NASA chief clarifies bridles over shuttle e-mail

WASHINGTON: NASA's chief bridled at criticism of e-mail within the space agency that raised concerns over a possible loss of Columbia's crew. Internal e-mails released last week showed NASA engineers worried about what would happen if super-hot gas got under shuttle Columbia's aluminum skin during re-entry after 16 days in orbit, with one memo concluding, "Our recommendation in that case is going to be to set up for a bailout (assuming the wing doesn't burn off before we can get the crew out)."

All seven of Columbia's crew members died on Feb. 1 when the spacecraft broke up over Texas soon after reentering the atmosphere. One theory holds that debris from the shuttle's external fuel tank knocked off some of its heat-shielding tiles about 80 seconds after launch, allowing superheated gas to get in during re-entry.

At NASA headquarters, administrator Sean O'Keefe told reporters the e-mail could be more informal and more "emotional" than other communications, and could easily be taken out of context.

NASA has said the exchange of e-mail during Columbia's voyage was a normal "what-if" discussion that included extreme worst-case scenarios, and that the concerns raised were determined not to threaten the shuttle or its crew.

Oversight or micromanagement?

O'Keefe has said he did not see the e-mails until after the disaster, but noted he is not an aeronautics expert and others at the agency are better qualified. "There's fine line between oversight and micromanagement," O'Keefe said.

He stressed the independent investigation into the tragedy was proceeding, and that until its conclusion, "we're speculating based on bits, parts and individual pieces of a process."

Whatever the Columbia Accident Investigation Board concludes, O'Keefe said, "There wasn't anything that I've seen or that anybody else has hinted at that would suggest malice or complacency or indifference. If anything, this (e-mail) appears to be a spirited exchange that we want to encourage."

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has stressed the independent nature of the investigative panel, known as the Gehman board because it is led by Harold Gehman.

Last week, O'Keefe argued against Gehman's Feb. 25 request that NASA shuttle managers be removed from the independent investigation team, saying such a move would be viewed as "prejudging the facts before the investigation is complete." He reluctantly agreed to the request, NASA said.

At a briefing in Houston on Tuesday, Gehman said he was satisfied with O'Keefe's response.

'Very good week ' for shuttle probe

Gehman said the problem was that top level NASA managers investigating technical failures will themselves be assessed by the independent board when it turns its attention to management decisions and NASA's administrative culture.

"We are then put in the place of having the investigators investigate themselves," Gehman said. "I found that not to be compatible." He said this is "a very good week" for the investigation.

The board found that molten aluminum that may have come from the shuttle's left wing after it was breached by super-hot gases called plasma was found embedded in tiles that came from the right side of the orbiter.

Hydraulic fuel that bled out of Columbia during a 25-second gap in telemetry just before NASA received its last burst of data was also found on the right side. Such a finding might indicate a spacecraft spinning out of control, but that last data burst, after the plasma breach and after the hydraulic fuel had all leaked away, showed Columbia stable and still on its flight path.

Still, the 22,563 pieces of Columbia recovered so far represent less than 14 percent of the intact orbiter. The board said it had more than 30 million pages of documents to go through as it studies how Columbia was prepared for flight and the various stages of its last major overhaul.

© Reuters