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W4DPH > SAT 23.03.03 03:34l 35 Lines 1388 Bytes #999 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS-082.01
Read: DB0FHN GUEST
Subj: Shuttle Columbia's flight data recorder found
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<DB0FSG<DB0SIF<DB0AIS<DB0ZDF<DB0GE<LX0PAC<LX0HST<HA3PG<
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Sent: 030323/0136Z @:W4DPH.#TPA.FL.USA.NOAM #:51521 [CLW] FBB $:ANS-082.01
From: W4DPH@W4DPH.#TPA.FL.USA.NOAM
To : SAT@AMSAT
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 082.01 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. March 23, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-082.01
Columbia accident investigators found a key flight data recorder Wednesday
near Hemphill, Texas. The device could shed new light on what was happening
to the spacecraft before it disintegrated over east Texas on Feb. 1. Seven
astronauts, 3 of them amateur radio operators were lost in the accident.
About the size of a bread box, the instrument uses magnetic tape to record
data such as temperatures, pressures, vibrations, acceleration, electrical
currents and strains on the vehicle. The recorder was recovered intact and
taken to Johnson Space Center, where it must be cleaned up before
determining how to get to the data without damaging it.
The recorder starts up about 10 minutes before the shuttle reaches the first
traces of the upper atmosphere. Investigators believe it would have
continued to run until the vehicle broke up.
To date, investigators have been forced to rely on telemetry data beamed
back from the shuttle, video and photographs in attempt to piece together
what destroyed the Columbia.
That information has helped NASA build a timeline of events as the orbiter
crossed the southwestern United States on way to a planned
[ANS thanks Florida Today for the above information.]
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