🚀 go-pugleaf

> I heard that a court case last year ordered NASA to release the 
> cockpit black box tape from Challenger.  This was around June or
> so of last year.  There was a reported 2-3 minutes of tape *AFTER*
> the explosion.
> 
> Anyone know any details on this...

The only incident like this that I know of was a successful attempt to
make NASA release the tape from an on-board voice recorder.  This was
*not* a "black box" in the usual sense of an armored flight recorder --
the shuttle does not carry one of those.  As I recall, the only thing
that was on the tape beyond what was heard over the radio was someone
saying "uh-oh" at about the time the shit hit the fan.  Nothing was
recorded after the breakup of the orbiter.  (I don't remember why, but
the obvious reason would be loss of power.)  There were some earlier
odds and ends on it that didn't go out on the radio, but nothing with
any relevance to the accident.
-- 
Man is the best computer we can      |  Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
put aboard a spacecraft. --Von Braun | {ihnp4,decvax,uunet!mnetor}!utzoo!henry