Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: Columbia hatch found in Lufkin, Texas - it needs to be fingerprinted

disintegration timeline and crew compartment integrity
E.P. Grondine — (archived)

Hi Tom -

The first thing you need to understand is that originally Coumbia was equpped with explosive bolts that would have severed the crew compartment from the main body in case of re-entry failure. It was believed that the crew compartment was robust enough to survive intact to the point at which Columbia's ejection seats could be used.

Early in his flight training in Israel, Ramon had survived a catastrophic aircraft failure by bailing out. Given what was going on during the Columbia re-entry, it is likely that he would have attempted a bail-out - at which point the crew compartment would fail.

Without Ramon's too early bail-out, it is likely that crew compartment integrity would have been preserved through to frei-punkt, at which time speeds would have been low enough to have offered bail-outs some chance of success.

Minimally, the hatch lodking mechanism needs to be examined in detail, to see if it was disengaged.

Finally, easily visible system independent bail-out indicators need to be attached to the shuttle hatches.

ep

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