Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Why don't you try over on the Aviation Week bulletin board?

No such crew compartment separation system was ever installed

GRONDINE: "The other is the explosive bolt system with which Columbia was initially equipped, which was designed to separate the crew compartment from the shuttle main body in the event of catastrophic failures - there was nothing pretty about it, it simply blew up the connection between the crew cabin and the main body. Yes, the sytem was built and flown, but later removed. As for why it did not appear in later shuttles, most likely that's because it also added to structural weakness and represented another possible failure point. But those are simply guesses."

You are clueless Grondine. No such crew compartment separation system was ever installed or flown - on Columbia - or any other orbiter. It simply di dnot happen- and I challenge you to find documentation that shows that it was indeed installed.

Columbia had two ejection seats on the flight deck which were deactivated beginning with STS-5 when the crew complement was increased from the 2 crew flown on STS-1,-2, -3 and -4 to 4 crew on STS-5.

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