*The 1st Scuttled Shuttle Scam: Challenger When I started looking into the
"Challenger" and its
"Disaster" (of a) story, a number of things hit me like a "flying brick"!
i.e. The repetitively familiar
numbers (starting from Apollo
11 on) in dates, times etc., crew members' origins, and implausible 'events' in the plot lines. Quite apart from every "photo" being a lousy shoop job!
@
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Space ... TS-6._.jpgSpace Shuttle Challenger (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-099) was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first.... Its maiden flight was on April 4, 1983 [=11], and it completed nine missions before breaking apart 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, STS-51-L [51+L=3=9] on January 28, 1986 [1+28=11], resulting in the death of all seven crew members.
The
"Challenger Disaster":
The spacecraft disintegrated over [*
9 miles above] the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida at
11:38 am [
11 +
11=
22] EST (
16:38 UTC) [
7+
11].
On
March 8 [3+8=
11],
1986, a search team found the crew cabin; it had not been destroyed in the explosion. The bodies of
all seven crew members were found, still strapped into their seats....
Autopsies were done but exact cause of death was
inconclusive.
*
48,000 feet =
9.09090909 miles
NASA history:
Kerwin, Joseph P. (1986).
"Challenger crew cause and time of death"
@
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... 001867.jpg – Ref
http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2000-001867.html[Update note:
http://www.challenger.org/about/gallery.cfm has been removed]
Crew members:
Francis R. Scobee – Mission Commander — Apparently no life or pictures outside NASA (very 'vicsimmy')
Michael J. Smith – Pilot — Same + "Smith was portrayed by Brian
Kerwin in the 1990 TV movie
Challenger".
Judith A. Resnik – Mission Specialist 1 — First American Jewish astro-not; 1st Jewish woman 'in space'.
Recruited by "Lt. Uhura" of Star Trek,
Nichelle Nichols, for NASA
Ellison S. Onizuka – Mission Specialist 2 — 1st Asian American 'in space'
Ronald E. McNair – Mission Specialist 3 — 2nd African-American astronaut. Also
recruited by Nichelle Nichols Gregory B. Jarvis – Payload Specialist 1 — **
Christa McAuliffe – Payload Specialist 2 — 1st "Teacher in Space" & subject of full scale media propaganda campaign for the "mission".
**The remains of
all seven astronauts from the
Challenger disaster were discovered in the crew decks on the ocean floor.
Gregory Jarvis' remains were discovered in the lower mid-deck along with fellow astronaut Ronald McNair and school teacher Christa McAuliffe. During salvage operations to raise the crew deck from the ocean floor,
Jarvis' body escaped from the wreckage, floated to the surface, and disappeared back into the sea. On
April 15, 1986 [=
7], on the last scheduled attempt to recover wreckage, Jarvis' body was rediscovered and returned to shore.
From Time Magazine:
'Scraping the bottom' with more grotesque idiocy from MSNBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078060#.To_wOnL7_kU
Main indoctrination center: http://www.challenger.org/Photos of the Challenger crew in 'training' at NASA:
http://www.challenger.org/about/gallery.cfm(
Note: that 'photo gallery' is very hard to find
on the site, 1st found via Google images!)
Nichelle Nichols, NASA Recruiter:
@
NASA's GRIN site (
Great
Images in
NASA)
Actress Nichelle Nichols was born in Robbins, Illinois on December 29, 1936. She played Lieutenant Uhura the Communications Officer on the U.S.S. Enterprise in the original series, Star Trek. ...
From the late 1970's until the late 1980's, NASA employed Nichelle Nichols to recruit new astronaut candidates. Many of her new recruits were women or members of racial and ethnic minorities, including Guion Bluford (the first African-American astronaut), Sally Ride (the first female American astronaut), Judith Resnik (one of the original set of female astronauts, who perished during the launch of the Challenger on January 28, 1986), and Ronald McNair (the second African-American astronaut, and another victim of the Challenger accident).
Wiki:
After a 32-month hiatus, the next shuttle mission, STS-26 [7th flight of the Discovery], was launched on September 29 [9+11], 1988
Where it began: Space Shuttle Enterprise
@
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Enter ... flight.jpgThe Space Shuttle Enterprise (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-
10
1) was the first Space Shuttle orbiter. It was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform test flights in the atmosphere.[2] It was constructed without engines or a functional heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight....
Construction began on Enterprise on June 4, 1974. ...originally planned to be named
Constitution and unveiled on Constitution Day, September 17, 1976 [hidden
22]. A write-in campaign by Trekkies to President Gerald Ford asked that the orbiter be named after the Starship Enterprise, featured on the television show
Star Trek. Although Ford did not mention the campaign, the president—who during World War II had served on the aircraft carrier
USS Monterey (CVL-26) that served with
USS Enterprise (CV-6)—said that he was "partial to the name" and overrode NASA officials.
That's
their story
On January 31, 1977 [=11], it was taken by road to Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, to begin operational testing.
[...]
The initial nine-month testing period was referred to by the acronym ALT, for "Approach and Landing Test". These tests included a maiden "flight" on February 18 [=11], 1977 atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) to measure structural loads and ground handling and braking characteristics of the mated system.
[...]
On August 12 [=11], 1977, the space shuttle Enterprise flew on its own for the first time.
Retirement:
With the completion of critical testing, Enterprise was partially disassembled to allow certain components to be reused in other shuttles, then underwent an international tour visiting France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the U.S. states of California, Alabama, and Louisiana (during the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition). It was also used to fit-check the never-used shuttle launch pad at Vandenberg AFB, California. Finally, on November 18 [=11+9], 1985 [total=7], Enterprise was ferried to Washington, D.C., where it became property of the Smithsonian Institution.
Beginning as an imaginary spaceship on a TV series,
Star Trek did continue: written and produced by NASA!
@
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_S ... 001363.jpgThe Shuttle Enterprise rolls out of the Palmdale manufacturing facilities with Star Trek television cast members. From left to right they are: Dr. James D. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, DeForest Kelley (Dr. "Bones" McCoy), George Takei (Mr. Sulu), James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (the indefatigable Mr. Spock), Gene Rodenberry (The Great Bird of the Galaxy), and Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Checkov). Date: 17 September 1976. Author: NASA
Source:
Great Images in NASA
And they're obviously still 'grinning' from ear to ear
If their obsession with 7, 9, 11 numerology isn't bad enough, the fact that they would actually need or use a Sci-Fi TV actress to recruit
astronauts should be enough to know just how 'real' the "Space Shuttle Program" was.
You're right, Simon, I did miss the Buran thread and I certainly do love it! 
:
]
Looks like that one just boomeranged on 'em 
]
