Engineers raised concerns about Columbia wing burning
WASHINGTON -- One day before the Columbia disaster, senior NASA engineers raised concerns the shuttle's left wing might burn off and cause the deaths of the crew, describing a scenario much like the one investigators believe happened. They never sent their warnings to NASA's brass.
"Why are we talking about this on the day before landing and not the day after launch?" wrote William C. Anderson, an employee for the United Space Alliance LLC, a NASA contractor, less than 24 hours before the shuttle broke apart.
After intense debate - occurring by phone and e-mails - the engineers, supervisors and the head of the space agency's Langley research facility in Hampton, Va., decided against taking the matter to top NASA managers.
One e-mail, from R.K. "Kevin" McCluney, a shuttle mechanical engineer at Johnson Space Center, described the risks that could lead to "LOCV" - NASA shorthand for the loss of the crew and vehicle. But McCluney ultimately recommended to do nothing unless there was a "wholesale loss of data" from sensors in the left wing, in which case controllers would need to decide between a risky landing and bailout attempt.
"Beats me what the breakpoint would be between the two decisions," McCluney wrote.
Investigators have reported such a wholesale loss of sensor readings in Columbia's left wing, but it occurred too late to do anything - after the shuttle was already racing through Earth's upper atmosphere and moments before its breakup.
--From the Thursday, February 27, 2003 online edition of the Augusta Chronicle
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