Early Investigation Focuses on Columbia's Left Wing
Wing Struck By Foam On Lift-Off
Friday, Leroy Cain, NASA's lead flight director, said debris
that struck the Columbia's left wing shortly after launch
constituted absolutely no safety threat. Saturday, Columbia broke
up in flight and now, Cain may regret his statement.
In a Saturday afternoon news conference at the Johnson Space
Center in Houston (TX), NASA officials said they had spent several
days investigating a chunk of insulating foam which, during
lift-off Jan. 16th, broke away from the shuttle's external fuel
tank and hit the left wing. At the end of a two-week long
investigation, Cain concluded any damage to Columbia's thermal
tiles would be minor at most.
"As we look at that now in hindsight, we can't
discount that there might be a connection," shuttle manager Ron
Dittemore (right) said, hours after the tragedy. "But we have
to caution that we can't rush to judgment, because a lot of things
in this business that look like the smoking gun but turn out not to
be close."
The End of Shuttle Columbia
Columbia had just entered a roll maneuver, its left wing down,
57 degrees from horizontal.
NASA officials said they got their first glimmer of the
impending disaster at 7:53 CST, as the orbiter plunged into the
atmosphere. It was 203,135 feet above the Earth, traveling at 18.3
times the speed of sound. First, temperature sensors on the left
wing flight surfaces failed. Then, approximately three minutes
later, sensors monitoring tire pressure on the shuttle's left main
landing gear failed. That set off a warning light in the shuttle
cockpit, and a final interchange between the crew of seven
astronauts and Mission Control.
Mission Control: "Columbia, Houston we see your tire pressure
messages and we did not copy your last."
Columbia: "Roger, uh, ..."
That was the end of Columbia. Only static followed
that last transmission.
“That was when we lost all vehicle data. That's when we
began to know that we had a bad day,” said Chief Flight
Director Milt Heflin (right).
The Investigation Begins
Asked if the foam impact on the left wing could have damaged
Columbia's delicate heat tiles, Dittemore said, if so, there was
precious little the shuttle crew could have done to save
itself.
"There's nothing that we can do about tile damage once we get to
orbit," Dittemore said. "We can't minimize the heating to the point
that it would somehow not require a tile. So once you get to orbit,
you're there and you have your tile insulation and that's all you
have for protection on the way home from the extreme thermal
heating during re-entry."