Space Shuttle Columbia STS-107 debris - explanation of damage

[Homer J Simpson]

[Stray Electron]

  Pretty neat. I wonder how many millions of man-hours all of that effort took?  I hope they find something better to do with the debris than they did with the debris of the 'Challenger'.  That was all dumped into an old missile silo and concrete was poured in on top of it to seal it forever.

[ogden]

  Pretty neat. I wonder how many millions of man-hours all of that effort took?  I hope they find something better to do with the debris than they did with the debris of the 'Challenger'.  That was all dumped into an old missile silo and concrete was poured in on top of it to seal it forever.

Please don't 

Challenger debris was not dumped into silos and concrete was not poured on it. Silos are just "storage units" that are sealed with 5-ton concrete "cap" that can be opened if necessary. BTW this already happened: In 2015, NASA opened the silo and removed several pieces of Challenger's debris, so they could be placed on permanent display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

[coppercone2]

why did they do that instead of just locking it in a shed? wtf or in the desert. why a damp underground shit hole?

[GregDunn]

I think the people who worked in missile silos would probably object to their workplace being referred to as a "damp underground shit hole."  They had to be well air-conditioned and dry to support the tons of electronics kept inside.  Plus they were probably the most secure and environment-proof places in the country.  Move along, nothing to see here.

[coppercone2]

did you ever see a abandoned missile silo? How would you maintain it if its sealed by 5 tons of concrete?

I watched like a 2 hour long youtube video series about some guy restoring a old silo. It most defiantly turns into a damp shit hole. Often floods completely. Especially in florida of all places.



They don't age well at all. It was built to be cheap man, you need alot of them to work, and it was hard to get money for them because of the big debates between the airforce and ground rockets and then submarines.

Why not just store it above ground? So much cheaper.

[chris_leyson]

I wasted a whole Sunday afternoon watching the same series of videos, sometimes you have stop work and just chill for a bit, that's my excuse anyway. He was restoring the command and control complex and not the missile silo, that's an even bigger undertaking and the don't the US government would sell anyone an abandoned silo. Very informative set of videos if you've got nothing better to do.

[coppercone2]

I assume it won't be much better. It just seems insane to store broke junk in a silo rather then a ware house.