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Pat Duggins
Pat Duggins
Senior News Analyst
pduggins@wmfe.org

 

 

DISCOVERY’S MISSION—Rating the dangers

 

June 9, 2008—On a percentage basis, what do you think is the most dangerous part of the current mission of Space Shuttle Discovery? That question came up when Astronaut Mike Foale joined us for our “live” coverage of the launch last week.

 

During the liftoff of Discovery last Saturday, whose mission patch is pictured here, former International Space Station Commander Mike Foale and I sat in the hot sun in our spot in the grandstand. We both had to navigate the tangle of cables that channeled electricity, phone lines, and NASA’s mission audio feed to the box, which in turn, funneled our comments back to the station for broadcast. One more gadget played into the event, Foale’s digital watch. Once Discovery’s solid rocket boosters roared to life, and the Shuttle jumped from stock-still to 200 mph as it leaped from the pad, the Astronaut started his stopwatch.  

 

He was keeping track of “seconds and energy”. Foale was watching, for his own sake, where the Shuttle was during its trip to orbit and what would happen if something went wrong at an given point. Two minutes after launch, the boosters fall away. Then, comes the call from Mission Control to “one engine TAL”. That means Discovery could reach to a trans-Atlantic emergency landing spot in Europe with two failed main engines. Then, “one engine to ATO”. That means the Shuttle could “abort to orbit” or limp into a safe but lower-than-desired, on one engine. Challenger did that in 1985 during NASA’s only in-flight abort. Discovery made it safely to orbit, then Foale talked danger percentages. He put the hazards in the liftoff alone, at about 60% of the total danger a Shuttle crew faced. Coming in second, Foale believed, was re-entry and landing at about 30%. The rest, he said, were the spacewalks and just getting through the flight in orbit.

 

On a book related note, many thanks to all who clicked on the YouTube clip of that UCF-TV “Expressions” program on “Final Countdown.” Internet hits streamed in during the Memorial Day holiday (folks where probably taking a break from barbeques). If you’d like a gander, here’s the link…

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv_lMXGFtFA

 

Also, I’ll be heading over to the Space Coast on Sunday, after Discovery’s planned landing, on a special mission. The NPR station in Miami, WLRN, held a “Space day” event during its recent membership drive. During that day, they offered signed copies of “Final Countdown” as the main pledge gift. There was also a sweepstakes with the grand prize being a trip to the Kennedy Space Center’s Visitors Center, and a visit from me. (You have to wonder what the “winner” got ;).

More to come...

Photo courtesy of NASA 

 

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