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The report into the shuttle Columbia disaster will look hauntingly familiar to those who lived through the agony of Challenger. Technical defects and bad management at NASA brought down both ships. But this time, two key members of Congress indicate they are ready to force drastic changes in the safety of human spaceflight. "It's going to require us to knock some heads and to affix some accountability and to make sure certain people are let go and make sure changes are made. There's nothing that resists change more than a huge blob of bureaucracy," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of...

In two days Congress will receive a major report on the shuttle disaster that will spark a funding battle with the potential to make or break the agency's human spaceflight programs. The 250-page report, to be released Tuesday by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, will do more than outline why one of NASA's small fleet of manned shuttles broke apart over Texas on Feb. 1. The board's 13 members, headed by retired Navy Adm. Harold Gehman, will spell out what needs to be done to make the shuttle program safer. And even though Gehman has said the report will not...

Following a meeting with economic leaders in Seattle, Washington yesterday, U.S. President George W. Bush was asked to comment on the upcoming release of the final report from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB). The report is due out Tuesday, Aug. 26. A reporter requested Bush to answer a "Texas-related question" about the CAIB findings, adding that the report is anticipated to be critical of NASA.

Seeing the thing that brought down the space shuttle Columbia filled Jon Salton with sadness. His sister, Laurel Clark, was one of the seven astronauts who died when the shuttle shattered on its return to Earth more than six months ago. He viewed the video of the impact test in July that showed a chunk of foam insulation knocking a giant hole in shuttle wing parts. "It's hard to watch that," he said. "It's utterly obvious now that type of impact could cause an orbiter to break apart. "It didn't make me angry. It just made me sad." NASA officials...

Cleaning up the remains of space shuttle Columbia and investigating why it fell out of the sky will cost taxpayers more than $380 million, according to figures from the government agencies involved. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the lead agency dealing with the Feb. 1 disaster that killed seven astronauts, expects to spend more than $228 million on the accident, said Kim Pease, a Denton-based spokesman for the agency. FEMA, which now is part of the Homeland Security Department, coordinated the search and recovery operation, working with NASA, the U.S. Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of...

CATASTROPHE IN THE SKY Did environmentalism bring down Columbia? NASA probed exact same glitch of insulation striking tiles in 1997 More than six years ago, NASA investigated extensive thermal tile damage on the space shuttle Columbia as a result of the shedding of external tank insulation on launch – now a prime suspect in the Columbia's disastrous disintegration upon re-entry yesterday. The problems began when the space agency switched to materials and parts that were considered more "environmentally friendly," according to a NASA report obtained by WorldNetDaily. Did concerns for environment cause shuttle disaster? NASA investigators have quickly focused on...

Seven asteroids circling the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter are being named for the astronauts who died in the space shuttle Columbia accident, officials announced Wednesday. Astronauts Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Clark of NASA (news - web sites) and Ilan Ramon of Israel died on Feb. 1 when Columbia broke up while returning to Earth from a 16-day orbital mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. proposed naming the asteroids for the astronauts. The plan was approved by the International Astronomical Union and announced on Wednesday by the...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, said in July that it had found the "smoking gun" that caused the space shuttle Columbia to break apart as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 1: a piece of foam that had peeled off the external fuel tank and struck the shuttle's wing 1 minute and 22 seconds after liftoff. But many experts looking at the tragedy that killed seven astronauts say there is a deeper cause. They say that the metaphorical smoking gun should be painted green. Because of demands that the agency help to front for...

"Brain drain" at Boeing Co. may have contributed to the aerospace giant's flawed analysis that space shuttle Columbia would land safely despite being damaged soon after launch, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday. Falling debris from Columbia's external fuel tank crashed into the shuttle's left wing, allowing superheated gas to penetrate the craft on re-entry Feb. 1, ultimately tearing the ship apart and killing all seven astronauts aboard. Boeing's space shuttle team lost many top engineers when it moved to Texas from California in 2001, contributing to poor analysis during the doomed Columbia flight, according to the Times report....

