And this is an amazing read on what happened to the shuttle.
Columbia's 'Smoking Gun' Was Obscured
NASA Did Not See a Deadly Risk When Foam Struck Shuttle Wing
By Kathy Sawyer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 24, 2003; Page A01
Nobody saw the "smoking gun" when it fired, 81 seconds after the space shuttle Columbia lifted off from its Cape Canaveral launch pad on Jan. 16.
The shuttle was over the Atlantic Ocean, racing skyward at more than 1,600 mph -- greater than twice the speed of sound -- as it climbed through an altitude of 66,000 feet in the thinning air. A ragged section of insulating foam -- a Styrofoam-like slab weighing almost two pounds and about the size of a flat-screen TV -- flew off the shuttle's 15-story-tall, bullet-shaped propellant tank.
The fragment hit the roiling supersonic air stream like a Styrofoam cup tossed from a racing car, slowed abruptly and started spinning rapidly as it traveled about 60 feet. In a split second, it struck the leading edge of the left wing at a relative velocity of 530 mph. Two smaller foam chunks that broke off at the same time missed the wing.
Even though it seemed insubstantial, the foam Frisbee, traveling at that velocity and spinning at least 18 times a second, struck with about a ton of force. It was simple physics. The impact blew a hole probably six to 10 inches across in the leading edge of the left wing.
While most of the ingredients of Columbia's destruction had been collecting for some time, tucked away in the crannies of a complicated bureaucracy, no one had seen them, either. In contrast to the 1986 loss of the shuttle Challenger, when engineers had tried to stop the launch only to be overruled by higher-ups, this time the portents had become invisible to all those who might have altered events.
The catastrophe that had begun over the Atlantic, dooming Columbia and its seven astronauts, would not unfold for 16 more days -- also mostly out of sight.
It would take armies of engineers and six months of arduous detective work to bring into focus what had gone wrong on Feb. 1, not only with the shuttle but with the organization that had sent it on its way.
The following is an account of what most likely happened to Columbia, based largely on the results of that effort -- official records, transcripts and video from NASA and the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, including Freedom of Information Act releases and engineering test results and analyses -- and interviews. The probe will culminate this week when the independent board releases its final report exposing in detail the roots of the tragedy...
The whole story can be found here at the Washington Times:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37325-2003Aug23.html
