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Lead investigator issues warning to NASA officials
By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff, 2/12/2003
''If you have a secretary and potted plant outside your office, then you are fair game,'' said the investigation chair, retired Navy Admiral Harold W. Gehman Jr., who has 48 days to reach an initial conclusion in his probe. Gehman, who led the USS Cole terrorist bombing investigation three years ago, plans extensive questioning of top NASA officials, in addition to interviews with ground-level specialists and corporate heads at NASA's many private contractors. Gehman yesterday encouraged potential NASA whistle-blowers to come forward, offering anonymity and job protection in exchange for evidence. His panel of non-NASA government specialists, convened at the White House's request, will consider subpoenaing unwilling witnesses, he said. Gehman noted a similarity between the Columbia and USS Cole probes: ''We did not investigate what the crew of the Cole did. We were investigating essentially everyone above the crew ... the larger bureaucracy.''
Meanwhile, NASA yesterday released new Mission Control audio tapes indicating that shuttle crew members were mildly concerned about a string of last-minute equipment failures on the left wing that may have contributed to the crash. As several left wing temperature and pressure gauges shut off, shuttle pilot Colonel Rick Husband asked Mission Control: ''Everything is nominal, right?'' A controller replied: ''I don't see anything out of the ordinary.'' Minutes later, Mission Control would lose contact with the shuttle, after Husband uttered his now-famous last aborted transmission, ''Roger, uh, buh ...'' The tape contained no new factual data about the crash, and there was no indication that Husband or any other crew member panicked over the equipment failures. Search teams yesterday continued looking for debris west of Fort Worth, hoping wreckage in the early portion of Columbia's trajectory over the US might yield clues about the shuttle's initial problems before the crash. Last Friday, search teams found a two-foot piece of the left wing, from its crucial front edge, near Fort Worth. Gehman's panel also continued work on assembling a massive electronic ''mosaic,'' as Gehman put it, chronologically ordering the numerous amateur photo stills and videos taken of the crash. But Gehman devoted most of his first extensive public comments to emphasizing his independence from - and authority over - NASA. ''There's only one investigation going on, and that's our investigation,'' he said. ''This board is fully aware that we have many constituents,'' said Gehman, listing the astronauts' families, President Bush, Congress, and US taxpayers. Gehman's panel was convened just hours after Columbia's Feb. 1 crash, according to protocols created following the 1986 shuttle Challenger disaster. The Bush administration has said Gehman's recommendations will determine when the now-suspended shuttle program can resume. Panel members, however, cautioned yesterday that they may never reach a firm conclusion about the crash. ''It is a probable outcome that we may not find the exact cause of this mishap,'' said panel member Air Force Major General Kenneth Hess. Instead, a set of possible scenarios may be the best the panel can muster, members said. ''We will narrow the focus ... we're going to narrow it down to the most probable cause,'' said panel member Navy Rear Admiral Stephen A. Turcotte. In recent days, panel members have spent time examining debris in Texas, not so much for clues but to gain a psychological connection to the tragedy, what Gehman yesterday described as a ''personal relationship with the hardware.'' ''We wanted to take aboard the violence that's involved in flight at Mach 20,'' the shuttle's pre-crash speed, he said. NASA's newly-released Mission Control tape hinted that it took several minutes for the Columbia's violent demise to sink in among NASA ground controllers. ''There's no commonality'' in the minor left wing malfunctions, one ground controller asked about a minute after Mission Control had lost contact with the shuttle. ''No,'' replies another, noting data transmission from the shuttle's nose cone had ceased. ''Columbia, Houston, com check,'' another intones repeatedly, seeking response from the shuttle. At this point, minutes after contact loss, with the Columbia nowhere on radar screens, the voices of the ground controllers softened, almost breaking at times. ''We are in the search pattern ...'' one said, making clear the shuttle had crashed. Raja Mishra can be reached at rmishra@globe.com.
This story ran on page A3 of the Boston Globe on 2/12/2003.
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© Copyright 2003 New York Times Company |
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ignificant reforms within NASA may be necessary before the agency will be allowed to launch another shuttle into space, the lead shuttle crash investigator warned yesterday, pointedly signaling that top NASA officials could be held accountable for the Columbia disaster.
