Meteorite 'may Have Hit Shuttle'

[~*Belle 2003*~]

NASA says small meteorite or piece of man-made space junk may have struck the Columbia shuttle causing it to explode.

Even a tiny scrap of debris grazing the shuttle could have damaged thermal tiles just enough to start a chain reaction.

The comments by Milt Heflin, the space agency's flight director, cast doubt on the lead theory that a piece of foam insulation damaged the craft during blast off.

"Did we take some hit? That's a possibility. Something was breached," he has told the Los Angeles Times.

William Ailor, president of Aerospace Corporation, said Nasa has had to adjust the flight path of shuttles at least eight times to avoid large pieces of debris.

A speck of paint once chipped the windshield of the Challenger during a mission completed before it exploded in 1986.There are believed to be more than a million objects within 1,200 miles of the Earth's surface.

 

[Beauty]

Well that never crossed my mind....very interesting.

 

[nativetxn]

I wonder how they could prove that....very interesting.

 

[FINFAN]

I agree, something I never thought of, I guess that's what has been stated tho...that no mission is ever routine. I think because we've all seen the footage of the fuel tank piece hitting the wing that it's more believable , easier to accept than something we can't. such a tragic event.