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American Morning
Columbia Shuttle Tragedy: The Investigation
Aired February 07, 2003 - 08:06 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: Want to get back to the latest right now that investigation of Columbia, what went wrong, so terribly wrong last Saturday morning. Right now the agency says it has studied and collected over 1,300 home videos and pictures, a massive amount of material. Also, there is an independent investigation to be conducted outside the realm of NASA taking over that probe.
To the Johnson Space Center in Houston and Jeff Flock for the latest on what's happening today.
Jeff, good morning.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
Indeed, a number of headlines this morning, one in fact that is a bit of an altering of course in the investigation. You know yesterday they were all but ruling out that piece of foam insulation hitting the underside of the orbiter as the root cause, now shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore saying that they're in a new phase where they're going to look at everything, they will rule nothing out. And, as you report, that will be spearheaded by an independent panel.
Also, word of some new evidence this morning. That from a publication, "Aviation Week and Space Technology." They say the U.S. Air Force took some photographs, high-resolution photographs of the shuttle about a minute before it broke up. Those photographs, the publication says, show serious structural damage to that left wing area. So we're back again on the left wing.
Now to the latest pictures we have been able to obtain, it's home video. And as you report, NASA taking all the home video very serious and a lot of evidence out there. One piece shows the shuttle as it traveled over San Francisco. That one doesn't show a whole lot because there had been earlier reports that perhaps some pieces were coming off at that point. Don't really depict that.
But take a look at the second one, this is more dramatic. This is the shuttle over Nevada. Two bright lights in the sky, there you see. One of them is the moon; the other one shows a bit of a flash of light. And of course NASA will be very interested to see that because if there's evidence that the shuttle was coming apart as far back as Nevada that would also be new information. So a lot of stuff on the plate this morning, Bill, as the investigation goes forward.
HEMMER: Jeff, I don't know if we can show that videotape yet again for our viewers, but as we watch it yet again, Jeff, is there anything on board that shuttle that would have notified the astronauts that something was going wrong behind them or even relay that information to Houston and notify NASA at headquarters?
FLOCK: Well in fact we have been working on that very thing, and later in this hour we'll let you know what -- all of what we know about the last hour or so, everything from the burn all the way and through the final moments. And we will tell you at that time, as I'll tell you now, there was nothing to indicate that the shuttle astronauts knew anything about what was going on until the very last moments.
HEMMER: Jeff, thanks. Jeff Flock in Houston this morning.
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 7, 2003 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Want to get back to the latest right now that investigation of Columbia, what went wrong, so terribly wrong last Saturday morning. Right now the agency says it has studied and collected over 1,300 home videos and pictures, a massive amount of material. Also, there is an independent investigation to be conducted outside the realm of NASA taking over that probe.
To the Johnson Space Center in Houston and Jeff Flock for the latest on what's happening today.
Jeff, good morning.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
Indeed, a number of headlines this morning, one in fact that is a bit of an altering of course in the investigation. You know yesterday they were all but ruling out that piece of foam insulation hitting the underside of the orbiter as the root cause, now shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore saying that they're in a new phase where they're going to look at everything, they will rule nothing out. And, as you report, that will be spearheaded by an independent panel.
Also, word of some new evidence this morning. That from a publication, "Aviation Week and Space Technology." They say the U.S. Air Force took some photographs, high-resolution photographs of the shuttle about a minute before it broke up. Those photographs, the publication says, show serious structural damage to that left wing area. So we're back again on the left wing.
Now to the latest pictures we have been able to obtain, it's home video. And as you report, NASA taking all the home video very serious and a lot of evidence out there. One piece shows the shuttle as it traveled over San Francisco. That one doesn't show a whole lot because there had been earlier reports that perhaps some pieces were coming off at that point. Don't really depict that.
But take a look at the second one, this is more dramatic. This is the shuttle over Nevada. Two bright lights in the sky, there you see. One of them is the moon; the other one shows a bit of a flash of light. And of course NASA will be very interested to see that because if there's evidence that the shuttle was coming apart as far back as Nevada that would also be new information. So a lot of stuff on the plate this morning, Bill, as the investigation goes forward.
HEMMER: Jeff, I don't know if we can show that videotape yet again for our viewers, but as we watch it yet again, Jeff, is there anything on board that shuttle that would have notified the astronauts that something was going wrong behind them or even relay that information to Houston and notify NASA at headquarters?
FLOCK: Well in fact we have been working on that very thing, and later in this hour we'll let you know what -- all of what we know about the last hour or so, everything from the burn all the way and through the final moments. And we will tell you at that time, as I'll tell you now, there was nothing to indicate that the shuttle astronauts knew anything about what was going on until the very last moments.
HEMMER: Jeff, thanks. Jeff Flock in Houston this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
