Archive for December 30th, 2008
NASA releases report on Columbia’s last minutes
NASA released a report Tuesday on the last minutes of Space Shuttle Columbia citing problems with the crew’s helmets, spacesuits and restraints, which resulted in “lethal trauma” to the seven astronauts aboard. The report also discloses that the astronauts knew for about 40 seconds prior to catastrophic breakup that they did not have control of the vehicle.
Although all seven were wearing their pressure suits, not all helmets, gloves and glare shields were on or in place and clearly in the ultimate course of events would not have played any role increasing chances of survival.
I’ve downloaded the four-part PDF report and mirrored it here.
NASA Columbia Report pt.1
NASA Columbia Report pt.2
NASA Columbia Report pt.3
NASA Columbia Report pt.4