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FOCUS ON DEBRIS NASA retracing shuttle trail Theory of crash tied to left wing unsubstantiated By Tatsha Robertson and Raja Mishra, Globe Staff, 2/6/2003
Several tests have failed to produce evidence that the lightweight foam could damage Columbia enough to cause it to disintegrate Saturday morning as it reentered the atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. ''It's difficult for us to believe that this particular piece of foam shedding from the tank represented a safety of flight issue,'' said Ron Dittemore, NASA's shuttle program manager. ''So we're looking somewhere else. Was there another event that escaped detection?'' NASA officials confirmed the shuttle suffered a string of left-wing complications above Texas. But none was sufficient to cause the crash, they believe. So attention yesterday turned to several minutes earlier in the flight, when the Columbia raced above California. Investigators accelerated the search for debris along east Texas, central Louisiana, as well as in California, hoping new finds along the Columbia's doomed path would reveal what caused the disaster.
''We're focusing our attention on what we didn't see. We believe there's something else,'' said Dittemore. ''There's got to be another reason.'' No shuttle debris has been positively identified in California, although NASA is investigating several reports that pieces of Columbia have been found in the state. California debris, said Dittemore, ''would be a significant finding to us.'' ''Debris early in the flight path would be critical because the material would obviously be near the start of events,'' said Michael Kostelnik, a NASA space flight deputy. The 12,000 pieces of debris already collected are more vital than ever in piecing together why the 80-ton shuttle traveling 12,500 miles an hour disintegrated 16 minutes before landing. Carrying GPS locators and wearing protective gloves, about 20,000 people are pulling together pieces of the shuttle -- some as big as car doors, others as tiny as coins -- from streets, lakes, and forests. Debris has been found in farms, in backyards, in ponds, and deep in the woods. Earlier this week, a patch of material bearing the blue Star of David was discovered by a Louisiana woman on her daily walk. The piece is believed to be part of material from the space suit of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon. The woman put it into a clear plastic bag and brought it to the sheriff's office. ''When we looked it at, we knew it probably had something significant to do with the shuttle and the Israeli astronaut,'' said Sam Craft, the sheriff of Vernon Parish in Louisiana. Craft said that in his county alone, 45 pieces of debris have been discovered -- including pieces of paper with the name of crew pilot William McCool. Investigators yesterday traveled to California to begin talking to observers who they believe saw the aircraft begin to break up in the sky. They also wanted to examine a piece of debris that could be a remnant of Columbia's wing, and the earliest sign yet of the doomed shuttle's problems. One of the observers NASA has talked to is Anthony Beasley, 37. The California astronomer was standing outside his home with his wife and mother-in-law sipping hot tea and waiting for the shuttle Columbia to fly overhead. About 5:50 a.m., they observed a bright light with a pinkish trail. His wife and her mother had asked what those funny lights trailing the shuttle could be. ''I said, `Those could be tiles because sometimes during reentry tiles fall off,' '' recalled Beasley, a native of Australia and an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology. Less than an hour later, someone called him about the shuttle disaster. Beasley quickly wrote a report, which he sent to NASA. About the same time Beasley was observing the shuttle, Scott Valentine and his son, Chris, videotaped what could be pieces of the shuttle falling over Arizona, according to the Associated Press. The video, which was passed along to NASA, shows a bright object falling off the spacecraft, according to press reports. NASA investigators are recreating the shuttle's last moments in reverse, trying to find what might have caused several temperature spikes and instrument failures on the shuttle's left wing and left wheel well. ''Anything found in California will tell us probably where the problem began,'' said John Keesee, an MIT lecturer and an Air Force colonel. ''If that is where the early damage occurred, then the pieces would fall directly to earth.'' While officials hope pieces of the shuttle will help them create a timeline of the disaster, they said the toughest part of the search is finding human remains. This week, a hospital employee identified a charred torso, a skull, and thigh bone found on a country road in Hemphill, Texas, near the Louisiana border. And two boys found a charred leg on a farm, 50 miles east of Nacogdoches, Texas. Ramon's remains were identified yesterday. ''NASA has officially informed us that the body of Ilan Ramon had been identified for certain and that he may be buried in the next few days in Israel,'' General Rami Ralk, the military attache at Israel's embassy in Washington, D.C., told Israeli public radio. The remains of some of the astronauts arrived in cases at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Six of the cases were draped in American flags and one was draped with the flag of Israel. Officials said the remains will be given to family members as soon as they can be identified. As federal officials take control of the search for additional human remains and debris, the public continues to look for pieces of the shuttle. Sometimes they are doing it for their own personal gain. Two Texans were arrested yesterday on federal charges they stole pieces of space shuttle that fell onto the countryside. Federal officials in Texas declared an amnesty period extending until 5 p.m. tomorrow, in which people who have collected shuttle debris can turn it in without fear of prosecution. Merrie Hipp, 43, of Henderson, was charged with theft of government property for allegedly stealing a shuttle circuit board on Saturday. Bradley Justin Gaudet, 23, of Nacogdoches, was charged in a separate incident with stealing a piece of thermal insulating fabric. Gaudet is a student at Stephen F. Austin State University. Both appeared in court yesterday handcuffed and with shackles around their waists. They pleaded not guilty and were freed on their own recognizance. ''The issue here is the thermodynamics of the space shuttle and any piece of that is important to this investigation,'' said US Attorney Michael Shelby. ''No one knows which piece will unravel the mystery.'' Authorities said they are conducting at least 17 investigations into reports of people taking shuttle debris as souvenirs. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
This story ran on page A22 of the Boston Globe on 2/6/2003.
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© Copyright 2003 New York Times Company |
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OUSTON -- NASA investigators yesterday backed away from the initial theory that a foam projectile, jarred loose from the Columbia's external tank during takeoff, caused critical damage to the craft's left wing.
