garym@telesoft.UUCP (Gary Morris @favorite) (02/18/86)
> A hitch in this theory occurs when one watches the news footage and sees > the two SRBs spiralling on after the explosion, apparently undamaged. A > so-called "crack" would have sent the suspected SRB careening into who- > knows-where in a very strange ballistic motion (spinning like a windmill). > However, that was not the case. According to data from shuttle downlink, the pressure in the right SRB dropped by 4 percent about 10 seconds before the explosion. Perhaps the seal between two sections of the SRB failed in more than one place (or all the way around) causing the side thrust from opposite sides to cancel out. (The data also showed that the computers onboard the orbiter detected the thrust change and gimballed all 5 nozzles to attempt to compensate for the loss in thrust on the right SRB.) A photo taken by an amateur photographer (shown on network news) clearly show TWO separate plumes of smoke coming from the right SRB. One from the nozzle and one from the side of the SRB about 1/4 up from the bottom. This was taken after the explosion when the SRB was on it's own. Also another photograph of the vehicle on the launch pad less that a second after SRB ignition show a could of dark smoke coming from the right SRB at about 1/4 the way up from the bottom. --GaryM -- Gary Morris -- seismo!s3sun!gould9!telesoft!garym decvax!ucbvax!sdcsvax!telesoft!garym telesoft!garym@sdcsvax.ARPA "Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it." -- Lazarus Long