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American Morning
New Direction Regarding NASA Investigation
Aired February 06, 2003 - 08:38 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: We have a new direction regarding the investigation right now into this tragedy this past weekend. NASA now backing away from its original theory that damage caused by flying debris during liftoff caused the disaster. This at a point 80 seconds into liftoff. Investigators now looking quite closely at what happened during Columbia's final minutes. But more than a decade ago, a study warned of catastrophic consequences if debris damaged critical heat-shielding tiles.
Paul Fischbeck now a professor at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, one of the study's authors, and he joins us live today from western Pennsylvania.
Professor, good morning to you. Thank you for your time.
PAUL FISCHBECK, CARNEGIE MELLON PROFESSOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: Did you bring along a tile for us, number one?
FISCHBECK: Well, I brought along a tile. This is like the one that's used on the orbiter, and it's a very lightweight. People who pick it up are very surprised by what it feels like.
HEMMER: Take us back 10 years. What was your concern in examining and studying these tiles?
FISCHBECK: Well, it turns out that the tiles had two problems. One was that the bond or the glue that was initially installed could be put on improperly, and the tiles would have a weak bond and then fall off unexpectedly.
The other problem was the debris problem, which has gotten a lot of press lately, where insulation and ice would fall off the external tank and hit the bottom of the orbiter.
HEMMER: And if that was the case, did you ever conclude the possibility that this could lead to a catastrophic event, and if you gave that information to NASA, upon how do they act?
FISCHBECK: Well, we did what was called a risk analysis, to figure out how likely that was to occur. What we did was we categorized the tiles on the bottom of the orbiter by three factors. One, we figured out which ones were more likely to be hit by debris coming off the external tank. Two, we looked at which ones got excessive heat during re-entry. And, three, we looked at which ones were protecting valuable or important subsystems of the orbiter. HEMMER: Professor, that takes us to our obvious question, that NASA yesterday said they are not convinced this debris could cause and lead to what we all witnessed and experienced on television Saturday morning. If that is the case now, in which direction do the theories lead you?
FISCHBECK: Well, in our initial study, we found that the likelihood of a tile failing was, in fact, greater just because of poor bonding than it was to debris. At the same time, very simple demonstration by NASA, taking the insulation and dropping a tile from 20 feet and showing that no damage is done would go a long way to reassure people that the tiles were not damaged.
HEMMER: What about this theory then? We have some animation to show this, too. There are some who believe now that NASA is looking at the possibility of some type of space debris coming in contact upon re-entry, and if that were the case, what kind of damage then could lead to what we saw on Saturday?
FISCHBECK: We also looked at the possibility of space debris, but the other two factors, the weak initial gluing or bonding of the tile and the debris from the external tank were far, far more likely, and so we didn't study in great detail...
HEMMER: But is this a possibility then, professor, or do you discount it, professor?
FISCHBECK: Well, based on our study, which was done a few years ago, the other two factors were far more likely.
HEMMER: Wow. Paul Fischbeck, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, has studied extensively the tiles and the exterior of that shuttle, and we all wait now to see which way the investigation heads from here.
Thanks professor for your time today.
FISCHBECK: Thank you.
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 6, 2003 - 08:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We have a new direction regarding the investigation right now into this tragedy this past weekend. NASA now backing away from its original theory that damage caused by flying debris during liftoff caused the disaster. This at a point 80 seconds into liftoff. Investigators now looking quite closely at what happened during Columbia's final minutes. But more than a decade ago, a study warned of catastrophic consequences if debris damaged critical heat-shielding tiles.
Paul Fischbeck now a professor at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, one of the study's authors, and he joins us live today from western Pennsylvania.
Professor, good morning to you. Thank you for your time.
PAUL FISCHBECK, CARNEGIE MELLON PROFESSOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: Did you bring along a tile for us, number one?
FISCHBECK: Well, I brought along a tile. This is like the one that's used on the orbiter, and it's a very lightweight. People who pick it up are very surprised by what it feels like.
HEMMER: Take us back 10 years. What was your concern in examining and studying these tiles?
FISCHBECK: Well, it turns out that the tiles had two problems. One was that the bond or the glue that was initially installed could be put on improperly, and the tiles would have a weak bond and then fall off unexpectedly.
The other problem was the debris problem, which has gotten a lot of press lately, where insulation and ice would fall off the external tank and hit the bottom of the orbiter.
HEMMER: And if that was the case, did you ever conclude the possibility that this could lead to a catastrophic event, and if you gave that information to NASA, upon how do they act?
FISCHBECK: Well, we did what was called a risk analysis, to figure out how likely that was to occur. What we did was we categorized the tiles on the bottom of the orbiter by three factors. One, we figured out which ones were more likely to be hit by debris coming off the external tank. Two, we looked at which ones got excessive heat during re-entry. And, three, we looked at which ones were protecting valuable or important subsystems of the orbiter. HEMMER: Professor, that takes us to our obvious question, that NASA yesterday said they are not convinced this debris could cause and lead to what we all witnessed and experienced on television Saturday morning. If that is the case now, in which direction do the theories lead you?
FISCHBECK: Well, in our initial study, we found that the likelihood of a tile failing was, in fact, greater just because of poor bonding than it was to debris. At the same time, very simple demonstration by NASA, taking the insulation and dropping a tile from 20 feet and showing that no damage is done would go a long way to reassure people that the tiles were not damaged.
HEMMER: What about this theory then? We have some animation to show this, too. There are some who believe now that NASA is looking at the possibility of some type of space debris coming in contact upon re-entry, and if that were the case, what kind of damage then could lead to what we saw on Saturday?
FISCHBECK: We also looked at the possibility of space debris, but the other two factors, the weak initial gluing or bonding of the tile and the debris from the external tank were far, far more likely, and so we didn't study in great detail...
HEMMER: But is this a possibility then, professor, or do you discount it, professor?
FISCHBECK: Well, based on our study, which was done a few years ago, the other two factors were far more likely.
HEMMER: Wow. Paul Fischbeck, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, has studied extensively the tiles and the exterior of that shuttle, and we all wait now to see which way the investigation heads from here.
Thanks professor for your time today.
FISCHBECK: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
