kerry@ctvax (02/05/86)
The SRB's are always recovered, and parts of them are reused in a later shuttle flight. After the SRB's are spent and detached from the shuttle, the are lowered to earth with parachutes which deploy from the nose cone section of the boosters. They are fished from the ocean and returned to their manufacturer, Morton Thiokol Corporation in Utah. There, parts of the boosters are used in the manufacture or refurbishing of the boosters for future flights. The external tank is always jettisoned into low earth orbit where it disintegrates by friction heat as its orbit decays and it eventually enters the atmosphere. There has been a theory postulated by various sources concerning the SRBs. It seems that on some of the footage, a small jet of flame appears to be arching from the lower end of one of the SRBs. The theory is, the SRB contained a crack from which the jet of flame developed. The flame then proceeded to burn a whole into the thin skin of the external tank in the section where liquid hyrogen is stored. The hydrogen began to leak and the flame travelled up the connecting conduit between the hydrogen and its oxidizer (liquid oxygen). There, the two substances met and the massive explosion took place. An unconfirmed report was made concerning the detection of loss of thrust from one of the SRBs. This would have probably been ignored as the SRB's thrust often fluctuates during ascent. 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. It is unfortunate that the SRBs where detonated by radio for fear of them impacting a populated area. At the time of the explosion, one of them was feared to have been heading for the shore areas, when in fact it was later learned, they were both heading out to sea. If the SRBs had remained intact, they could have been recovered and examined for possible clues. As it is, NASA and the special board will have to do with what bits are recovered.