Mar 18 2003
From The Space Library
In the CAIB's second public hearing, expert witnesses discussed what they knew about the reentry of Space Shuttle Columbia on 1 February. William H. Ailor III, Director of the Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies at the Aerospace Corporation, explained to the CAIB that part of the difficulty of deciphering the precise cause of the orbiter's breakup was that space agencies had done little work over the past years in reconstructing spacecraft breakups. The lack of a systematic effort to retrieve debris from such incidents compounded the problem. R. Douglas White, Director for Operations Requirements, Orbiter Element Department for United Space Alliance, the prime contractor for NASA's Space Shuttle Program, provided a “dramatic portrayal of Columbia's troubled trajectory from orbit.” He drew attention to the behavior of Columbia's aileron, the hinged control surface attached to the craft's trailing edge, remarking that its behavior was a first indication that “something odd was happening to the space plane.” Paul Hill, Space Shuttle and ISS Flight Director at NASA's JSC and leader of the team piecing together the still and video images of the Shuttle's final minutes, told the CAIB about the work of the image analysts. Hill also expressed gratitude to the public for submitting amateur photographs and videos for analysis. (Leonard David, “Columbia Board Hearing: 'Clues, Critical Events' Destroyed on Reentry,” Space.com, 18 March 2003, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_caib_030318.html (accessed 29 August 2008).
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