WASHINGTON (voa) – NASA says some progress is being made towards determining what caused the space shuttle Columbia to disintegrate over Texas Saturday, killing the seven astronauts on board.
Program Manager Ron Dittemore says the Columbia experienced a spike in temperature and increased drag in parts of its left wing just minutes before it broke apart. But he told reporters in Texas the computer flight control systems reacted properly by rolling the shuttle slightly to the right to compensate.
One area being investigated is whether heat deflecting tiles fell off the shuttle, but Mr. Dittemore says damage caused by a minor debris strike during liftoff was “inconsequential”.
He said beyond the tiles, investigators are focusing on thermal indicators, flight controls and structure.
Mr. Dittemore says nothing has been ruled out and it will take time to analyze all the evidence.
He says investigators are also analyzing a California man’s statement that he observed material “shedding” from the Columbia as it flew towards Texas at about same the time these events were occurring.
The U.S. government is launching at least two investigations in addition to NASA’s probe, an independent panel chaired by retired Admiral Harold Gehman and a U.S. House of Representatives’ science committee.
Columbia, NASA’s oldest shuttle, was returning from a 16-day science flight in Earth orbit when it disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana, raining chunks of debris over hundreds of square kilometers of prairie and wooded terrain.
