Board Asks Nasa For Inspection Plan
Posted on: Tuesday, 8 July 2003, 06:00 CDT
Columbia accident investigators recommended Friday that before shuttle missions resume, NASA should develop a plan for astronauts to inspect and repair a spaceship's damaged heat shielding in orbit.
It was the third preliminary recommendation issued by the investigators in advance of their final report, expected in a month.
During Columbia's doomed mission and the ensuing inquiry, "the lack of repair capability was cited repeatedly and may have been a factor in decisions made" while the shuttle was in orbit, the accident investigation board said in a statement.
Shuttle managers refused engineers' requests for spy satellite images of the orbiting spacecraft to gauge the damage to the left wing from a 1 1/2-pound chunk of fuel-tank foam insulation that fell off during launch.
Right after the disaster, NASA managers insisted that even if they had known about the breach in the wing's leading edge, the seven astronauts could not have done anything about it because they had no repair kit.
Columbia shattered over Texas on Feb. 1 during re-entry, just minutes short of a landing at the Kennedy Space Center.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board recommended that shuttles be inspected in orbit on every mission, even if no one suspects the spacecraft has been damaged. The inspection could involve the use of cameras, robot arms, binoculars or even an up- close look by spacewalkers. But the board is leaving the details up to NASA.
The inspections need to be accomplished as soon as possible after the shuttle has reached orbit or arrived at the space station, the board said.
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