|
[an error occurred while processing this directive][an error occurred while processing this directive][an error occurred while processing this directive] |
  
|
|
NASA begins quest for answers Partial remains of some of the 7 are recovered By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff, 2/3/2003
Amid grief for the fallen crew, federal officials intensified their quest for answers, scrutinizing minute details from the doomed flight and launching a wide-ranging examination of NASA's mission, led by Harold W. Gehman Jr., the blunt-speaking retired Navy admiral who chaired the USS Cole terrorist bombing investigation. In Washington, President Bush made plans to attend a shuttle memorial service in Houston tomorrow, and a senior White House official said the president would soon propose a $469 million boost to NASA's budget. Though NASA officials cautioned against reaching early conclusions, it became clear yesterday that their probe now centers on a string of data indicating the shuttle suffered unexpected left-side heat damage as it descended toward Cape Canaveral, Fla., home of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
''It's an interesting piece of data that's part of our equation,'' said NASA shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore. ''We believe that might be a piece of the puzzle.'' At 8:53 a.m. Saturday, according to NASA officials, four left-side temperature gauges failed as the Columbia flew over California. A minute later, sudden heat -- rising 60 degrees in five minutes -- buffeted the shuttle's left-side hull, though the temperature inside its loading bay remained stable, indicating the heat did not come from within. Four minutes later, over New Mexico, the left-side landing gear sensors shut off, and Mission Control detected the shuttle dragging on its left side. As the craft flew over west Texas, the on-board flight computer attempted to balance the shuttle by creating right-side drag with thruster and rudder adjustments. Then Mission Control lost communication with the crew, though NASA officials yesterday revealed that the shuttle continued sending electronic data for another 32 seconds before it broke apart over east Texas. Those data have yet to be analyzed. It was on that same left side, 16 days earlier, that foam insulation jarred loose during liftoff, striking thermal tiles on Columbia's left wing. The tiles were the shuttle's only protection against intense atmospheric heat generated as it reentered the atmosphere. After liftoff, NASA engineers determined the damage was inconsequential. Four months earlier they had encountered a similar situation: Foam broke off during the takeoff of the shuttle Atlantis, hitting a rocket booster. The mission, however, proceeded without complications. Dittemore insisted yesterday that the damage to a single tile could not have caused the Columbia tragedy. ''The loss of any one single tile . . . we don't believe that would represent loss of vehicle,'' he said. ''Our technical people believe the debris that hit the orbiter was inconsequential.'' But NASA officials promised a nonstop investigation that would analyze ground debris, spy satellite footage, home videos taken of the crash, and millions of megabytes of computer data beamed from the shuttle to Mission Control during the flight. ''We need to be responsible, accountable, and extremely thorough in this investigation,'' said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said, ''The investigation will review, and it must review, whatever the cause of this may have been. The president will not prejudge.'' Federal officials have also launched a top-to-bottom review of NASA policy, headed by Gehman. His panel's 2001 Cole report criticized the Navy for systemic security lapses after a small boat filled with explosives was piloted aside the Navy destroyer, blowing a gaping hole in its hull and killing 17 US sailors. The report Gehman coauthored is credited with prompting numerous antiterrorism security upgrades by the Navy. On Gehman's team to investigate Columbia's explosion is James Hallock of Waltham, a physicist with the federal Department of Transportation who is a specialist on vortex, the spiraling of air around a rotating object.Meanwhile in east Texas, a grim task unfolded: Charred remains and body parts of some of the seven astronauts were discovered. The remains will probably be transported to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the remains of the Challenger astronauts were taken 17 years ago. Mortuary workers there specialize in identification and preparation of bodies involved in violent crashes. An unprecedented detective effort sprawled across the Texas countryside. Teams searched an area about 100 miles long and about 10 miles wide, stretching from south of Dallas to the Louisiana border. Recovery crews, including state troopers on horseback, searched heavily wooded terrain that is crisscrossed by small rivers and swamps. They recovered evidence both large and small: a NASA patch from one astronaut's suit, and an almost intact cylinder that may have been part of the fuel system. The debris was trucked to Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La., where investigators will examine it for clues. NASA officials were checking reports that some shuttle debris had fallen in California. In advance of tomorrow's memorial service, tributes to the deceased astronauts continued to stream in. Pope John Paul II issued a call to prayer for the Columbia crew: ''I assure their relatives. I will remember them in my prayers.'' Israelis mourned the death of their first astronaut, Ilon Ramon. Daniel Ayalon, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, arrived in Houston to meet with NASA officials for information on the search for remains. Ayalon said he met Saturday night with Ramon's widow, Rona. He said Rona Ramon ''knew he died very happy. This was the height of his career.'' Grieving continued at the two citadels of American spaceflight -- the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Hundreds of people filled three memorial services at Friendswoods United Methodist Church, just 8 miles away from the space center in Houston. ''As the terrible finality of it all begins to sink in, we inevitably ask `Why did this happen? Why this mission, why these seven people, why a shuttle once again? Why?'' said the Rev. Charles Anderson to a congregation with many NASA employees. In Florida, dozens of people of all ages -- from retirees to parents with small children -- came to the Astronauts Memorial, a polished black stone wall with the names of fallen astronauts, grouped together by mission, inscribed in gold. Tourists lined up to sign a condolence book set up at a table off to the side of the edifice. Several American flags were visible, as was one from Israel. At the Kennedy Space Center vistors center, signs along the drive into the parking lot still advertised the Atlantis space shuttle, STS-114, as the next that would launch toward space. ''Target launch: March 2003.'' Tatsha Robertson, Robert Schlesinger, Anne Barnard, Glen Johnson, and Susan Milligan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Globe wire services were also used.
This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 2/3/2003.
|
|
|
|
|
|
© Copyright 2003 New York Times Company |
|||||||
s search teams recovered partial remains of some of the seven Columbia astronauts in the Texas countryside, new evidence emerged yesterday that may link the shuttle's fatal descent to left wing damage it sustained during takeoff.
