The Birds!

[DErickson]

The unprecedented video coverage of the launch allowed NASA officials to view a bird carcass sliding down the side of the external tank. This is the best shot I could find......

[habu2]

I see birds, and I see the external tank. I don't see birds sliding down the external tank. :lol:

[Jay Chladek]

I saw the specific shot he was referring to. The bird got clobbered on the back side of the ET. It appeared to be a glancing blow, but you can bet the avian was dead on impact since the forces would be akin to a compact car getting stuck by a freight train. Two birds were circling around 39B for at least 5 minutes before liftoff and they got what they paid for. All things considered, seeing as how 39B hadn't had a shuttle launch in almost 3 years, then its likely those birds wouldn't even have been alive the last time a shuttle flew, so they had no idea what they were flapping around. As for the nose of the engines, they might not have heard much since the hydrogren burn stacks near the pad tend to be loud anyway and their avian brains probably would have figured they were "above" any noisy danger.

Somebody needs to put a kill marking on Discovery when it gets back though.

[dragon]

Does this mean that PETA is going to sue NASA? ;)

[Jay Chladek]

Don't laugh, some animal lover with nothing better to do will probably try it. Heck, some astrologer in Russia is trying to sue NASA over damages caused by Deep Impact striking the comet a few weeks ago! Now since government suits are notorious money losers for the plantiffs, hopefully no lawyer with half a brain will touch this with a 10 meter cattle prod (but some idiot probably will).

[William G]

Don't laugh, some animal lover with nothing better to do will probably try it. Heck, some astrologer in Russia is trying to sue NASA over damages caused by Deep Impact striking the comet a few weeks ago! Now since government suits are notorious money losers for the plantiffs, hopefully no lawyer with half a brain will touch this with a 10 meter cattle prod (but some idiot probably will).

Jay,

You know better,

in a society where you can sue for

being overweight (was McD's fault for making that supersized combo)

being stupid (was Mc"D's fault that the coffee was hot)

Being Smart ( sued the game show because you got the wrong answer on that game show to the question you know you got right)

any thing is possible.

Look at the lawyers who will willingly take this crap on as their battle cry to make a few thousand dollars or more....

I am a firm supporter of the antler-less lawyer season...

William G :unsure:

Edited July 29, 2005 by William G

[Jay Chladek]

Well, I found a site with pics of what happened to the bird (it was apparently a buzzard, probably a turkey buzzard).

http://www.ktb.net/~billmeco/sts114B.html

In the pics you can see it hit, slide down and then fall down before it becomes roasted by the SRB plumes. Looks like it died on impact (or at least got stunned).

[RedHeadKevin]

actually, that raises an interesting question: is the windscreen on the Shuttle rated for bird strikes? and what would happen if they hit one?

[Roi]

Sniff Sniff MMMNNNNN MMnnnn Fired roasted fowl!!!!!!!

[Jay Chladek]

The glass panels on the shuttles are pretty robust. At the point of impact, the speed was slow enough to not cause a problem even if the buzzard had hit the orbiter. Plus with the straight up trajectory of the ship it is unlikely that birds would be flying higher then those buzzards were as KSC doesn't sit under the path of any known bird migration routes. As such a foam strike is more likely then a bird strike.

Still, I imagine something will be done to help ensure that birds aren't thermal soaring around the pad next time a shuttle flies. A loud siren on the pad might do the trick (assuming it can be heard over the hydrogen burn stacks).

Edited August 2, 2005 by Jay Chladek