[net.columbia] The Challenger DID wobble!

mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (Michael Ross) (02/03/86)

With respect to my earlier postings about the shuttle wobbling
just before the explosion:


The filmed footage of the accident that I saw this weekend showed
what appeared to be clear evidence that one of the SRB's failing:
flame was coming out of the side of the booster down near the
bottom. 

	Could this lateral component of thrust have thrown the shuttle
off course so that either the pilot or the navigation computers had
to correct for it? Could that be the reason for the "wobble" that I saw
just prior to the explosion when the tape was viewed in faster-than-normal
speed?

	And if it was, did the pilot and/or ground crew know something
was wrong before the explosion? I suppose the telemetry will prove this
true or false. Any comments?

	--MKR