Damage in Test Much Worse Than Expected

Jeff Franks wrote for Reuters, "A test firing of insulation foam at a replica space shuttle wing struck with such power that it shocked witnesses and added force to the theory that a foam strike led to the breakup of shuttle Columbia, a member of the board investigating the accident said on Wednesday."

In fact, Scott Hubbard, director of NASA's Ames Research Center (CA), told reporters, "I thought, 'Oh my god, this is more than I expected ... this isn't just a light bounce.'"

The test was conducted last week. Another, using the real wing from Discovery, is scheduled for today (Thursday). Because the Shuttle wing is less-tough than the mockup used in last week's test, many are expecting the damage to the real wing to be even worse.

Since the breakup of Columbia (right) on February 1, that killed all seven aboard, the favorite theory of the cause of the disaster has been damage to the heat-shielding oblative tiles, caused by a strike of a chunk of foam that broke off above the orbiter, from the main fuel tank. The impact speed was estimated at over 500 mph.

Although NASA knew quickly that the foam had hit the shuttle, this type of incident had happened before, and hadn't caused any appreciable damage; the breakup, days later, took NASA by surprise. NASA had apparently never before run a test like last week's.

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board is expected to submit a final report in July.

FMI: www.spaceflight.nasa.gov