Q: (Initially posted on February 14, 2003) FROM MENTEE KAREN S. IN NY
After all the media coverage, I am more confused than ever about what happened to Columbia. While I understand the basics, and know that NASA and other government agencies are investigating, what has actually happened, and what is really going on?

February 17, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR BARB KONTOGIANNIS IN CO
An investigation of the magnitude of the Columbia accident could take
several months to conclude. There is a lot of data to review, and a lot of
debris that may hold clues, and that all has to be examined. It is likely
that there are several theories of what happened, and each one of those
theories will have to be compared to the evidence to see if it is credible
or not. Unfortunately, the job of the media is to report - whether or not
they have all the facts or all the answers. I can understand how that can
be confusing. Part of what may be so confusing to you is that in the first
few days after the incident, it was reported that a piece of insulation
damaged the wing, causing the failure. It sounds like a good theory, but
that may not be at all what caused the shuttle to break apart. It was a
fact, but not necessarily the root of the problem. Once the media reports
that, it is hard for people to keep an open mind as the investigation
unfolds.

I have worked on failure investigations in the aerospace industry, although
of smaller magnitude, and know that it takes a lot of time to put all the
"puzzle pieces" together to have a plausible story for what happened. There
are teams of people working on doing just that - putting the puzzle pieces
together for what happened to Columbia. I would imagine that within about 6
to 8 months, there will be a conclusion to the investigation, although it
could be much longer. Until then, I'd encourage you to consider the media
coverage, but remember that the final answer has not yet been reached.
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A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK IN RI
I'm sure nobody really knows it all now - but from this morning's
news I understand that data from sensors on Columbia showed that the
vehicle got much too hot inside - so hot that mathematical models of
heat flow could only show that much heat if the protective shield had
been damaged. The air gets really hot from friction next to the
fast-moving spaceship as it renters the atmosphere, and the skin had
to be letting the hot air inside. If the skin had been intact, the
inside would have been cooler. So the question becomes: what damaged
the skin, the heat shield? Was it the foam hitting it at take-off,
or a meteor, or a chunk of debris in space?