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American Morning

Search for Clues to Cause of Columbia Disaster

Aired February 07, 2003 - 07:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It is an agonizing countdown now in reverse. NASA investigators are trying to work backward from the moment communication with the shuttle was lost, trying to find the cause of Columbia's fatal descent. They are not ruling out any possibility, we're told.
Former astronaut and CNN shuttle analyst, Dr. Norm Thagard, now our guest at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Good to see you again -- good morning to you, Dr.

DR. NORM THAGARD, CNN SHUTTLE ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Is there a piece of Columbia that holds the most intrigue for you in terms of finding a cause?

THAGARD: Any piece that they found west of the current known debris site would be important, because it would tell you what occurred earlier, and that might be, in fact, one of the very first events. Of course, there is a thought that something went on in the left wing, but where exactly and what is unknown. And such debris in California, for instance, might really help localize the initial trouble spot.

HEMMER: Why is it -- why have they not been able to make a link for this debris found in California to Columbia? Why has that taken so long?

THAGARD: It's going to be -- if you're talking about how they haven't found any, well, because it's a needle in a haystack. It's a very small piece of debris, probably initially not like that debris field that you find in Texas. And it's simply a matter of, where is it in all of that area?

HEMMER: Let's look at some animation that we introduced to our viewers about 24 hours ago at this time. This is the shuttle essentially coming back into re-entry, and the thing we want to focus on here is the possibility of space debris possibly hitting the shuttle, throwing it off course, causing some sort of events miles above the earth. When you think about this, Dr., coming back into orbit, do you ever feel, do you have the sensation that debris might strike that shuttle?

THAGARD: No, you really don't, not at that point. We've all seen, I think, those of us who have ridden up on the flight deck of the shuttle, foam material come off the tank. And it just -- if it hits the window and at most makes a minor streak, and it's hard to believe that causes that kind of damage that would cause the loss of a vehicle. And you really do not think at the point that you're coming in for entry that there's any debris left that could strike you.

HEMMER: Well, interesting. Story Musgrave also shared some videotape from six years ago. We can roll that for you, too. This is essentially from the cockpit of Columbia about six years ago upon re- entry. As we look at this videotape, Dr., I want you to take us through what an astronaut would feel inside the cockpit upon that sensation.

THAGARD: OK, well, you usually do the firing for de-orbit very often in the dark, because you're going to land in the day about half a world away. And now, it looks like -- it's a little hard to see the color on this monitor. But you get that salmon-pink glow, and this is part of plasma, and you can see it flashes with the discharge, essentially like lightening. That is because you are moving so fast, you actually strip electrons off of the few molecules of air up there, creating a plasma. It's exactly what causes a flame here on earth.

HEMMER: And again, what do you feel, Dr., at this point?

THAGARD: You don't really feel much. At the point that you start hitting the sensible atmosphere, and certainly by the time the shuttle got to where it was over Texas, they were feeling that. You do get G forces, and the first thing you see when those come back on you is the dust starts settling out of the air. You can actually watch it. All of a sudden, it will just start falling to the floor.

And I remember on my first flight telling the commander jokingly that he could quit pulling all of those Gs anytime he wanted to, and we were up about that high. But I think he told me, well, we're only pulling about a tenth of a G.

HEMMER: Wow!

THAGARD: So, you get a gradual re-onset of the G forces as you get lower and lower.

HEMMER: Quickly here, with 32 seconds of trying to piece this back together, if they don't get that important data, does Columbia remain a mystery as to what happened?

THAGARD: Maybe not. That data, if they could get it, would be very important. I realize that what has happened is it was bad data, so it has to be hand-reconstructed. And from what I understand, they're having difficulty making any sense out of it. But it would be very important.

HEMMER: Thank you, Norm -- Norm Thagard at the CNN Center. Appreciate your time again today.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com



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Aired February 7, 2003 - 07:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It is an agonizing countdown now in reverse. NASA investigators are trying to work backward from the moment communication with the shuttle was lost, trying to find the cause of Columbia's fatal descent. They are not ruling out any possibility, we're told.
Former astronaut and CNN shuttle analyst, Dr. Norm Thagard, now our guest at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Good to see you again -- good morning to you, Dr.

DR. NORM THAGARD, CNN SHUTTLE ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Is there a piece of Columbia that holds the most intrigue for you in terms of finding a cause?

THAGARD: Any piece that they found west of the current known debris site would be important, because it would tell you what occurred earlier, and that might be, in fact, one of the very first events. Of course, there is a thought that something went on in the left wing, but where exactly and what is unknown. And such debris in California, for instance, might really help localize the initial trouble spot.

HEMMER: Why is it -- why have they not been able to make a link for this debris found in California to Columbia? Why has that taken so long?

THAGARD: It's going to be -- if you're talking about how they haven't found any, well, because it's a needle in a haystack. It's a very small piece of debris, probably initially not like that debris field that you find in Texas. And it's simply a matter of, where is it in all of that area?

HEMMER: Let's look at some animation that we introduced to our viewers about 24 hours ago at this time. This is the shuttle essentially coming back into re-entry, and the thing we want to focus on here is the possibility of space debris possibly hitting the shuttle, throwing it off course, causing some sort of events miles above the earth. When you think about this, Dr., coming back into orbit, do you ever feel, do you have the sensation that debris might strike that shuttle?

THAGARD: No, you really don't, not at that point. We've all seen, I think, those of us who have ridden up on the flight deck of the shuttle, foam material come off the tank. And it just -- if it hits the window and at most makes a minor streak, and it's hard to believe that causes that kind of damage that would cause the loss of a vehicle. And you really do not think at the point that you're coming in for entry that there's any debris left that could strike you.

HEMMER: Well, interesting. Story Musgrave also shared some videotape from six years ago. We can roll that for you, too. This is essentially from the cockpit of Columbia about six years ago upon re- entry. As we look at this videotape, Dr., I want you to take us through what an astronaut would feel inside the cockpit upon that sensation.

THAGARD: OK, well, you usually do the firing for de-orbit very often in the dark, because you're going to land in the day about half a world away. And now, it looks like -- it's a little hard to see the color on this monitor. But you get that salmon-pink glow, and this is part of plasma, and you can see it flashes with the discharge, essentially like lightening. That is because you are moving so fast, you actually strip electrons off of the few molecules of air up there, creating a plasma. It's exactly what causes a flame here on earth.

HEMMER: And again, what do you feel, Dr., at this point?

THAGARD: You don't really feel much. At the point that you start hitting the sensible atmosphere, and certainly by the time the shuttle got to where it was over Texas, they were feeling that. You do get G forces, and the first thing you see when those come back on you is the dust starts settling out of the air. You can actually watch it. All of a sudden, it will just start falling to the floor.

And I remember on my first flight telling the commander jokingly that he could quit pulling all of those Gs anytime he wanted to, and we were up about that high. But I think he told me, well, we're only pulling about a tenth of a G.

HEMMER: Wow!

THAGARD: So, you get a gradual re-onset of the G forces as you get lower and lower.

HEMMER: Quickly here, with 32 seconds of trying to piece this back together, if they don't get that important data, does Columbia remain a mystery as to what happened?

THAGARD: Maybe not. That data, if they could get it, would be very important. I realize that what has happened is it was bad data, so it has to be hand-reconstructed. And from what I understand, they're having difficulty making any sense out of it. But it would be very important.

HEMMER: Thank you, Norm -- Norm Thagard at the CNN Center. Appreciate your time again today.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com



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