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American Morning

NASA Wants Answers in 60 Days

Aired February 10, 2003 - 09:11   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.


JONATHAN KARL, CNN ANCHOR: But now to the latest on the shuttle probe. NASA is looking at key clues, including an image that shows an object speeding away from the Columbia during the second day of its space flight. NASA's Sean O'Keefe says officials are considering all possibility, including space debris, and the issue of whether cost cutting may have endangered the astronauts.
Brian Cabell joins us live from the Johnson Space Center in Houston with more -- Brian.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jonathan, the accident investigation board is back in town, back at work today after taking the weekend off. They will have a busy several days ahead of them. They will be talking to people here in Houston, they will be going to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They will going to the Marshall Flight Space Center in Alabama, and also to a production facility in Louisiana.

The NASA administrator says he would like some answers, he would like a conclusion within 60 days.

Now, one scenario that has drawn a great deal of interest here over the last couple of days comes from an Air Force tracking post in Florida. Apparently, 24 hours after the shuttle took off, an object was seen moving away from the shuttle at some 11 miles an hour.

Was it possibly some debris? That is a possibility. Was it perhaps something falling off of the shuttle? Was it perhaps just some ice? They simply don't know at this point, but what's particularly interesting is that there was a study taken some six years ago that indicated that the chances of a piece of debris causing a catastrophic failure with the shuttle was one chance in 200. That's fairly substantial, and NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe says he's now keeping an open mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We're constantly tracking space debris, and have made adjustments, actually, during the course of missions previously, as well as on the International Space Station to adjust what the orbiting pattern will be in order to avoid collision with any debris. So it is a concern. There's no doubt about it. There's nothing you could possibly make that would be invulnerable to the collision of material that's still up there orbiting the earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABELL: It was a rainy and wet weekend here in Texas and Louisiana, but debris is still being collected, thousands of parts literally. One part in particular that's drawing a lot of interest, of course, is that part of a wing. We still don't know whether it's from the left or the right wing.

They've also recovered what looks like a three by three foot part of a door, a wheel well door. That is drawing a great deal of interest. Some pieces, we're told, up to 20 feet long. All of these eventually will be taken to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for reassembly. And as I say, the NASA administrator says he would like to have some conclusions from this board as to the cause within two months -- Jonathan.

KARL: And Brian, is that self-imposed deadline fueled by the need to get back up there, to get the people -- the three people that remain on the space station?

CABELL: Well, that's part of it. They just figure within two months, with the reassembly, they should be able to have some answers. The problem now, of course, is that you have a theory -- a new theory everyday. So they are trying to sort through these theories, but yes, they would like to get the shuttle back up. Back with the Challenger in 1986, it took 32 months before they went back up. They would like to shorten that if they possibly could this time.

KARL: All right. Shorten it dramatically. Thank you, Brian Cabell.

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






Aired February 10, 2003 - 09:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN ANCHOR: But now to the latest on the shuttle probe. NASA is looking at key clues, including an image that shows an object speeding away from the Columbia during the second day of its space flight. NASA's Sean O'Keefe says officials are considering all possibility, including space debris, and the issue of whether cost cutting may have endangered the astronauts.
Brian Cabell joins us live from the Johnson Space Center in Houston with more -- Brian.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jonathan, the accident investigation board is back in town, back at work today after taking the weekend off. They will have a busy several days ahead of them. They will be talking to people here in Houston, they will be going to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They will going to the Marshall Flight Space Center in Alabama, and also to a production facility in Louisiana.

The NASA administrator says he would like some answers, he would like a conclusion within 60 days.

Now, one scenario that has drawn a great deal of interest here over the last couple of days comes from an Air Force tracking post in Florida. Apparently, 24 hours after the shuttle took off, an object was seen moving away from the shuttle at some 11 miles an hour.

Was it possibly some debris? That is a possibility. Was it perhaps something falling off of the shuttle? Was it perhaps just some ice? They simply don't know at this point, but what's particularly interesting is that there was a study taken some six years ago that indicated that the chances of a piece of debris causing a catastrophic failure with the shuttle was one chance in 200. That's fairly substantial, and NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe says he's now keeping an open mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We're constantly tracking space debris, and have made adjustments, actually, during the course of missions previously, as well as on the International Space Station to adjust what the orbiting pattern will be in order to avoid collision with any debris. So it is a concern. There's no doubt about it. There's nothing you could possibly make that would be invulnerable to the collision of material that's still up there orbiting the earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABELL: It was a rainy and wet weekend here in Texas and Louisiana, but debris is still being collected, thousands of parts literally. One part in particular that's drawing a lot of interest, of course, is that part of a wing. We still don't know whether it's from the left or the right wing.

They've also recovered what looks like a three by three foot part of a door, a wheel well door. That is drawing a great deal of interest. Some pieces, we're told, up to 20 feet long. All of these eventually will be taken to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for reassembly. And as I say, the NASA administrator says he would like to have some conclusions from this board as to the cause within two months -- Jonathan.

KARL: And Brian, is that self-imposed deadline fueled by the need to get back up there, to get the people -- the three people that remain on the space station?

CABELL: Well, that's part of it. They just figure within two months, with the reassembly, they should be able to have some answers. The problem now, of course, is that you have a theory -- a new theory everyday. So they are trying to sort through these theories, but yes, they would like to get the shuttle back up. Back with the Challenger in 1986, it took 32 months before they went back up. They would like to shorten that if they possibly could this time.

KARL: All right. Shorten it dramatically. Thank you, Brian Cabell.

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