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American Morning
NASA: Debris Not Root Cause of Disaster
Aired February 06, 2003 - 07:09 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: The shuttle tragedy now, more to talk about yet again today. NASA backing away from the theory that the disaster was caused by insulation striking and damaging the orbiter during liftoff.
For the latest today, Jeff Flock is in Houston at the Johnson Space Center for more with us.
Jeff -- good morning.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Bill, good morning to you.
As is so true so many times in life, the more you know, the more you find out you don't know. Indeed, NASA is now saying that if we thought it was that foam insulation perhaps, the pictures we've been seeing over and over again of that foam insulation striking the underside of the orbiter on liftoff, if that's what they thought the only cause was of this disaster, that is likely not the case.
According to the shuttle program manager yesterday, Ron Dittemore, that foam insulation itself could not have been the only cause of the catastrophic breakup of Columbia. He brought a piece of that foam insulation to the press briefing yesterday, trying to demonstrate it really just doesn't have enough to it to cause that kind of damage. Easy to point to that, because that is something that we can see, that shot on takeoff, but Ron Dittemore indicating that it's probably something ultimately that was well beyond our eyes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON DITTEMORE, SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER: We're focusing our attention on what we didn't see. We believe there's something else, and that's why we're doing a fault tree analysis, and that's why we're investigating every area. Right now, it just does not make sense to us that a piece of debris would be the root cause for the loss of Columbia and its crew. There's got to be another reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLOCK: In terms of what that other reason might be, they are now looking at reports, as well as pieces of the shuttle that may have come off over California. If they can determine, Bill, what specifically those were, it may point to the specific area of the shuttle that was coming apart and give them some more clues. But at this point, they don't know.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jeff -- Jeff Flock in Houston.
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 - 07:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The shuttle tragedy now, more to talk about yet again today. NASA backing away from the theory that the disaster was caused by insulation striking and damaging the orbiter during liftoff.
For the latest today, Jeff Flock is in Houston at the Johnson Space Center for more with us.
Jeff -- good morning.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Bill, good morning to you.
As is so true so many times in life, the more you know, the more you find out you don't know. Indeed, NASA is now saying that if we thought it was that foam insulation perhaps, the pictures we've been seeing over and over again of that foam insulation striking the underside of the orbiter on liftoff, if that's what they thought the only cause was of this disaster, that is likely not the case.
According to the shuttle program manager yesterday, Ron Dittemore, that foam insulation itself could not have been the only cause of the catastrophic breakup of Columbia. He brought a piece of that foam insulation to the press briefing yesterday, trying to demonstrate it really just doesn't have enough to it to cause that kind of damage. Easy to point to that, because that is something that we can see, that shot on takeoff, but Ron Dittemore indicating that it's probably something ultimately that was well beyond our eyes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON DITTEMORE, SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER: We're focusing our attention on what we didn't see. We believe there's something else, and that's why we're doing a fault tree analysis, and that's why we're investigating every area. Right now, it just does not make sense to us that a piece of debris would be the root cause for the loss of Columbia and its crew. There's got to be another reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLOCK: In terms of what that other reason might be, they are now looking at reports, as well as pieces of the shuttle that may have come off over California. If they can determine, Bill, what specifically those were, it may point to the specific area of the shuttle that was coming apart and give them some more clues. But at this point, they don't know.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jeff -- Jeff Flock in Houston.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
