MISSED OPPORTUNITY

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

¶According to a Memorandum for the Record written by William Readdy, Associate Administrator for Space Flight, Readdy and Michael Card, from NASAʼs Safety and Mission Assurance Office, discussed an offer of Department of Defense imagery support for Columbia. This January 29, conversation ended with Readdy telling Card that NASA would accept the offer but because the Mission Management Team had concluded that this was not a safety-of-flight issue, the imagery should be gathered only on a low priority "not-to-interfere" basis. Ultimately, no imagery was taken.

¶The Board notes that at the January 31, Mission Management Team meeting, there was only a minor mention of the debris strike. Other issues discussed included onboard crew consumables, the status of the leaking water separator, an intercom anomaly, SPACEHAB water flow rates, an update of the status of onboard experiments, end-of-mission weight concerns, landing day weather forecasts, and landing opportunities. The only mention of the debris strike was a brief comment by Bob Page, representing Kennedy Space Centerʼs Launch Integration Office, who stated that the crewʼs hand-held cameras and External Tank films would be expedited to Marshall Space Flight Center via the Shuttle Training Aircraft for post-flight foam/debris imagery analysis, per Linda Hamʼs request.

¶Summary: Mission Management Decision Making

¶Discovery and Initial Analysis of Debris Strike

¶In the course of examining film and video images of Columbiaʼs ascent, the Intercenter Photo Working Group identified, on the day after launch, a large debris strike to the leading edge of Columbiaʼs left wing. Alarmed at seeing so severe a hit so late in ascent, and at not having a clear view of damage the strike might have caused, Intercenter Photo Working Group members alerted senior Program managers by phone and sent a digitized clip of the strike to hundreds of NASA personnel via e-mail. These actions initiated a contingency plan that brought together an interdisciplinary group of experts from NASA, Boeing, and the United Space Alliance to analyze the strike. So concerned were Intercenter Photo Working Group personnel that on the day they discovered the debris strike, they tapped their Chair, Bob Page, to see through a request to image the left wing with Department of Defense assets in anticipation of analysts needing these images to better determine potential damage. By the Boardʼs count, this would be the first of three requests to secure imagery of Columbia on-orbit during the 16-day mission.

IMAGERY REQUESTS

1. Flight Day 2. Bob Page, Chair, Intercenter Photo Working Group to Wayne Hale, Shuttle Program Manager for Launch Integration at Kennedy Space Center (in person).

2. Flight Day 6. Bob White, United Space Alliance manager, to Lambert Austin, head of the Space

¶Shuttle Systems Integration at Johnson Space Center (by phone).

3. Flight Day 6. Rodney Rocha, Co-Chair of Debris Assessment Team to Paul Shack, Manager,

¶Shuttle Engineering Office (by e-mail).