MarkusS
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I´m very interested in the space shuttle and one mission of the Space Shuttle Atlantis was so dramatic and a close call that it could have ended in an absolute desaster.
In 1988 Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center for a military mission under top secret conditions. During her rise into orbit some large parts of one solid rocket booster felt off and impacted with the orbiter:
The crew reported that they heared cracking and bending sounds and that "white stuff" had impacted with the windows. ground control said it is no problem and moved on. Once in Orbit the crew fullfilled its daily work but was very worried about what happened during the launch. Commander Gibson asked again and again if he can do an EVA to go outside and inspect the underside of Atlantis. NASA first denied this request but because the crew asked again and again it was decided that Gibson should go outside and inspect the underside, make pictures and send them down so NASA can see whats going on.
As Gibson went out he first said that evrything looks normal. Then the CANADARM Crane lifted him below the wing of Atlantis. Gibson later said that the first idea he had when he saw the underside of teh Space Shuttle was "We will die...". Hundreds of heat shield tiles were damaged. Some were missing completly. He made many pictures.
Because the Atlantis was on a military mission she was only allowed to send data on a very slow frequenze. The quality of the pictures was bad and NASA did not understand the full extent of what they saw. They thought the damaged tiles are just optical illussions and shadows and left the extremly worried crew alone with their problem in orbit.
After 4 days the crew started the deorbit burn and Atlantis prepared for re entry. The Crew went into their seats. Gibsons said he was sure that Atlantis will not survive the re entry. He planned to scream insults towards ground control once the orbiter would start to break apart...
After 4 days and 8 hours in Orbit the Space Shuttle Atlantis touched the athmosphere and thundered through the air with 28.000 km/h. The heat shield began to shine as bright as the sun and heated up to 2600°C.
Inside the Shuttle evrything went normal. The Orbiter performed perfectly and decended as expected and with the planned speed. After several minutes Atlantis made it through the athmosphere, approached the Edwards Air Base for landing and had her touch down.
The engineers were shocked what they saw. 700 tiles were damaged and one missing complete:
At one point an entire tile was missing and the hull started to melt during re entry. What saved the crew from desaster was the fact that the base of the data antenna was right above this place and prevented a burn through:
Experts believe that Atlantis survived the absolute most damage to a point where she was barely functional anymore. She went through so much stress at this re entry that she was literally only seconds away from desaster.
I find this super interesting and i hope i can visit her next year.
In 1988 Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center for a military mission under top secret conditions. During her rise into orbit some large parts of one solid rocket booster felt off and impacted with the orbiter:
The crew reported that they heared cracking and bending sounds and that "white stuff" had impacted with the windows. ground control said it is no problem and moved on. Once in Orbit the crew fullfilled its daily work but was very worried about what happened during the launch. Commander Gibson asked again and again if he can do an EVA to go outside and inspect the underside of Atlantis. NASA first denied this request but because the crew asked again and again it was decided that Gibson should go outside and inspect the underside, make pictures and send them down so NASA can see whats going on.
As Gibson went out he first said that evrything looks normal. Then the CANADARM Crane lifted him below the wing of Atlantis. Gibson later said that the first idea he had when he saw the underside of teh Space Shuttle was "We will die...". Hundreds of heat shield tiles were damaged. Some were missing completly. He made many pictures.
Because the Atlantis was on a military mission she was only allowed to send data on a very slow frequenze. The quality of the pictures was bad and NASA did not understand the full extent of what they saw. They thought the damaged tiles are just optical illussions and shadows and left the extremly worried crew alone with their problem in orbit.
After 4 days the crew started the deorbit burn and Atlantis prepared for re entry. The Crew went into their seats. Gibsons said he was sure that Atlantis will not survive the re entry. He planned to scream insults towards ground control once the orbiter would start to break apart...
After 4 days and 8 hours in Orbit the Space Shuttle Atlantis touched the athmosphere and thundered through the air with 28.000 km/h. The heat shield began to shine as bright as the sun and heated up to 2600°C.
Inside the Shuttle evrything went normal. The Orbiter performed perfectly and decended as expected and with the planned speed. After several minutes Atlantis made it through the athmosphere, approached the Edwards Air Base for landing and had her touch down.
The engineers were shocked what they saw. 700 tiles were damaged and one missing complete:
At one point an entire tile was missing and the hull started to melt during re entry. What saved the crew from desaster was the fact that the base of the data antenna was right above this place and prevented a burn through:
Experts believe that Atlantis survived the absolute most damage to a point where she was barely functional anymore. She went through so much stress at this re entry that she was literally only seconds away from desaster.
I find this super interesting and i hope i can visit her next year.
