Ken,
believe what I posted, it's accurate. Some astronauts are seated behind
others. The ones in the second row activated emergency breathing packs that
are stored in the back of the seat in front of them. They had time, I don't
know how much, but it's certain they did. NASA has a complete time-line and
recordings of what each astronaut did right up until impact. Don't know if
anyone else will ever hear/view it.
You're absolutely correct that if the accident hadn't happened then, it
certainly would have happened later on. Botton line was they got too
complacent with the belief that space travel was no longer dangerous, hence
the civilian teacher on board. The safer and more routine it seemed, the less
the funding would have been questioned. You probably recall in the very early
days of the Shuttle program- before it even flew- it was referred to by NASA
as a "space bus" and "Acme Delivery Company" They pushed it as being as
reliable as a bus or a truck, and had a very over-eager flight schedule. The
Challenger crash brought it all back to reality for them.
George S.
image66@xxxxxxxxx writes:
<< I have a hard time believing that she was able to undo
her restraint system, given the incredible G-forces
during the tumble towards the surface. Secondly, the
cockpit hull would have been breached during the
explosion and the loss of pressure would have put them
into rarified air. The pressure suits would have
needed to be operational for them to retain
consciencness--and the majority of the systems would
have failed at the onslaught. After the first 30
seconds that cockpit should have been spinning in
excess of 100rpm.
>>
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