NASA e-mails showed concern for Columbia safety
Internal e-mails,including at least
one sent to the shuttle, indicated
concern for the ill-fated mission
By Gwyneth K. Shaw
The Orlando Sentinel (KRT)
WASHINGTON — Ihe command
er of the shuttle Columbia wasn't told
that a chunk of foam had struck his
spacecraft's wing until a week after die
launch — and then apparently only
because NASA managers thought it
might come up in a press conference,
e-mails released Monday show.
'This item is not even worth men
tioning other than wanting to make
sure you are not surprised by it in a
question from a reporter," flight direc
tor Steve Stich wrote on Ian. 23 to Co
lumbia commander Rick I Iusband
and pilot Willie McCool.
Experts had reviewed the photo
graphs taken of die strike and thought
diere was "no concern" about damage
to the thermal tiles that protect the
belly of die shutde or the reinforced
carbon-carbon, or RCC, panels that
wrap the leading edges of its wings,
Such wrote.
"We have seen this same phenome
non on several other flights and there
is absolutely no concern for entry,"
added Stich, who works at Johnson
Space Center.
In fart, however, there had been
considerable concern at JSC about the
possible effect of the foam strike —
and the issue hadn't been resolved at
the time of Stich's e-mail. A team of
37 engineers and technical managers
didn't complete its initial review of
the foam strike until one day after
Stich's e-mail. It wasn't until Jan. 27
that the engineers finally signed off
on the conclusion that there was no
"safety-of-flight" issue. And e-mails
previously released showed some
NASA engineers remained worried
throughout the remainder of Colum
bia's 16-day mission.
Investigators now think the 1.67
pound chunk of foam — which flew
off the shuttle's massive external tank
roughly 82 seconds after its Jan. 16
liftoff and hit the left wing — caused
an opening in the leading edge that
allowed superhot gases to penetrate
the wing. Columbia broke apart Feb.
1 over east Texas, killing Husband,
McCool and their five crewmates.
U S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, the
California Republican who chairs the
Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee
of the House Science Committee, said
Monday that the e-mails again em
phasized NASA's 'colossal error in
judgment" in analyzing the foam
strike. He said he is interested in what
the independent Columbia Accident
Investigation Board, led by retired
Adm. Harold Gehman, recommends
in terms of management changes.
"Now, whether or not that judg
ment was justified — whether some
one else would have made a differ
ent decision who was being more
careful — I'm looking for guidance
from the Gehman commission on
that," he said.
I Iusband's replies to Stich and a
second e-mail sent Ian. 24, which in
cluded a video dip of the foam hit, do
not indicate that he or any of the crew
were concerned about the situation.
"Thanks a million Steve!" 1 lusband
wrote to Stich on Jan. 25.
The subject of the foam strike nev
er came up during the televised Jan.
25 press conference with 1 Jusband
and McCool. But on the ground, the
potential for disaster fueled debate
right up until the day before Colum
bia was scheduled to land at Kennedy
Space Center.
Despite the engineering analysis
that indicated the foam damage was
not a serious concern, engineers at
JSC and Langley Research Center con
tinued to theorize about possible
worst-case scenarios.
Those two e-mails, however, are
the extent of the discussion with the
crew, NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs
said Monday.
"This illustrates the belief on the
ground during the mission that the
debris strike did not pose any safety
of-flight concern for Columbia," Ja
cobs said. "The conclusion that the
debris damage did not pose a safety
of-flight concern was not reached by
the debris-assessment team and con
curred upon by the (mission man
agers) until Jan. 27. If that conclusion
had been different — had there been
an indication of a safety concern or
even an impact of any type to the
flight or entry — then much more in
formation would have been provided
to the crew by channels other than
personal e-mail."
But comments from top NASA of
ficials in the first days after the acci
dent seemed to indicate that the
crew got more information. Ron
Dittemore, then the shuttle program
manager, said during a Feb. 5 press
briefing that he felt the crew had a
good understanding of what had
happened and why it wasn't consid
ered a problem.
"Our policy is that we tell the crew
everything," Dittemore said. "We
don't hold anything back from the
commander on the scene; he gets
everything that we know."
Michael Kostelnik, who oversees
the shuttle and international space
station programs at NASA headquar
ters, said much the same thing that
same day.
"Throughout the flight, all the crew
members on (Columbia) knew that
the engineers were concerned and
were looking at the potential imparts
of what happened," he said. "In fart,
they were provided the same analysis
that we've shared with you and the
same information."
But the astronauts never saw the
engineering analysis and never got
wind of the engineers' concerns, Ja
cobs said.
"No other information on the de
bris strike was sent to the crew,"
he said.
(c) 2003, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
The Oregon
Liquor Control
Commission
sought to make
malternative
beverages like
those produced by
Seagram’s and
Bartles & Jaymes
available only in
liquor stores.
Jessica Waters
Emerald
Malt
continued from page 1
stores because maltematives and beer
have similar alcoholic content.
"It doesn't really make a difference
because if people want liquor, they'll
just go to the liquor store," she said.
Mike Chown, owner of the
Willamette Plaza Liquor Store, said
that he did not like the idea of malt
beverages being sold only in liquor
stores. However, he said the addition
of maltematives to his store would
not improve business.
"You don't really make too much
money off of those drinks,"
Chown said.
Chown acknowledged that his
store sold similar malt beverage items
like Jack Daniel's maltematives, but
that most customers bought regular
distilled liquor products.
"Those lighter drinks are not that
huge of a seller," Chown said.
Contact tiie reporter
at shoikeda@dailyemerald.com.
Pollution output drops
by 1 billion lbs. in 2001
By Seth Borenstein
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
WASHINGTON — American indus
tries cut their toxic-chemical pollution
by more than 1 billion pounds — the
equivalent of eight Titanics — in 2001
for the biggest decrease in nearly 15
years, according to Environmental Pro
tection Agency figures released Monday
While other environmental indica
tors worsened slightly in the early
years of the Bush administration, the
annual Toxic Release Inventory
showed a dramatic 15.5 percent drop
in non-lead toxic pollution into the
air, water and ground.
The decrease was from 6.76 billion
pounds in 2000 to 5.71 billion
pounds in 2001. The only bigger drop
was in 1989, when companies scram
bled to cut emissions after the embar
rassment of the first year they were re
quired to report toxic pollutants.
"We're seeing a significant drop and
we're not exactly sure why," said assis
tant EPA administrator Kim Nelson.
"A lot more companies are being sen
sitive to the bottom line, both from
an economical perspective and an en
vironmental perspective."
The drops in toxic pollution were
nearly across the board. Only five of
the 25 industries that pollute the most
showed increases from 2000 to 2001:
petroleum processing, coal mining,
measuring device-makers, printing
companies and tobacco.
The largest reduction came from
the mining industry, which cut 602.5
million pounds of toxic waste from
2000 to 2001. That industry is the
largest single toxics polluter, produc
ing about 45 percent of total emis
sions. The second biggest polluter —
electric utilities — cut 98.3 million
pounds of pollution.
(c) 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
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