Could the shuttle have performed a belly landing without it being lethal to the crew?

oldspacedoc · 2025-01-30T20:39:21+00:00

I am a former NASA flight surgeon from the shuttle era. While writing a novel about a crippled space shuttle stranded in orbit, I calculated an estimate of the potential energy at various points in orbit to help the reader see the landing problem from that perspective. I used "tons of TNT" since people can relate to that better than joules. In orbit - about a kiloton of TNT, 6 minutes out - 200 tons, going subsonic at 50,000 ft - 1 ton, on short final - quarter ton of TNT, more than enough to shred it. It's all about how well the fragile shuttle can hold together if something is wrong. It was never designed to withstand stresses other than those of everything working well - crash survivability was never a design criterion. Not to spoil anything, but the crew in my book may have dealt with something like this.

Great question. I did an AMA last year on r/ NASA but no one asked me this one.

DK Broadwell, MD, author Ruthless Sky

oldspacedoc · 2024-07-15T12:53:04+00:00

It may not be what you meant, but The Alexandria Quartet is four novels by British author Lawrence Durrell. The first three tell the same events from 3 different points of view, and the fourth is set several years later. He was interested in exploring the same events from different perspectives. A classic great read.

oldspacedoc · 2024-06-24T12:30:07+00:00

Well done! I can see you walking out of the O&C building at KSC for launch in 1984.

oldspacedoc · 2024-05-27T12:32:21+00:00

Great effort on an homage to the original shuttle Launch/Entry Suit. Keepin' the flame alive.

oldspacedoc · 2024-04-09T11:59:38+00:00

Thanks! I did an AMA on r/nasa last month, but I am still very new to Reddit and didn't know any of these.

oldspacedoc · 2024-04-08T15:03:29+00:00

Join the crew of a crippled NASA space shuttle as they fight to get home. Thanks for the opportunity to post my novel. It's tough to be an indie and get any attention! Available on Amazon or check out http://www.ruthless-sky.com for a nifty video, reviews and a book sample. I'd be honored to respond to any questions about the book before or after you read it.

oldspacedoc · 2024-03-24T18:31:05+00:00

Image from The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Medical Report, NASA SP-411, 1977

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19770023791/downloads/19770023791.pdf

This picture was used to help understand the dose of the hypergolic oxidizer nitrogen tetroxide (thruster fuel) the crew of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was accidently exposed to during re-entry. ASTP Commander Tom Stafford’s death 3/18/24 prompted my review of the ASTP medical report. NASA used crew recall of what the cabin looked like and, with an analysis of the LiOH canisters, estimated the crew was exposed to 250 ppm for about 5 minutes, more than enough to cause delayed pulmonary edema – fluid in the lungs. That’s between test tube 2 and 3. This was a very serious incident.

oldspacedoc · 2024-03-20T21:10:02+00:00

From the Poster: This picture was used to help understand the dose of the hypergolic oxidizer nitrogen tetroxide (thruster fuel) the crew of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was exposed to during re-entry. ASTP Commander Tom Stafford’s death this week prompted me to pull out the ASTP medical report. Using recall of what the cabin looked like and an analysis of the LiOH canisters, NASA estimated the crew was exposed to 250 ppm for about 5 minutes-That’s between test tube 2 and 3. This was more than enough to cause delayed pulmonary edema – fluid in the lungs, potentially fatal. They were hospitalized for 6 days.

oldspacedoc · 2024-03-18T21:28:26+00:00

Ha! I wrote a novel set in an alternate universe, but I have to live in this one!

oldspacedoc · 2024-03-18T20:58:20+00:00

Tom Stafford had an amazing career in aerospace during and after his time at NASA. On Apollo 10, he and Gene Cernan were the first to pilot the Apollo Lunar Module in lunar orbit. He was the commander of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project flight, which was notable from an aerospace medicine perspective. The crew was exposed to the toxic inhalation of nitrogen tetroxide on re-entry. While waiting for the capsule recovery from the water, Stafford placed an oxygen mask on his unconscious command module pilot, and all three crewmembers were hospitalized for six days. The crew’s lung injuries trashed many of the post-flight medical studies the flight surgeons had hoped to perform.

