No preamble tonight--I'm fucking pissed (first about the following subject, second that first draft was erased and this is the second time I've had to write this).

The Israeli newspaper Maariv wrote a newspaper story titled Wing Of Death and reported that this image clearly showed two cracks in the left wing of Columbia, along with a huge dent. This is all supposedly in the flat, hard tiles that line the surface of the craft. Basically, Maariv is claiming that this photo is the smoking gun, the proof that NASA knew that the Shuttle was in danger and could not withstand re-entry into the atmosphere.

ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT.

First off, the picture in Maariv for some reason has been colour tinted. I don't know if is to add some depth of drama to the image, or to just darken the obvious features.

The original image clearly shows that the first crack is in reality a wire leading off from beneath some material, and his same material can be clearly seen rippling and pliable, not 'dented' and solid. And yes, it is material--not flat, solid heating tiles. What is the material from?

The material is an insulation blanket. What they neglect to tell the casual viewer is that this image was shot from the vicinity of the cargo bay, possibly from one of the smaller windows of the cabin that looks out over the cargo bay. This area does NOT look out onto the wings. But it is highly likely that the image was shot from the SPACEHAB Research Double Module, a position from within the cargo bay and one that could easily catch part of the insulation blanket (which is present on most spaceflights). Since STS-107 was a scientific mission it had no payload to be launched or delivered from the middeck, so the SPACEHAB module was installed in this space as an extra facility to carry out experiments. In fact, STS-107 was the first mission to use SPACEHAB.

Perhaps the most glaring error in the Maariv report was the black 'top hat' located towards the top right side of the image. One would think that such an object would cut down on the aerodynamic styling of the wing. Again, this is image is part of the bulkhead between the cargo bay and the main cabin, and the black 'top hat' is more than likely a tie down of sorts. (The image in the link above is of an empty in-flight cargo bay looking towards the cabin; the circular hole near the bottom is where the SPACEHAB would have been attached.)

Maariv is so eager to point the blame that they overlook these basic facts. So basic in fact that a half-retarded library worker with a William Shatner complex and a New Zealand fetish spent part of his leisure time discrediting a nation's newspaper. It would make things so tidy if we could just find someone to at fault to pin this tragedy in total on, but there still is no direct culprit. These people are still pioneers, the first of their kind. Accidents, no matter how tragic, are going to happen. That is a fact. That doesn't make things easier, but it is a fact. We cannot let these people and their contributions to history be forgotten.

I also advise people to read Space Shuttle: The History Of The National Space Transportation System (The First 100 Missions) by Dennis R. Jenkins, The Unbroken Chain by Guenter Wendt with Russell Still, and The Space Shuttle Operator's Manual by Kerry Mark Joels, Gregory P. Kennedy, and David Larkin.

-N.