|
Shuttle investigators look for answers
February 3, 2003 Posted: 9:30 PM EST (0230 GMT)
The arduous process of searching for clues is in full force for NASA. The organization is working with an independent group to discover what caused space shuttle Columbia to break up over Texas on Saturday. Investigators are paying close attention to what happened during the shuttle's takeoff on January 16.
Ron Dittemore, who manages the shuttle program, said that "the process of collecting the debris and relocating it to our staging areas is really picking up steam, and I think that's going to progress rapidly over the next couple of days."
Scientists detected something was abnormal with the shuttle 80 seconds after it took off on January 16. Either ice or insulation blew off the spacecraft's external fuel tank, striking the left side of Columbia's underbelly. And investigators say it was the left side which proved problematic during the shuttle's re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
NASA engineers say the shuttle's autopilot could not compensate for the drag on the left side that slowed that part of the shuttle down. They are concerned that lost tiles on the craft could have caused the drag.
Search efforts continued Monday, as investigators trekked through woods and under water to retrieve pieces of the shuttle. A second collection site was being set up after officials realized the debris field was larger than they originally thought it would be.
Tributes to the shuttle's crew were also held Monday: Bells rung on Wall Street in New York, and the Senate paused for a moment of recognition.
Bill Readdy, Associate Administrator of Space Flight at NASA, remembered his colleagues. "Their hearts were full of enthusiasm, pride in country, faith in their God and a willingness to accept the risk in pursuit of knowledge."
Ron Dittemore said that investigators may never know "the exact root cause of the tragedy." But so far, he said that his team has not ruled anything out.
|