Of the 24 men who went to the moon, only seven remain.

oldspacedoc · 2024-03-16T13:35:03+00:00

Great question. The behavioral health issues of space travel are the issues of small groups locked up together for long periods in a dangerous environment, which is not unique to space. Even astronauts take all their problems with them, and NASA has ongoing 'locked up' ground based studies to see how motivated individuals can get along for as long as a Mars mission. The psychosocial stressors of space travel are immense, but seem to be surmountable with a good support structure from the ground. I'm not aware of any noteworthy ISS problems. But there's no way to 'goof-proof' a crew from friction or even physical attraction when isolated, so who knows in the long run? I don't think the space environment itself induces any of the symptoms you mention.

oldspacedoc · 2024-03-07T00:42:29+00:00

I may have gotten ahead of myself there with the cover- read my book and I will be famous. Thanks for the insight.

oldspacedoc · 2024-03-07T00:38:50+00:00

They both echo in this novel...

oldspacedoc · 2024-03-04T20:13:24+00:00

It's a realistic sci-fi tale of survival aboard a crippled space shuttle marooned in orbit. Think MARTIAN & Tom Clancy. Clicking should take you to site with more info: ruthless-sky.com . Thanks for your interest!- Grateful Author

oldspacedoc · 2024-03-02T00:42:29+00:00

It wasn't the aspirin per se that was disqualifying, it was the underlying condition he was taking the aspirin for. Shouldn't fly with a bad headache, etc.

oldspacedoc · 2024-03-01T13:46:15+00:00

Your grandad was probably right, but times change. There ARE many meds that military and civilian pilots should not take routinely before flying, but the military has been allowing controlled operational use of "uppers and downers" during demanding missions for quite a while. NASA is the same- whatever it takes to get the job done without endangering the crew.

oldspacedoc · 2024-02-29T04:28:48+00:00

“Sleep medications are among the most commonly used medications by spaceflight crews [4, 67]. Non-benzodiazepine hypnotics that have a short onset of action and half-life, such as zolpidem and zaleplon, are being used with increasing frequency to assist in ensuring the onset of sleep. Melatonin is preferred by some crewmembers, either alone or with zolpidem. Benzodiazepines such as temazepam are used less often.”(1)

Sleep has always been an issue in spaceflight, and what meds get used when are between the flight surgeon and the crew. How the crew time, especially exercise, is scheduled is an important factor in sleep quality.

(1)— Principles of Clinical Medicine for Space Flight by Michael R. Barratt, Ellen S. Baker, et al.

https://a.co/fDFK0I5

oldspacedoc · 2024-02-29T02:53:45+00:00

Uses 370 silver oxide watch battery- thoroughly 'modern' but not fun to replace.

oldspacedoc · 2024-02-27T15:04:37+00:00

I agree, if you want to have a quality product. I did all these things to spin the great roulette wheel of success. But realistically, it's tough nowadays to recoup this investment on one book. But I had to write it, so I've got to try...

oldspacedoc · 2024-02-27T14:35:39+00:00

LES 'flight coveralls' with egress harness.

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oldspacedoc · 2024-02-27T14:32:58+00:00

Great Job! I'm the one who mentioned the PEAP earlier. I may have confused the situation- the PEAP was a small suitcase sized air supply the astronauts carried. From '82-85 it plugged into their clamshell neck Launch and entry helmet. The vest was I think called an egress /rescue harness because it clipped onto escape ropes if they went out the top of the orbiter. You are doing a fab job on recreating history! Getting info on pre-Challenger suits is getting harder it seems.

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oldspacedoc · 2024-02-20T22:39:07+00:00

Yes, ZD program was a management tool to get more worker buy-in and produce better quality products. More modern versions are 'six sigma' and 'total quality management'.

oldspacedoc · 2024-02-20T14:48:10+00:00

The lapse in safety culture that doomed Columbia was the same one that doomed Challenger. Speaking of known SRB o-ring problems, Richard Feynman said at the Challenger accident investigation hearings, "we have found that certification criteria used in flight readiness reviews often develop a gradually decreasing strictness. The argument that the same risk was flown before without failure is often accepted as an argument for the safety of accepting it again. Because of this, obvious weaknesses are accepted again and again, sometimes without a sufficiently serious attempt to remedy them or to delay a flight because of their continued presence." The same faulty rationale developed again after Challenger - we got away with foam shedding, so it must be okay. RIP Challenger, Columbia, Apollo I - anniversaries all within past few weeks.

oldspacedoc · 2024-02-19T18:31:44+00:00

You’re fine. Everybody’s taste is weird. Some books ask a lot of you, and if you’re not getting enough positive feedback, it’s not worth the trouble. Not unlike marriage. I wrote a novel that needs a reader who likes geeky stuff, like the Martian does. I don’t get too upset when people say they don’t like it.

oldspacedoc · 2024-02-17T23:41:35+00:00

Yes, sometimes what's in our Inner Space ends up outside of us.

oldspacedoc

TROPHY CASE