Move Would Give Controllers, Crews, In-Flight Repair Option

Members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board Friday issued one of their biggest challenges to NASA since the space shuttle crashed Feb. 1: Come up with a way for astronauts to repair heat shield damage while still in orbit.

The CAIB has already announced its members believe foam, which fell from Columbia's external fuel tank shortly after its Jan. 16 liftoff, damaged the leading edge of the left wing. Although NASA and Boeing engineers fretted over the possible damage that foam might have caused, NASA managers refused their request to turn America's spy satellites on the shuttle to assess the impact. The CAIB has found that the impact most likely punched a hole in Columbia's left wing, allowing super-hot gases to flood the landing gear compartment and burn through the orbiter's wing upon re-entry. Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board.

Take A Look, However You Can

Friday's CAIB recommendation calls for every shuttle to be inspected while in orbit, whether that means using imaging satellites or sending the crew out on a Mr. Fixit-style EVA to inspect the space plane. The board also ordered NASA to come up with a way astronauts could make emergency repairs if they do find a problem while in orbit.

NASA has already approved putting a robot arm and astronaut mobility units on every flight, so astronauts can at least try to make repairs if necessary. Columbia had neither.

NASA has been plagued with the lack of an in-flight repair program since 1981, when attempts to formulate one met with little success. The effort was renewed after the 1986 Challenger disaster. Again, there was little that could be done, outside providing astronauts with an escape hatch for low-altitude bailouts.

Still, NASA officials say technology has improved and the presence of the International Space Station have "greatly improved the prospects."

No More Debris

CAIB members are also expected to demand NASA ensure nothing else falls off the orbitor. In Friday's statement, the board said the latest recommendation on in-flight repairs "does not reduce the urgency or importance of aggressively reducing all sources of potential damage to the orbiter."

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe (right) isn't expected to be thrilled with the CAIB report when it's issued before the end of summer. "When it comes out, it's going to be really ugly. This is not going to be anything that anybody's going to be particularly happy with at all," O'Keefe said.

"It's the whole agency that's going to be affected by this. Everybody."

FMI: www.nasa.gov