gandalf@pro-canaveral.cts.com (Ken Hollis) (12/11/90)
Greetings and Salutations: From: gs26@prism.gatech.EDU (Glenn R. Stone) >>.... The right booster parachute failed to separate from the >>booster at water impact. Officials are looking into why the... > >Silly question: why separate the 'chutes from the boosters? I would think >you would want the 'chutes back as well as the boosters, to either re-use... The sequence is as follows: The nose cap separates, pulling out a pilot chute at 15,704 feet altitude, the nose cap is not recovered. The pilot chute pulls the drogue chute out. It stabilizes the SRB for main chute deploymentat 5,975 feet. The frustum (lower half of the nose) is separated from the forward skirt and pulled away from the SRB by the drogue chute. The main chutes deploy. The nozzle is separated 20 seconds later and not recovered. Because the parachutes provide for a nozzlefirst impact, air is trapped in the empty (burned out) motor casing, causing the booster to float with the forward end approximately 30 feet out of the water. The main chutes are released from the SRB at impact. The drogue and frustum; each main chute, with its flotation; and the SRB are buoyant. The SRB recovery aids are the radio beacon (8.9 Nautical Miles) & flashing lights (4.9 Nautical Miles at night). All of these are recovered. From: bro@eunomia.rice.edu (Douglas Monk) >#Silly question: why separate the 'chutes from the boosters? I would think > >I think they *do* recover the 'chutes. I recall seeing support vessels... >...As to why they are jettisoned: the boosters stick up out of the water >vertically. If the 'chutes were still attached, they could possibly >drag the boosters or perhaps overturn it (at which point I believe they... They do recover the chutes, and the reason why they are jettisoned is so that each individual chute can be reeled onto the ship. The divers retrieve them, and it is a mess (as I am sure you can imagine) if all three chutes are tangled up together. Ken Hollis ProLine: gandalf@pro-canaveral Internet: gandalf@pro-canaveral.cts.com UUCP: crash!pro-canaveral!gandalf