NASA Engineer Warned of Shuttle Breach

Yahoo! News ^ | 2/21/03 | Ted Bridis - AP

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - A NASA (news - web sites) safety engineer warned days before Columbia broke apart that he feared the shuttle was at risk for a devastating breach near its left wheel, and he suggested people in the space agency weren't adequately considering the threat.

"We can't imagine why getting information is being treated like the plague," the engineer wrote in one of a number of e-mails released Friday that describe greater concerns about Columbia's safety in the days before its breakup.

Other documents NASA released show that Columbia may have been struck by as many as three large chunks of foam that smashed against delicate insulating tiles as it took off, not just the one previously acknowledged.

Robert Daugherty, an engineer at NASA's Langley research facility in Hampton, Va., did not indicate that he believed the breach would cause Columbia to break apart during its fiery descent. "No way to know, of course," he wrote.

But Daugherty warned in his e-mail on Jan. 29 about a possible breach near the seal of Columbia's wheel compartment that could have been caused by damage to the shuttle's thermal tiles there. He seemed mostly worried about the risks of pilots struggling to land Columbia with one or more tires damaged by extreme heat.

"It seems to me that if mission operations were to see both tire pressure indicators go to zero during entry, they would sure as hell want to know whether they should land with gear up, try to deploy the gear or go bailout," Daugherty wrote.

[NormsRevenge]

For the most part, reported early this month... Except

Possibility of 3 separate chunks of foam may be the new piece if anything.

Other documents NASA released show that Columbia may have been struck by as many as three large chunks of foam that smashed against delicate insulating tiles as it took off, not just the one previously acknowledged.

[RoughDobermann]

Since there is no way to repair damaged tiles in orbit...

[NormsRevenge]

FYI

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[First_Salute]

Yes there is.

[RoughDobermann]

How's that?

[bigfootbob]

"Since there is no way to repair damaged tiles in orbit..."

Deadly oversight. They'll have a patch kit next time.

[NormsRevenge]

Fri Feb 21, 4:41 PM ET

A member of the space shuttle Columbia reconstruction project team walks through the wreckage that is laid out on the floor of this hangar at the Kennedy Space Center (news - web sites) in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday Feb. 21, 2003. The debris is being layed out on a grid to aid in the investigation of the Columbia accident. (AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove)

Members of the space shuttle Columbia reconstruction project team look over wreckage laid on the grid in the area marked for the left hand vertical stabilizer in a hangar at the Kennedy Space Center (news - web sites) in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Friday Feb. 21, 2003. Thousands of pieces of Columbia are housed in this hangar.(AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove)

[MEG33]

Tiles cannot be repaired in space.

[RoughDobermann]

The Hauck report, requested by NASA and completed under the auspices of the National Research Council, made 10 recommendations. Among them: Develop a way for astronauts to inspect the exterior of the shuttle while it is in orbit and provide them with a kit that would allow them to repair thermal tiles that might have been damaged.

NASA did neither, saying that repairing tiles was too complex to perform in space.

[bigfootbob]

"Tiles cannot be repaired in space."

BS, we just haven't designed a way yet. Or maybe we have and it was considered too expensive.

[DoughtyOne]

Doesn't it strike you as strange that the shuttle was proposed (among other things) as a good way to make repairs on satellites in space, but it simply isn't possible to either inspect it's structure or repair it's surface in space? What is wrong with this picture? I don't happen to think it would be really easy to devise a fix for tile repair in space, but there must be some fall back position that would see lives saved. Just writing off seven people seem a little strange to me.

[aristeides]

"It seems to me that if mission operations were to see both tire pressure indicators go to zero during entry, they would sure as hell want to know whether they should land with gear up, try to deploy the gear or go bailout," Daugherty wrote.

So somebody was thinking about a possible bailout.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for pinging this out.

The odds of bailing out, not good. I know they train for it, but...

[Nick Danger]

I hate the way the media treats these events. It's clear that when the video was analyzed and they saw the "chunks" falling off and striking the wing during takeoff, they sent a bunch of engineers off with instructions to "figure out all the bad stuff that might have happened and assess the probable damage."

It is the nature of an effort like that to generate notes and emails that entertain every possibility. To now take one of those emails and say that he "warned" that the shuttle was "at risk for a devastating breach" is very misleading.

They make it sound like this guy was jumping up and down screaming "they're all going to die!" but no one would listen to him. But that isn't what he did at all. He said that it might have happened -- he was doing his job of thinking up all the 'might haves' -- but he did not "warn" of any such thing; he was worried about them being able to land if the tires failed.

[LurkingSince'98]

hey ari,

That is bailout on landing - not bailout at the altitude it brokeup.

Regards,
Lurking'

[GLDNGUN]

This apparent NASA attitude about no way to help a crippled shuttle in space is stupid beyond words. It just goes without saying that you have a back-up plan. IT IS COMMON SENSE! What if a shuttle in orbit, before re-entry, was hit by space debris and damaged? Would NASA's attitude be "oh, well, there's nothing we can do. Good luck!"??? If you can't repair a shuttle in space, then you have to have another plan for rescuing the astronauts. YOU HAVE TO! Evidently, NASA had neither, so they didn't want to hear about any problems, since there was nothing that could be done. This is the most moronic thing I have ever heard. If they were prepared to fix a shuttle in space OR rescue stranded astronauts, they probably would have been much more eager to inspect possible damage on the Columbia. This obviously could have saved the lives of the lost astronauts, but since there was "nothing they could do" even if the damage was catastrophic, they evidently didn't bother with it.

It shouldn't take a "rocket scientist" to see the need for a back-up plan. (/rant)

[Daus]

He said that it might have happened -- he was doing his job of thinking up all the 'might haves' -- but he did not "warn" of any such thing; he was worried about them being able to land if the tires failed.

True, but it is them SOMEONE ELSE's job to take these 'might haves' seriously. Without the second half of the excercise the first half is useless and just idle butt-covering.

[Wright is right!]

"Doesn't it strike you as strange that the shuttle was proposed (among other things) as a good way to make repairs on satellites in space, but it simply isn't possible to either inspect it's structure or repair it's surface in space? What is wrong with this picture? I don't happen to think it would be really easy to devise a fix for tile repair in space, but there must be some fall back position that would see lives saved. Just writing off seven people seem a little strange to me."

They did initially send the crew up with a tile repair kit of sorts. But they discontinued sending the kit up after just a few flights. Plus, the robot arm is carried on many missions but was removed for this one as it (a) wasn't thought to be needed and (b) took up room they wanted for cargo. The arm is an easy way, but not the ONLY way, for the shuttle crew to ride around and inspect the bird. A tethered EVA would work, too.

You can bet there WILL be a tile kit AND a robot arm on subsequent shuttle missions when they resume. A tile kit could be pretty basic. All you'd need would be a few sheets of the tile material, a cutter, some adhesive that cures itself in a vacuum, and a CD ROM with all the exact dimensions of each tile piece. They could cut any tile to order and install it. No, it wouldn't be PERFECT, but it would be better than Nacogdoches, TX.

Michael