Probe chief rebukes NASA managers

The board investigating the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia yesterday criticized NASA’s management for treating the shuttle fleet more like cars than experimental spacecraft.

Retired Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., chairman of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, said NASA cannot consider Columbia’s Feb. 1 disintegration an example of bad luck because it ignored numerous problems within the shuttle program that contributed to the breakup.

“The board is convinced that coming and going into space is a dangerous task. It’s not like taking a drive in your car,” he said.

Investigators also said during a press conference that a hole like the nearly 17-inch-wide gap caused by the latest high-speed foam test Monday on a panel that protects shuttle wings could have been detected with Defense Department spy satellites. That further calls into question the decision by NASA’s senior managers not to ask for photos to be taken during Columbia’s 16-day mission.

“It is within the realm of capability to pick up a hole that size,” Adm. Gehman said.

Investigators issued a recommendation late last month that says NASA must treat the shuttles like experimental vehicles, but yesterday they continued to express shock at NASA’s treatment of spaceflight as routine.

The agency fails to give shuttle flights the scrutiny they deserve, investigators said.

“You need to treat the launch as the first launch, each orbit as the first orbit and each re-entry as the first re-entry,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. Duane Deal, a member of the accident investigation board.

The military’s F-16 fighter jet made 1,600 flights during its test program, said accident investigation board member John Logsdon, a George Washington University professor. The shuttle fleet has made a combined 113 flights.

Adm. Gehman said NASA needs to pay closer attention to the anomalies recorded during each launch and each landing. He said investigators will say foam was the direct cause of the disaster, but too many mechanical breakdowns occur to ignore.

Adm. Gehman also said investigators “are not very pleased” that NASA used bolt catchers that could fly free and damage the shuttle. Investigators discovered the potential new threat last month.

Explosions cause the 85-pound bolts to split in half two minutes after liftoff to allow the rocket booster to separate from the shuttle. Half of each bolt is supposed to be trapped by a bolt catcher, but investigators found the device isn’t strong enough to contain the bolts.

NASA also allowed cameras that provide long-range, high-resolution film of each shuttle launch to “atrophy,” Adm. Gehman said.

“I think one of our findings is going to be: NASA, you’re not listening,” Adm. Gehman said after the press conference. “If you had asked a gate guard, he would have told you foam could cause damage.”

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