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American Morning

Columbia: The Shuttle Tragedy: External Investigation to be Conducted

Aired February 03, 2003 - 09:34   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: A team in Louisiana, led by the admiral who investigated the USS Cole bombing, now planning to meet there and get an external investigation conducted.
Mike Brooks with us live from Barksdale Air Force base with more on this.

Mike, good morning.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

As you said, the Columbia accident investigation board started meeting this morning at 7:30 a.m. This board is being chaired by retired four-star Admiral Harold Gehman. As you recall, Harold Gehman was in charge of the investigation of the USS Cole bombing of the coast of Yemen.

Now this board is made up of a number members different government agencies, some of those include the United States Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation and one senior manager from NASA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. HAROLD GEHMAN, (RET.) IND. INVESTIGATION CHIEF: We will look at everything from broken, twisted metal and metallurgy up to top-level management and policies. We will work rapidly, but diligently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS: As you can see, it's starting to rain here, but as the continuing debris recovery in Texas and Louisiana also continues, is the recovery of remains continues.

Yesterday, the remains of the astronauts, of some of the astronauts were brought here to Barksdale Air Force base by a Blackhawk helicopter.

I spoke with NASA a short time ago, and they said the debris may start coming here as soon as today. But a lot of things depend on the weather, and the mode of transportation.

As you can see, the weather could hamper that here in Louisiana, if they wanted to bring some debris in by air, but most likely will be trucked in by tractor-trailer trucks -- Bill. HEMMER: Mike, thank you. Mike Brooks, again, in Barksdale.

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




be Conducted>


Aired February 3, 2003 - 09:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A team in Louisiana, led by the admiral who investigated the USS Cole bombing, now planning to meet there and get an external investigation conducted.
Mike Brooks with us live from Barksdale Air Force base with more on this.

Mike, good morning.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

As you said, the Columbia accident investigation board started meeting this morning at 7:30 a.m. This board is being chaired by retired four-star Admiral Harold Gehman. As you recall, Harold Gehman was in charge of the investigation of the USS Cole bombing of the coast of Yemen.

Now this board is made up of a number members different government agencies, some of those include the United States Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation and one senior manager from NASA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. HAROLD GEHMAN, (RET.) IND. INVESTIGATION CHIEF: We will look at everything from broken, twisted metal and metallurgy up to top-level management and policies. We will work rapidly, but diligently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS: As you can see, it's starting to rain here, but as the continuing debris recovery in Texas and Louisiana also continues, is the recovery of remains continues.

Yesterday, the remains of the astronauts, of some of the astronauts were brought here to Barksdale Air Force base by a Blackhawk helicopter.

I spoke with NASA a short time ago, and they said the debris may start coming here as soon as today. But a lot of things depend on the weather, and the mode of transportation.

As you can see, the weather could hamper that here in Louisiana, if they wanted to bring some debris in by air, but most likely will be trucked in by tractor-trailer trucks -- Bill. HEMMER: Mike, thank you. Mike Brooks, again, in Barksdale.

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




be Conducted>