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Big tragedy: Kasturirangan
Bangalore, Feb 01: The crash of space shuttle `Columbia` carrying Indian-American Kalpana Chawala woman astronaut and six others was a `big tragedy,` chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Kasturirangan said here tonight.
Bangalore, Feb 01: The crash of space shuttle ‘Columbia’ carrying Indian-American Kalpana Chawala woman astronaut and six others was a "big tragedy," chairman of
Indian Space Research Organisation K Kasturirangan said here tonight.
Saying that it was "a man-rated mission", he said he had communicated with Kalpana Chawla, the only Indian-American on board the space ship and that "She was an accomplished astronaut and Nasa is a robust organisation. It will sort out the problem and spring back."
"It is really shocking. There were seven precious lives on board. Personally, we never expected this. This was a man-rated mission," Kasturirangan said.
On the technical aspect of landing, he said, "The landing drill is very critical and needs very close control as velocity of vehicle at time of entry is about 17,500 kmph which is about 25 times the speed of sound. So the direction of velocity vis a vis horizontal, has to be so well controlled that the speed while landing can be captured. This creates a very high frictional heating of about 2000 degrees celsius, that is why it is critical."
Bureau Report
Saying that it was "a man-rated mission", he said he had communicated with Kalpana Chawla, the only Indian-American on board the space ship and that "She was an accomplished astronaut and Nasa is a robust organisation. It will sort out the problem and spring back."
"It is really shocking. There were seven precious lives on board. Personally, we never expected this. This was a man-rated mission," Kasturirangan said.
On the technical aspect of landing, he said, "The landing drill is very critical and needs very close control as velocity of vehicle at time of entry is about 17,500 kmph which is about 25 times the speed of sound. So the direction of velocity vis a vis horizontal, has to be so well controlled that the speed while landing can be captured. This creates a very high frictional heating of about 2000 degrees celsius, that is why it is critical."
Bureau Report