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American Morning
Doomed Columbia Flight
Aired February 28, 2003 - 07:19 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: There was a rather dramatic confrontation in Congress over the Columbia disaster yesterday. NASA's chief faced some blunt questions yesterday from a congressman out of New York about warnings that the shuttle could be destroyed during re-entry. Now, the chief of NASA says he had not seen the e- mails from engineers during the ill-fated mission, and now there are many questions as to the management structure of NASA.
John Zarrella is watching all of this. He joins us now live from Miami this morning with more.
John -- good morning.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bill. And in fact, those e-mails written by NASA engineers that outlined what-if scenarios, what if the shuttle were damaged more on liftoff than engineering analysis had suspected or concluded, those e-mails became the subject of a hot debate on Capitol Hill as Sean O'Keefe, the NASA administrator, went to Capitol Hill to testify about his '04 budget. O'Keefe found himself defending himself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe went before the House Science Committee to talk about his agency's 2004 budget. For most of the three-plus hours, O'Keefe was grilled.
REP. ANTHONY WIENER (D-NY), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Have you fired anyone for not bringing them to your attention sooner?
ZARRELLA: The "them" Congressman Anthony Wiener referred to are chilling what-if e-mails between space agency engineers and flight controllers in the days before the shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas, e-mails released by NASA late Wednesday.
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We're trying to get it out as fast as possible...
WIENER: Sir -- Sir, I have eight seconds left.
O'KEEFE: Yes, sir.
WIENER: I'm not really interested in when "The New York Times" got it. I'm interested in when you, the guy that we put in charge of this, got it!
ZARRELLA: O'Keefe acknowledged he did not know about the e-mails before the accident. The e-mails, which were not forwarded to senior managers, went into grim detail of how Columbia might break apart if foam debris that hit the left wing on liftoff caused more serious damage than engineering teams concluded.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, O'Keefe, who also defended his agency during that testimony, is saying that those e-mails were discussed at the proper levels within NASA. They didn't go any higher up the food chain in NASA, Bill. The reason why: Because no one within the agency, including those engineers who wrote the e-mails, believed that Columbia was really in any serious damage -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, John -- John Zarrella in Miami.
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 28, 2003 - 07:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There was a rather dramatic confrontation in Congress over the Columbia disaster yesterday. NASA's chief faced some blunt questions yesterday from a congressman out of New York about warnings that the shuttle could be destroyed during re-entry. Now, the chief of NASA says he had not seen the e- mails from engineers during the ill-fated mission, and now there are many questions as to the management structure of NASA.
John Zarrella is watching all of this. He joins us now live from Miami this morning with more.
John -- good morning.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bill. And in fact, those e-mails written by NASA engineers that outlined what-if scenarios, what if the shuttle were damaged more on liftoff than engineering analysis had suspected or concluded, those e-mails became the subject of a hot debate on Capitol Hill as Sean O'Keefe, the NASA administrator, went to Capitol Hill to testify about his '04 budget. O'Keefe found himself defending himself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe went before the House Science Committee to talk about his agency's 2004 budget. For most of the three-plus hours, O'Keefe was grilled.
REP. ANTHONY WIENER (D-NY), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Have you fired anyone for not bringing them to your attention sooner?
ZARRELLA: The "them" Congressman Anthony Wiener referred to are chilling what-if e-mails between space agency engineers and flight controllers in the days before the shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas, e-mails released by NASA late Wednesday.
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We're trying to get it out as fast as possible...
WIENER: Sir -- Sir, I have eight seconds left.
O'KEEFE: Yes, sir.
WIENER: I'm not really interested in when "The New York Times" got it. I'm interested in when you, the guy that we put in charge of this, got it!
ZARRELLA: O'Keefe acknowledged he did not know about the e-mails before the accident. The e-mails, which were not forwarded to senior managers, went into grim detail of how Columbia might break apart if foam debris that hit the left wing on liftoff caused more serious damage than engineering teams concluded.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, O'Keefe, who also defended his agency during that testimony, is saying that those e-mails were discussed at the proper levels within NASA. They didn't go any higher up the food chain in NASA, Bill. The reason why: Because no one within the agency, including those engineers who wrote the e-mails, believed that Columbia was really in any serious damage -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, John -- John Zarrella in Miami.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
