Could you face death?

[11Alive]

So it's been 15 years now since the Columbia disintegrated on re-entry. The astronauts were probably terrified as they were violently and unexpectedly thrown around. According to Wikipedia, the prevailing attitude back then, even among some astronauts, was:

You know, there is nothing we can do about damage to the TPS [Thermal Protection System]. If it has been damaged it's probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Don't you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?

It's sort of a Kobayashi Maru scenario, a test of character in the no-win scenario. What would you have done in their shoes? Hard to say for sure since I'm not actually in that situation, but I think I would have liked to have enjoyed the mission, then told just before re-entry that critical damage had occurred and we were going to die. Why ruin the mission before you absolutely have to? But I'd like to know, and I wouldn't stay in orbit and die slowly. I'd do the re-entry but at least would know to expect the worst, and maybe make a plan like somehow making the deadly re-entry count for something, perhaps trying something desperate knowing it probably wouldn't save me but might provide data in case a future mission were to face the same problem. But that's probably just the armchair hero in me talking. Still, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be hysterical. At worst, probably more like a sobbing wreck.

What would you choose?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

There is a theory that the Columbia crew might have survived had the pilot led the re-entry with the undamaged wing. However, in the curcumstances, I doubt that they had much time to think or react as the ultimate loss of control was very rapid. In the case of the earlier Challenger disaster, I heard that some of the crew were probably still alive in the crew compartment for several tens of seconds until it impacted the ocean surface.

 

[Tosk]

If there's even the slightest chance that me knowing could change the outcome, I'd wanna know. Every time.

 

[Refuge]

That's a pretty amazing question to be honest.

I think I would want to know so I could make peace with what matters to me, even if it was a private reckoning.

 

[publiusr]

Something interesting.

Many people do not know this, but most of Challenger still rests on the ocean floor. Only a little more than 30 percent of the vehicle was recovered, because of the expense and danger involved. NASA recovered the crew compartment and a couple other key pieces of the orbiter, but the investigation focused on the faulty solid rocket booster and the damage it did to the external tank. At the time, NASA felt there was little to be learned from studying Challenger herself, so what was recovered of her was placed in a silo after the investigation ended....The debris from Columbia, on the other hand, represents ten times the amount of material recovered from all other uncontrolled hypersonic reentries combined. The effects of plasma, heat, wind, and torsional stress on different types of materials are shown throughout the remnants of the vehicle. Mike lobbied to keep Columbia’s material preserved as a living laboratory for research in spacecraft design.

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3396/1 http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3402/1

Columbia could have been an even worse disaster

We dodged a number of bullets in Columbia’s breakup. The accident occurred with the orbiter traveling 12,000 mph (19,300 km/h) at an altitude of 200,000 feet (61,000 meters) and a few miles south of Dallas. ...Its engine powerheads hit the ground near Ft. Polk, Louisiana while still traveling at Mach 2. ...Had the accident occurred at the same point in the reentry profile one orbit later, the shuttle’s debris would have impacted downtown Houston.

https://bigthink.com/13-8/why-death-matters/

The rest is silence

https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-ancient-writings/apocalyptic-apocrypha-0017214
https://www.coasttocoastam.com/photo/disaster-art-the-outlook-photo/
https://www.space.com/space-shuttle-challenger-debris-found-history-channel


As it turns out, there was a plan to use ablatives on the shuttle orbiter:

The ablative layer for most locations could be surprisingly thin. For the simplest mechanically attached panel design, for example, the MMC computer models indicated that a point on the Orbiter's underside on the fuselage centerline 50 feet aft of its nose would need a layer of ablative material only 1.7 inches thick.

http://spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2020/01/no-flying-brickyard-1972-1973-plan-for.html

A shuttle loss
https://www.space.com/nasa-astronaut-don-lind-obituary

memory
https://screenrant.com/cowboy-bebop-banned-episode-tribute-touching/

https://bigthink.com/13-8/why-death-matters/

 

[2takesfrakes]

Chuck Yeager who, of course, broke the sound barrier said of the job of being Test Pilot that, "you don't concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done." I'm certain the same could be said of every astronaut, cosmonaut, or whathaveyou. You know what, though, with a regular school teacher on the Challenger and all the hype associated with that, I'd feel that this had to be the safest flight ever, because NASA's going to make sure this goes off without a hitch ... it can't afford any foul ups. Yeah, well ... same thing with the worlds first Israeli astronaut on Columbia. Surely, this flight's going to go as smooth as a chorus girl's leg slipping into a silk stocking ... Incredible, really. Just incredible, how Life is.

 

[Dryson]

Facing death is easy as most people don't expect it. But when you have lived through several harrowing near death experiences such as I have you generally regard death with the "How about an ice warm cup of shut the *&^% death?" along with "Yep, my bucket of Give-a-F*&% is empty. That goes for you as well Death."

My near death experiences include:

1. Getting clipped on the driver side of my truck by an 18 wheeler trailer that bent the left front wheel slightly. Imagine looking in the drivers side mirror and seeing the wheel of the trailer coming and getting closer and the only escape is to drive over the berm and down the hill.

2. Same vehicle after number one. Hit a patch of black ice during the winter time and went left of center and hit the guard rail. I turned the wheel just in time so that the collapsible part of the rail guard bumper caught the passenger door that shredded it after came to a stop. I mean shredded like a Great White shark eating a whale.

3. Put my face through the passenger side of my 1984 Pontiac Grand Prix. Someone else must have been driving because when I woke up I was in the drivers seat. Physics says that it is impossible for a body to move in a straight line from right to left and then forward when the impact was head on.

4.Nearly electrocuted while installing a cable satellite dish because the home owner had done their own wiring and turned off the wrong breakers.

5. Nearly drowned to death after passing out in the bath tube.

6.Could have bled out after putting my arm through a plate glass window that required close to 80 stitches.

7.Nearly broke my neck and suffocated when I was younger. While playing in one of those air castle inflatables at the fair two rather large girls, probably 8th graders when I was only in 1st grade got into the inflatable and began to jump up and down. I caught the energy of the wave and it flipped me into the corner where my head became trapped between two of the inflatable panels along with forcing my head in and awkward position. F*&^ing 8th graders.

8.On a dare at school I told one of the wrestlers that he couldn't make make me unconscious by putting the Sleeper Move on me. I was wrong and found myself sitting on the floor when I came too. Should have sued.

9.Rear-ended while at a stop light by a driver who was going about 25 mph. Sever whiplash even though I had my seat belt on.

So what is escaping death?

Just a valid reason to b*tch, moan and complain about anything really.

 

[tzinebh]

To be honestly, I can face the death peacefully. It is a fact that no one would avoid