News bulletin:
NASA's latest analysis shows that although the risk would have been extremely high and the actual chances of success hard to predict, in theory it was "feasible" to rescue the seven astronauts before the "Columbia" disaster.
The U.S. space shuttle "Columbia" broke up and crashed on February 1 this year while returning, and all seven astronauts on board were killed. After analyzing the accident, NASA engineers found that by minimizing the astronauts' activities as much as possible, "Columbia" could actually have remained in space for two more weeks, until February 15 or 16, when the shuttle's air scrubber lithium hydroxide would be exhausted. If everything went smoothly, NASA would have had enough time during those two weeks to work out and carry out a rescue plan.
The most likely plan would have been to send four astronauts up aboard the space shuttle "Atlantis" to rescue the "Columbia" crew. "Atlantis" had originally been scheduled to launch on March 1, but engineers said that with accelerated preparations, this shuttle could have been moved up for launch as early as February 11 or 12, and could have reached an orbit near "Columbia" within 24 hours. After that, the two shuttles could have flown side by side at a distance of 15 to 27 meters, while astronauts from "Atlantis" performed spacewalks while tethered, rescuing their colleagues from "Columbia." The "Columbia" shuttle could then have been remotely guided back into the atmosphere to fall into the sea. Another plan was to have the astronauts on "Columbia" conduct their own spacewalks and use thermal protection materials and the like to patch the hole in the wing. However, compared with launching "Atlantis," this method had an even lower probability of success. According to the preliminary conclusions of the investigation, the breakup of "Columbia" was mainly caused by damage to the thermal protection tiles on its left wing, which formed a hole that allowed extremely hot gases to enter.
In reporting the above on the 24th, The Washington Post pointed out that the analysis differed considerably from what some senior NASA officials said after the accident. Some NASA officials had stated that even if they had known "Columbia" was damaged, there was basically nothing that could have been done to remedy it.
It is reported that NASA carried out the feasibility analysis of astronaut rescue at the request of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The preliminary analysis results have already been submitted to the board in recent days, and the detailed results will be included as an appendix to the final accident investigation report.
NASA's latest analysis shows that although the risk would have been extremely high and the actual chances of success hard to predict, in theory it was "feasible" to rescue the seven astronauts before the "Columbia" disaster.
The U.S. space shuttle "Columbia" broke up and crashed on February 1 this year while returning, and all seven astronauts on board were killed. After analyzing the accident, NASA engineers found that by minimizing the astronauts' activities as much as possible, "Columbia" could actually have remained in space for two more weeks, until February 15 or 16, when the shuttle's air scrubber lithium hydroxide would be exhausted. If everything went smoothly, NASA would have had enough time during those two weeks to work out and carry out a rescue plan.
The most likely plan would have been to send four astronauts up aboard the space shuttle "Atlantis" to rescue the "Columbia" crew. "Atlantis" had originally been scheduled to launch on March 1, but engineers said that with accelerated preparations, this shuttle could have been moved up for launch as early as February 11 or 12, and could have reached an orbit near "Columbia" within 24 hours. After that, the two shuttles could have flown side by side at a distance of 15 to 27 meters, while astronauts from "Atlantis" performed spacewalks while tethered, rescuing their colleagues from "Columbia." The "Columbia" shuttle could then have been remotely guided back into the atmosphere to fall into the sea. Another plan was to have the astronauts on "Columbia" conduct their own spacewalks and use thermal protection materials and the like to patch the hole in the wing. However, compared with launching "Atlantis," this method had an even lower probability of success. According to the preliminary conclusions of the investigation, the breakup of "Columbia" was mainly caused by damage to the thermal protection tiles on its left wing, which formed a hole that allowed extremely hot gases to enter.
In reporting the above on the 24th, The Washington Post pointed out that the analysis differed considerably from what some senior NASA officials said after the accident. Some NASA officials had stated that even if they had known "Columbia" was damaged, there was basically nothing that could have been done to remedy it.
It is reported that NASA carried out the feasibility analysis of astronaut rescue at the request of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The preliminary analysis results have already been submitted to the board in recent days, and the detailed results will be included as an appendix to the final accident investigation report.
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