The sensors in the left wing of Columbia did not work * The reason for the crash - overheating at the entrance to the atmosphere
Avi Blizovsky
A federal commission of inquiry has begun looking into why the Columbia shuttle broke up. Senior officials at NASA said that the hydraulic sensors were lost in the left wing, there was a drop in air pressure in the tires, and then the shuttle experienced extreme heat that caused it to disintegrate on Saturday morning.
The same wing lost some of its insulation tiles 16 days ago, when it was hit by a piece of the insulation foam of the outer, orange missile, which is used to accelerate the spacecraft into orbit.
"We didn't think it was a problem, and when we analyzed the malfunction ten days ago we thought it wouldn't have an effect," said Ron Ditmore, NASA's shuttle program manager. "There is still a need for additional evidence to determine what was the cause of the malfunction," Ditmore told reporters.
Moreover, should a warning flag have been raised during the flight? It was not certain that anything could be done, the astronauts did not walk outside the spacecraft during the flight and therefore could not investigate or replace the damaged tiles. "We have no ability to fix this," he said.
These tiles protect the shuttle from the heat generated during the spacecraft's re-entry into the atmosphere. In any case, several such tiles fell during previous flights and the control center assessed during the flight that there was no reason to worry about this.
In addition to the tile problem, the speculations as to the causes of the malfunction include particularly strong aerodynamic pressures on the spacecraft weighing 90 tons, entering the atmosphere at a bad angle that did not take into account the effect of the engines but the enormous air pressure as a result of an impact.
If the spacecraft arrives at the wrong angle when it enters the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound, it can go out of control and disintegrate due to intense pressures, space experts say.
Senior federal officials ruled out the possibility that this was a terrorist attack, due to the fact that the spacecraft was at a high altitude of 200 feet before it disintegrated.
The Guardian: In '99, a former NASA engineer warned Bush of another shuttle disaster
Concerns about a shuttle crash disaster were raised with the White House last summer by former NASA engineer Don Nelson, who requested a presidential order to freeze all flights until all safety regulations are fully implemented. This is reported by the British "Guardian".
Nelson, who retired from NASA in 1999 after 36 years of work, wrote upon his retirement to President George W. Bush that his "intervention" was essential "to prevent another shuttle disaster."
Texas: Several residents reported to the police that they found body parts of the ferry crew
The CNN network reported that a family living in Hemphill, Texas, informed the police that they found a foot in a field near their home. The investigators who arrived at the scene left the field with a black body bag. However, the district commander said that he cannot yet confirm that body parts have been found. He added that among the thousand calls that came to the police to report the parts of the ferry, some reported that they had found body parts of the crew members.
A resident of another county in Texas told Reuters that he reported to the police that he found human hair among the fallen parts of the ferry in his yard.
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The Ort Kiryat Motzkin school students who sent a scientific experiment into space said that Ilan Ramon sent them the results of the experiment immediately after it ended.
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The project manager: "We are broken"
Ron Ditmore, the project manager, opened the press conference, his face red and his eyes swollen from crying. "We are broken, the system is in shock, because we lost 7 family members and we are learning how to deal with it. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the dead, true heroes. We are tormented by what happened this morning."
Ditmore promised to investigate the incident from every angle and bring the results to the public. "We have established teams, we are checking the information and the data. We have an action plan for such situations, although we hope not to use it. We are conducting a full investigation with all teams and the best experts to understand what happened. I want to express my gratitude to the huge number of agencies that come to our aid, local and international."
In his words, Ditmore also thanked the American public, who helped find the wreckage of the shuttle and warned them not to touch them, because they may contain toxic substances. He also stated that none of the fragments have yet been identified with certainty and there is no information about bodies.
The expert from NASA also noted that minutes before the landing time it became clear that there were problems. "This day began with excitement and anticipation for the great team. The families were excited and there was no hint of danger," Ditmore said. "The first indication was minutes before 8:00 (Florida time), when temperature sensors were lost in the left wing. Then there were more malfunctions, loss of pressure and overheating."
At the end of his remarks, Ditmore said: "It is still not clear what happened to the spacecraft and it will take us time to go through the evidence and the analyzes to understand what exactly happened. We preserve evidence, analyze the latest information we received from the team, and will analyze it 24 hours a day for the foreseeable future."
The flight director: "Right now, we are stopping the flights"
Milt Heplin, who was the flight director of "Columbia", also seems grief stricken. He detailed the technical problems identified at NASA shortly before the disaster. According to Haflin, "at 7:53 we saw signs of problems in measuring air pressure and temperature. Until then the ferry was functioning perfectly and there were no reports of malfunctions. At 7:58 there was a very high temperature, an explosion temperature. From the left wing, no data came. At 7:59 the temperature on the left side, inside and outside, went up and the astronauts got an indication of that, we think they realized that the temperature went up. As far as I know, this was the last broadcast of them. I don't know what they said or did, but they knew about the malfunction and then we lost all contact with the spacecraft."
Helin also noted that NASA's activities were reduced following the disaster. "Right now, we are stopping further flights, until we understand what caused this disaster." When asked about the suspension of flights, the two said that "we will return to take off as soon as we are ready".
The representatives stated that "the best therapy is to continue working and training. We will work together to solve the problems, and we will not fly until it is fixed."
high speed
It is estimated that the shuttle entered the atmosphere at the wrong angle, so its speed was perhaps too high - 19 km/h, and the computer was unable to slow it down. This is a speed 6 times higher than the speed of sound.
At the space center there is astonishment and heavy mourning following the disaster, which is the first to occur at NASA since the Challenger disaster 17 years ago. The NASA veterans who stood by the journalists immediately said when the shuttle did not arrive at the appointed time: "Something is wrong! Where are the booms?! Maybe the wind direction is not good?". Seven minutes after the scheduled landing time, the astronauts' families were taken to a separate room. The journalists were taken to the space center for a special press conference. US President George Bush received a special update on what is happening at Camp David and went back to the White House.
Bush called Sharon last night and said that "this is a tragic day for the astronauts' families and a tragedy for science." He said that Ramon was a brave Israeli citizen and asked to convey to the Ramon family the condolences of the entire American people and his personal condolences.
The Prime Minister's Office stated: "The State of Israel and its citizens stand by the families of the pilots, the family of Ilan Ramon, the American people and his government at this difficult time."
The members of Ilan Ramon's family received the news, with some of them already in Israel and some in Florida. Yesterday Rona, Ilan's wife, received a last letter from him in the e-mail. "Although everything here is amazing, I can't wait any longer to see you. A big hug to you and kisses to the children," wrote Ramon.
