NASA: Findings from the shuttle crashes indicate that the astronauts tried unsuccessfully to take control of the rudders; The spacecraft deck was the last part to come apart
The seven astronauts who were on board the space shuttle Columbia, remained alive for at least one minute after communication with them was lost when the space shuttle entered the atmosphere. NASA sources announced yesterday that the findings discovered from the wreckage of the shuttle indicate that the astronauts tried in the last minute of their lives to take control of the shuttle's rudder before it crashed.
The findings also reveal that the spaceship's deck - where the astronauts stayed during their journey back to Earth - was among the last parts of the spaceship to disintegrate as a result of the friction in the atmosphere. NASA stated that the left wing disintegrated first, then the tail of the spacecraft and the cargo it was carrying, and finally - the deck. The crash investigators came to the conclusion, after analyzing the fragments that were discovered, that enormous pressure was exerted on board the spacecraft which led to its disintegration and the death of the astronauts.
NASA researchers said shortly after the crash that they tend to believe the astronauts survived a few seconds after communication went silent. In March, the US space agency released data indicating that the astronauts tried to contact the space center in Houston, Texas, for about 32 seconds after the connection was lost. The new information published today in the USAI. Today" definitely points to the fact that the astronauts realized that the spacecraft was about to crash, and that they tried unsuccessfully to take control of the shuttle helm.
The inspection committee investigating the circumstances of the Columbia shuttle crash will recommend that NASA take high-quality photos of the space shuttles from inside the shuttles during takeoff, and transmit them in real time to locate damage - this is what the USA Today newspaper reported today (Tuesday).
The space shuttles are equipped with cameras capable of photographing the external fuel tank, but so far the images have been developed after landing. The shuttle crews used to take pictures of the disconnection of the fuel tank and transfer the pictures after the shuttle entered its route. One of the members of the committee, Major General Kenneth Hess, said: "You need to know if you were hit and if you want to repair the shuttle, you should know where it was hit."
Experts determined that if they had analyzed real-time images from the Columbia launch, they could have concluded that the shuttle was in danger. The US military even offered NASA to photograph Colombia using its satellites, but was denied.
NASA revealed e-mail traffic between its engineers, who determined that the images from the shuttle's mirror were of "high importance". Before the Columbia mirror, NASA canceled a project that focused on photographing the shuttles in real time and cut the maintenance team and the number of cameras.
Now, the inspection committee intends to demand that the three remaining shuttles be installed with cameras on the tips of the wings, near where Columbia was hit. Experts recently conducted an experiment, in which it became clear how great was the damage to the shuttle wing from the impact of the insulating foam of the external fuel tank.
NASA installed a video camera on the external fuel tank in October 2002, but two minutes after the fuel tank was operational, the camera lens was covered by chips ejected from the tank.
