closer as it was being drove down the street. Add to it the sound of metal being dragged over other metal and tore in half.

The trouble is it was coming from the sky at about an 10:30 position going from northeast to southwest .

I saw one fuckedup corkscrew of a vapor trail.

I remember thinking damn they sure are flying that shuttle low and if they don't do a correction they will land that sucker in cuba.

My heart goes out to the family of those on the space shuttle.

Lance