Shuttle Probe to Hear About Spending
Posted on: Thursday, 12 June 2003, 06:00 CDT
By TED BRIDIS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The board investigating the fiery breakup of the space shuttle Columbia will hear top space experts describe trade-offs NASA has made to balance safety and spending and then retreat behind closed doors to prepare its formal report.
With the mystery of Columbia's destruction on Feb. 1 largely solved, investigators have started work on draft versions of their final report, expected to include broad criticisms of NASA's judgment, budget and management of the shuttle program.
A final public hearing was set to begin Thursday in Washington.
The 13-member Columbia Accident Investigation Board, after four months of study, has already expressed concerns about the space agency's dwindling budgets over the past decade and NASA's alternating control over shuttles between managers at its Johnson Space Center in Houston and its Washington headquarters.
Both subjects were expected to emerge during Thursday's hearing. Witnesses include Marcia Smith, an expert on American's space program at the Congressional Research Service, which quietly advises lawmakers on policy issues; and Russell Turner, a former chief executive at the United Space Alliance, NASA's primary shuttle contractor.
Investigators believe a chunk of insulating foam smashed against Columbia's left wing roughly 81 seconds after liftoff, loosening a protective panel on the wing's leading edge.
That permitted searing temperatures to penetrate the spacecraft during its fiery return 16 days later, melting key structures aboard Columbia until it tumbled out of control at nearly 13,000 miles per hour over the southwestern United States. All seven astronauts died.
Tests conducted by the board last week provided powerful support for the theory that foam had cracked Columbia's protective panel. Investigators fired a 1.68-pound foam chunk at 525 mph toward a similar panel, which cracked and was knocked out of alignment enough to create a dangerous gap in a shuttle wing.
Scott Hubbard, who ran the experiments for the board, was expected to provide new details later Thursday about such foam tests.
Some witnesses at Thursday's hearing have been formally advising the investigative board about proposed changes to NASA's organizational structure. That section of the final report will be largely compiled by board member John Logsdon, director of George Washington University's space policy institute.
The budget for the shuttle approved by lawmakers during the last decade peaked at $4.04 billion in 1993, according to congressional researchers.
It fell steadily until it dropped as low as $2.93 billion in 1998 and has gradually risen to $3.28 billion proposed for fiscal 2002.
"Nothing that we have found suggests budget cuts were a direct cause of this accident," Logsdon said last week. "Did they have an effect on the operation of the program? Sure, they had to, at least it seems that was the case."
-----
On the Net:
Columbia Accident Investigation Board
More science, space, and technology from RedNova
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Related Articles
- Andrews Space Wins NASA Exploration Contract
- NASA Says Shuttle Launch Is on for Today Despite Foam Problem
- NASA: No Flights Until Foam Issue Fixed
- NASA halts shuttle flights over tank foam problem
- NASA Sees Shuttle's Return As Test Flight
- 2 Years After Columbia, NASA Prepares Shuttle Flight
- NASA's Discovery Shuttle Gets Ready for Return to Space
- NASA Says Shuttle Will Be Ready to Fly Next Spring
- Cheap tool eyed for fixing shuttles ; NASA explores use of foam paintbrush
- Shuttle investigators: Foam 'probable cause' of disaster
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds