Jay
July 8th 03, 12:50 AM
Engineers Find 'Smoking Gun' in Shuttle Tragedy
July 7
By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Engineers on Monday found what they
called the "smoking gun" in the destruction of the Columbia space
shuttle, a piece of foam that struck the shuttle's left wing when it
lifted off in January.
Scott Hubbard, a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board,
said a test carried out at the Southwest Research Institute in San
Antonio "demonstrates that this is in fact the most probable cause
creating the breach that led to the loss of Columbia."
In the test, witnessed by reporters, a cinder block-sized piece of
foam weighing less than two pounds was fired by a giant
nitrogen-powered gun at about 530 miles per hour in a simulation of
what happened 80 seconds after the Columbia began lift-off on Jan. 16.
It was fired at a wing panel from the orbiter Atlantis, which had
flown on 27 flights, about as many as Columbia had completed before
the disaster.
"Oh my God!" one spectator exclaimed when the foam blew an almost
square hole about 16 inches by 16 inches in the wing.
"We have found the smoking gun," said Hubbard, director of NASA's Ames
Research Center in California.
The Columbia broke apart on re-entry on Feb. 1, killing all seven crew
on board and scattering debris across Louisiana and Texas.
Investigators had previously established that superheated gases rushed
into the shuttle as it entered the atmosphere, leading to its
disintegration.
Previous foam strike tests by the board caused serious, but far less
dramatic, damage to the wing.
Hubbard said the Columbia crew would not have been able to see the
damage from their cabin, and the hole was just small enough to have
escaped the notice of NASA's ground-based cameras.
The accident board is compiling a report on the tragedy that board
members have said will be critical of NASA's safety procedures.
Chairman Harold Gehman, a retired Navy admiral, has said he wants to
complete the report before Congress breaks for summer vacation in late
July.
July 7
By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Engineers on Monday found what they
called the "smoking gun" in the destruction of the Columbia space
shuttle, a piece of foam that struck the shuttle's left wing when it
lifted off in January.
Scott Hubbard, a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board,
said a test carried out at the Southwest Research Institute in San
Antonio "demonstrates that this is in fact the most probable cause
creating the breach that led to the loss of Columbia."
In the test, witnessed by reporters, a cinder block-sized piece of
foam weighing less than two pounds was fired by a giant
nitrogen-powered gun at about 530 miles per hour in a simulation of
what happened 80 seconds after the Columbia began lift-off on Jan. 16.
It was fired at a wing panel from the orbiter Atlantis, which had
flown on 27 flights, about as many as Columbia had completed before
the disaster.
"Oh my God!" one spectator exclaimed when the foam blew an almost
square hole about 16 inches by 16 inches in the wing.
"We have found the smoking gun," said Hubbard, director of NASA's Ames
Research Center in California.
The Columbia broke apart on re-entry on Feb. 1, killing all seven crew
on board and scattering debris across Louisiana and Texas.
Investigators had previously established that superheated gases rushed
into the shuttle as it entered the atmosphere, leading to its
disintegration.
Previous foam strike tests by the board caused serious, but far less
dramatic, damage to the wing.
Hubbard said the Columbia crew would not have been able to see the
damage from their cabin, and the hole was just small enough to have
escaped the notice of NASA's ground-based cameras.
The accident board is compiling a report on the tragedy that board
members have said will be critical of NASA's safety procedures.
Chairman Harold Gehman, a retired Navy admiral, has said he wants to
complete the report before Congress breaks for summer vacation in late
July.