<p>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A Nobel Prize-winning member of the board investigating the space shuttle Columbia disaster says he fears NASA may be doomed to suffer more tragedies unless it changes the culture that has led to flawed decision-making.</p> <p>The "same faulty reasoning" that led to the 1986 Challenger accident also led to Columbia, said Douglas Osheroff, one of the 13 board members wrapping up the report on the Columbia accident.</p>

<p>NASA has spent $152.4 million in the six months since the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated to fund the investigation and recover debris, the space agency said yesterday.</p> <p>Although the agency provided little detail about the new expenditures, it is the first time the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has quantified the costs related to the Feb. 1 loss of Columbia.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA (news - web sites) needs high-resolution pictures of the external fuel tanks that boost shuttles into orbit, and these images should be taken during any future launch and ascent, investigators probing the Columbia disaster said Wednesday. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board said these sharp images, made available to ground controllers soon after the external tank separates from the orbiter after launch, would help engineers troubleshoot any problems during shuttle missions. "Imaging the space shuttle system during launch and ascent provides necessary engineering data including the ability to examine the space shuttle system for any unexpected debris...

NASA spaceflight operations officials argued Tuesday that the loss of the space shuttle Columbia was nobody’s fault, and that they couldn’t have done anything wrong because of their pure intentions. They couldn’t think of anything they did wrong, but they also promised to do better in the future. THESE COMMENTS come as part of NASA’s hunkering down in anticipation of being seriously skewered by the report now being written by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The group, often referred to as the Gehman Committee after the retired admiral who chairs it, has already issued its technical explanation of the loss...

The NASA official who led the mission management team during Columbia's doomed flight swiftly dismissed as a safety threat the launch-day foam strike to the left wing, transcripts released Tuesday show. "Really, I don't think there is much we can do," Linda Ham said on Jan. 21, five days after a 1 1/2-pound chunk of foam insulation smashed into Columbia's wing during liftoff. "It's not really a factor during the flight because there isn't much we can do about it." Referring to a foam strike two flights earlier, during Atlantis' launch in October, Ham said, "I'm not sure if the...

<p>NASA managers worry that the official report on the shuttle Columbia accident, to be published next month, will damage morale and distract staff from putting shuttles back into space.</p> <p>"The report will question us at all levels," warned William Readdy, a top NASA official and former astronaut, in a letter sent this month to staff helping to put the shuttle in space again. "Long forgotten will be the many, many scores of safely and successfully accomplished missions."</p>

NASA inspectors charged with making sure space shuttles are safe to fly were forced to buy their own tools and prevented from making spot checks, a Columbia accident investigator says. The investigator, who spoke with The Associated Press in interviews over several days, said NASA's program that oversees shuttle inspections will "take a pretty big hit" in the Columbia accident report due out in late August. Air Force Brig. Gen. Duane Deal, one of 13 members of the board investigating the cause of the shuttle accident, says he obtained crucial information by offering confidentiality to the 72 NASA and contractor...

The foam impact test on Monday that left a gaping hole in a simulated space shuttle wing also graphically unveiled the gaping hole in NASA’s safety culture. Even without any test data to support them, NASA’s best engineers who were examining potential damage from the foam impact during Columbia’s launch made convenient assumptions. Nobody in the NASA management chain ever asked any tough questions about the justification for these feel-good fantasies. THE SHOCKING FLAW was just another incarnation of the most dangerous of safety delusions — that in the absence of contrary indicators, it is permissible to assume that a...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The board investigating the Columbia disaster will not issue its final report until the end of August, a full month later than planned, in order to allow enough time for editing the massive document. "It's editing all the material and trying to do a thorough job, rather than trying to rush to the finish line," Columbia Accident Investigation Board spokeswoman Laura Brown said Wednesday. The board's chairman, retired Navy Adm. Harold Gehman Jr., had intended to release the report by the end of July to beat the August congressional recess. He wanted lawmakers to look...

Science - AP Shuttle Foam Test Yields Hole in Wing59 minutes ago By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer SAN ANTONIO - The team investigating the Columbia disaster fired a chunk of foam insulation at shuttle wing parts Monday and blew open a gaping 2-foot hole, offering dramatic evidence to support the theory of what doomed the spaceship. The crowd of about 100 gasped and cried, "Wow!" when the foam hit. The foam struck roughly the same spot where insulation that broke off Columbia's big external fuel tank during launch smashed into the shuttle's wing. Investigators believe the damage led to...

Space shuttle test reveals 'smoking gun' in disaster Simulation of Columbia launch mishap puts hole in wing section By Kathy Sawyer THE WASHINGTON POST Tuesday, July 8, 2003 SAN ANTONIO -- With a resounding "thwack," a piece of foam traveling at 500 mph blew a ragged hole the size of a stop sign in a section of a space shuttle wing Monday, effectively shattering any remaining doubts about what destroyed Columbia and its crew Feb. 1. "We have found the smoking gun," said Scott Hubbard, a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board who supervised the test. Austin American Statesman...