Free Republic

WASHINGTON - Investigators have found a new threat to future space shuttles — a 40-pound bolt fragment that could fly off during launch and smash into the spacecraft with catastrophic results as it raced toward orbit. Members of the investigation board that is searching for the cause of Columbia's destruction said Thursday they found radar evidence that a piece of a 2-foot-long heavy bolt that joins the solid-rocket boosters to the shuttle's external fuel tank may have flown loose during the launch. There is no evidence that the bolt fragment hit Columbia, but Air Force Maj. Gen. John Barry, a...